Neighbor fenced approx 1/4 acre

[TxMouse]

What is the name of your state? Texas
I apologize ahead of time--this is a long one.
We purchased land-locked property in 2004, which came with permanent easement across approx 1 acre of land owned by our HOA (known as "park".
3 other neighbors use this land to access the back part of their properties, though no one else is landlocked or has a legal easment.
One neighbor had a pasture that shares a lot line with the Park. When they fenced their pasture, they included about 1/4 acre of the park, and put a gate from their pasture to the park. They acknowledged this to us, though the husband blamed the fencing company. Another neighbor told us the husband was there when the fence was put in and told them himself where to put it.
At the encouragement of this neighbor and especially his wife, who was at the time the president of HOA, we purchased the park from the HOA. In the letter sent to all homeowners we stated we would allow "use of the property for access to their own properties" to three homeowners.
When we were in the process of purchasing the park, the neighbor's wife told us they wanted to purchase from us the part they had fenced. She even mentioned a price: $1000. (We ended spending over $3500 to purchase the park, which is just over 1 acre.)
We closed on the property just about a year ago, and they have made no formal offer or even mention of this since.
We had a friendly relationship with these neighbors which has has degraded over the past few months, for a number reasons, mostly relate to the sleazy way they have tried to bully our HOA and flat-out lied about a number of things related to their actions. (this would be a novel if I listed them all)

My husband and I want to clear this up so that it is not an issue when we decide to sell our property. We are considering sending them a registered letter asking them if they are still interested in buying the property they fenced in. We would require that they move their gate from where it is to the front of the property (we would move our gate back to allow for this).
My questions are:
Can we require that they move their gate?
What are our options if they ignore the letter or decline to buy the land they enclosed?
Could we run a fence on the property line, block their access and remove their fence?
Can we require that they pay for the cost of fence removal? (this is a heavy-duty hose fence--the corner posts would have to be removed with heavy equiptment)

Thanks in advance.
JulietteWhat is the name of your state?

 

[divgradcurl]

Can we require that they move their gate?

You can ask, but you don't have the authority to require them to do anything.

What are our options if they ignore the letter or decline to buy the land they enclosed?

Ignore them, but if you ignore them long enough, the issue of adverse possession might crop up. Have the fence removed yourself, but that might start a battle. Grant them permission to use the section they have fenced off, revokable by you (not an easement, but a license), that will resolve the adverse possession issue. Go to court and try and obtain an order to have them move the fence off of your property. If you go that route, make sure you have a survey showing their encroachment.

Could we run a fence on the property line, block their access and remove their fence?

Well, don't you have an agreement allowing them to access the property? Is that agreement in writing?

Can we require that they pay for the cost of fence removal? (this is a heavy-duty hose fence--the corner posts would have to be removed with heavy equiptment)

Again, you don't have an any authority at all. You could remove the fence yourself, then sue in small claims court for the removal costs. You could file suit to try and obtain an order forcing them to remove the fence themselves at their own cost.

 

[TxMouse]

Well, don't you have an agreement allowing them to access the property? Is that agreement in writing?

Yes, we do, but there were no specifics. For other reasons having to do with the cul-de-sac being constructed incorrectly, we've decided to move our gate back further onto our property. If do this, they will have enough room to put a gate at the cul-de-sac. They will still need to cross our land to get to theirs, but this way they would not need access to our gate, which is what I am trying to achieve. Wouldn't still be honoring our agreement, since it not specify that access would be given to their existing gate which isn't even on their property anyway?