Lynda Moses outside her home in Newtown, Conn. (Globe Staff Photo / John Tlumacki) RELATED STORIES -- DAY 2 Home buyers cite broken promises Toll's customer service challenged Toll Brothers skirted environmental rules To lure buyers, builder spares no expense on lavish model WEB-ONLY Land dispute takes its toll on Conn. couple After the sale, frustration and disappointment for many (4 stories) OTHER PARTS Day 1 | Day 3 | Day 4 INTERACTIVE FEATURES An examination of three homes under construction at Toll Brothers’ Hopkinton Highlands subdivision revealed several building code, energy efficiency, and safety violations. A composite of problems VIDEO FROM WBZ-TV WBZ-TV reporter Ron Sanders and photographer Tom Rehkamp joined in the Globe investigation. Watch their reports on RealVideo. PART ONE Broadband T1, LAN | Modem 56K ON THE WEB Toll Brothers Inc. is at www.tollbrothers.com CONTACT THE SPOTLIGHT TEAM The Globe Spotlight Team would like to hear from readers willing to share their experiences -- or thoughts -- about new home construction. The Spotlight telephone number is (617) 929-3208. Confidential messages about new home construction and other issues can also be left at (617) 929-7483. You can email Spotlight at spotlight@globe.com.

Larry and Lynda Moses were smitten.

As newcomers to this equestrian town, they envisioned someday owning a horse and relished the prospect of having immediate access to miles of public riding trails.

But six months after moving into their $515,000 home on Equestrian Ridge Road in Greenleaf Farms, a Toll subdivision in this forested Fairfield County town an hour north of New York City, the Moses learned that their tree-lined yard did not border a park after all.

Instead of the unfettered access they had hoped for, what the homebuyers now have are bright yellow "no trespassing" signs that mark their lot line, posted by the public utility that actually owns the land between their property and the park.

"There's a buffer zone between our property and the park that someone conveniently forgot about," said Lynda Moses, who believes the loss of memory -- by Toll -- was no accident. "I really feel I was swindled."

In a complaint filed with the state's Department of Consumer Protection, the Moseses allege that Toll Brothers misrepresented their lot as abutting the Collis P. Huntington State Park, when in fact it borders private watershed land owned by BHC Company, a regional water utility. Toll denies any wrongdoing.

And BHC, which has owned the land since 1916, bars the public from its environmentally sensitive property.

But the Moses's anger at Toll doesn't end there.

Two years before it sold the couple their house, Toll Brothers granted a bridal path easement through the lot to the Newtown Bridal Land Association, a local equestrian group. The easement, a ten-foot wide mulched path that runs the length of the Moses's property, allows association members to cross the couple's land to reach the adjacent woods.

That means that even though the woods are now off-limits to the public -- BHC posted "no trespassing" signs after the Moseses raised questions about the lot line -- a stream of bicyclists, pedestrians and dung-dropping horses continues to traipse through their property.

"I can't represent this property as it was represented to me or I would be committing fraud," said Lynda Moses. "I'd have to represent it as a back lot with an easement to nowhere -- and hope someone buys it."

The Moses's lawyer, Daniel Shepro, notified Toll of the border dispute and was assured that the company would investigate the matter. That was in September 1999; he hasn't heard from Toll since.

Several months later, in a March 2000 letter to the state, Toll said it was "cooperating" with BHC "in an effort to resolve the outstanding issues" raised by the Moseses. But a BHC spokeswoman said she was unable to locate any company official who had been in touch with Toll.

In response to questions from the Globe about the Moses's property lines, Toll Brothers acknowledged that the couple's lot does not border the park. But it blamed the mistake on a surveyor's error made by the previous owner of the land on which the subdivision was built. And despite the "no trespassing" barrier, Toll noted that the adjacent land is still "open space that cannot ever be developed."

Meanwhile, the Moseses continue to press Toll to repair a number of continuing problems in their home, including non-functioning electrical outlets in their master bedroom, a cracking marble floor in their master bathroom, drafty windows, cracks in their basement, and grading and drainage flaws.