Hörby municipality wants to force them to connect water to the desolate house

- It is sad that the municipality is giving in to individuals.

And I do not really understand why.

Why does the municipality always have to be right ?, Eva Lundström wonders.

When the case was recently tried by the Land and Environmental Court in Växjö, the spouses won, but the municipality has chosen to appeal the ruling.

- The worst thing is that everything takes so long.

We think it will be too expensive to hire a lawyer so we have chosen to bring our case ourselves.

It takes a lot of time and effort, says Eva Lundström and shows the increasingly thick folder with documents in the case. 

Invoice after more than 40 years

According to the water and sewerage company Mittskåne water, which is owned by the municipalities of Hörby and Höör, a so-called connection point and a water meter must have been built as early as 1977 at the plot boundary.

This is not something the Lundström couple, who bought the property in 1982, have ever heard of.

Their surprise was therefore great when the company heard about it in 2018 and wanted to pay for the installations.

No one has been able to explain to them why the bill of SEK 58,000 has been delayed for over 40 years.

- The company has not even wanted to come out and see what the house looks like.

That's almost what annoys me the most, says Börje Lundström.

He adds:

- There are no connections and no meters here.

And if it had existed, they would have frozen long ago.

The boss: "No comments"

The responsible manager at Mittskåne water, Patrik Palmström, says that he is "taken to bed" when SVT asks him about the decision to appeal.

Otherwise, he does not want to comment.

The judgment from the Land and Environmental Court states: "Lack of routines on the part of the municipality cannot be blamed on the defendants approximately 40 years after the facility was expanded".

Within three months, the Supreme Land and Environmental Court at the Svea Court of Appeal will announce whether it intends to take up the case or whether the judgment now handed down stands.

While waiting for that, the Enforcement Officer freezes the 58,000 kronor that, at the municipality's request, is measured at the Lundström couple.    

- But we must, after all, see it as a great success that we have come this far - and actually won in the first instance.

We do not intend to give up, says Eva Lundström.