A Texas man is being evicted from his lakeside home after his neighbor bought the submerged land his house was on.
Art Burnevik, 75, bought a piece of land on Lake Buchanan and has spent the past six years building his dream home by hand.
Part of the pensioner’s home is on flooded land, that is, land below the contour line of the lake, which is the elevation of the lake when it is full.
However, the flooded land is owned by Burnevik’s neighbor, who took him to court and had him evicted for building on the submerged land, the report said. KXAN.
“This is my little dream. This is all I could afford. After all the years I worked, this is all I could afford. But this was all I ever needed,” Burnevik said.
Art Burnevik (pictured), 75, will be evicted from his dream home over a dispute over a flooded property
Burnevik bought a piece of land near Lake Buchanan (pictured) and spent the last six years hand-building his dream home
Property records show that in 2021, Underwater Land LLC obtained the deed to a 46-acre parcel of flooded land on the lake, including the site where Burnevik built his home
According to the local news station, his neighbor Brad Beneski is listed as the only member of Underwater Land LLC.
Beneski filed a lawsuit in the Burnevik Burnet County Court, alleging that his construction encroached on his land.
In March 2024, a justice of the peace ruled in Beneski’s favor. On appeal, a judge again sided with Beneski and signed an eviction notice, giving Beneski the right to evict Burnevik in June.
Burnevik’s neighbor bought the underwater land on which the 75-year-old built part of his home and a court ruled he could be evicted
“My client gave him ample opportunity to leave the property, but he refused and forced us,” Beneski’s attorney Austin Shell told KXAN. “We were as courteous as we could be.”
Burnevik said he had offered to buy the land under his house, but Shell said his client would not sell it “under any circumstances.”
The 75-year-old man felt that he had not been given a fair chance and therefore left his home.
Pointing to his car, Burnevik said, “That was going to be my new home, right there.”
His neighbors offered him a place to sleep. “It wasn’t until they said, ‘You’re not going to live under a couch.’ That’s when I broke down,” Burnevik said.