Can you transfer an Estate without transferring an Island?

I have a number of islands that are all adjacent to each other on the map, and belong to one of two estates in my name. I am going to rent out an island to a friend, and would like to give her a unique estate so I can grant her estate manager powers for that island only. I know how to do this, but what happens if one day she decides to go ahead and buy her own island? Would she be able to assume the name of the estate (which we're planning to name after her business) later on if she buys her own island? I'd just bring my rented island back into my main estate if she moved out, and would have no personal need for an estate named after her business.

The knowledge base seems to say that an estate transfer must accompany an island transfer. Since I don't intend to sell any of my islands, this seems to be a problem. But this supposed limitation raises questions- what about the fact that a single estate can comprise multiple adjacent and non-adjacent islands? If you transfer an estate to someone does that mean you have to transfer all the islands that belong to it?

I think this is an excellent support type question. I don't know.

With estate name, do you mean sim name? If so, you could simply request to have the name of the rented sim changed to something else (which LL will charge for), and then your friend could order a new sim in the name she wants.

If you mean tranfer of an actual estate, why would you have need to do that? What benefit is there of keeping an old estate over setting up a new one? I would have thought the name of the estate, which after all is more an organisational tool than one with which your sims will be identified, is not as important as the name of the sim?

If it's a matter of renaming sims, I'm sure it can be done, for a price.

Yes: US$50.

Well I always thought an "Estate" was a sort of ephemeral entity that was separate from land. When you buy an island you have to specify an Island Name and an Estate Name. Subsequent islands can be added to the same estate. You don't pay for an estate, though, you pay for an island. When this tenant moves out I will rename the island and move it back into my main estate. My question is, can she then keep that estate name and use it if she buys her own island?

Was just curious if others had faced this situation. Basically she wants a specific estate name and I want to let her use it, but not if it means she wouldn't be able to keep that name if she moved on. I will contact support about this.

I still don't understand why someone would want to keep an estate. I mean hardly anyone is aware of the name of the estate of a sim they're in; if people identify the business with anything to do with the sim/estate, it will be the sim name. In fact it's easier to just have a sepearate estate for each sim, as you can add to ban lists etc to all estates with ease. There are also no practical issues I can think of with setting up a new estate vs 'transfer' of an estate - ie there are no settings that are not easy to replicate on a new estate. So why?

The benefits of Estates are several, here are the three most useful - Imagine you have 50 sims in an estate:

1) You can appoint Estate managers who have powers across all the sims in the estate (instead of adding them to each of 50 sims)

2) You can send a notice to all residents of the estate (instead of 1 notice sent 50 times)

3) You can ban people not only from a sim, but from an entire estate (instead of going through the ban process 50 times)

If you only have a very small number of sims, say under 5, it may be 50/50 to the advantages or disadvantages of having your sims in the same estate, but over 5 and I would say you are creating a lot more work for yourself.

As for severing a sim from an estate, the KB is not so clear on this. A change of sim name is possible, for a fee, but change of estate linkage is not made clear, but my guess is that it would be possible, and probably for the same fee as change of sim name, as i am sure that LL consider that the sim name is actually the sim name plus the estate name you put when ordering the sim from the land store.

Rock

I understand all the benefits of an estate Rock, I just don't understand the need to 'transfer' an estate - and I assume by this the OP meant the transfer of all the settings, etc, associated with the estate.

If you have 5 sims on an estate, and you sell one, that sim will be severed from the estate and a new estate will be created for the buyer, or it can be attached to an existing estate belonging the buyer. The name of the sim can be changed at no extra cost during transfer of a sim from one person to another, as it is taken care of as part of the transfer fee.

My understanding of the situation is that person A is renting a sim from person B. At some point in the future, person A intends to buy a sim. Now if person A wants to use the name of the sim he/she is renting, then person B would have to change the name of his/her sim (at a cost of US$50) to something else so that that name is free to be selected for the new sim person A has purchased. If, however, person A buys the very sim that he/she is renting from person B, then the name of course can transfer with the sim at no extra cost.

By the way, you can add to the ban list of more than one estate with one click

From what I've read in the Knoweledge Base, in order to transfer an Estate, you have to transfer at least one island along with the Estate.

It is appearantly free of charge to change the name of an estate, but I don't recall if there was a price or if anything was discussed, about changing the Estate for one island only, i.e. moving the island to a different estate then moving it back later.

I suspect that if the estate name is used by yourself now, then your client will not be able to use it herself later on, but I don't have any documentation to back that up... only a guess based on how SL / LL does other things when it comes to names and how they're assigned / used.

This is probably the sort of thing that only someone in concierge support could answer, and perhaps even only the right person there (i.e. one with some experience in such things).

Good luck, and if you get an answer from them, please share it with us

-Atashi

Just because the estate name is the name of her business, and she'd naturally like to take that with her. I'm going to chat with support today.

I chatted with support today and yes, my tenant can indeed take the estate name with her if she moves, on the condition that I move any islands currently in that estate back into one of my other estates. A support ticket is required, but there was no mention of fees.