Resident late with tier, abandons land

Ok one of my tenants hadn't paid tier. I don't go chasing tier quickly and usually give people a few days in case they're away or whatever. So I checked their plot tonight and they've packed everything up and left.

The thing is, they purchased this plot. They had resale rights but they've abandoned it back to me. What should I do? I'm thinking maybe if I sell the plot again I deduct any outstanding tier and send the balance to them, what do you think?

Talk to them first. Maybe they are leaving SL and are giving you a boon.

That would be very generous of you. I would recommend speaking with them and getting a sense of what is going on, but as Cristalle suggests, it could be simply that they are leaving SL.

Send the balance after you find out what the story is. Nice of you to consider it.

A renter paid for two weeks but left after one. I refunded the extra week though they did not ask...figure the good karma will come back around someday.

Yeah I've sent her an Im, I guess I'll have to wait and see what's going on.

It's *always* good to see what is on people's minds.

If someone has picked up stakes, even if there is nothing you can do about it there is value in knowing the reason. Makes you better, even if it wasn't you - you can possibly forsee similar issues arising.


That's good karma - but be reeeeal careful of offering refunds. If you 'get known' for refunding, suddenly your tier reserve capital is considered "Bank of Raymond Figtree" and people start to *expect* withdrawals. On a whim. Regardless of when tier is due.

I'd say about 30% of people who initially rent tend to enjoy the 'new sim experience' where everyone is hanging out there, building, having fun... but they are bored of it in less than sixty days. "Refund please!" ...and off they go to the next fun experience. Which is just fine, if that's what you have promised.

But if you've bought a sim and brought in such people, guess what - you may soon be deeeeply out-of-pocket for thousands of dollars, and your region will be treated like a revolving door - oddly *less* valued for your sacrifice and generosity and dangerously financially unstable.

Good advice. But I rent by the week on my mainland sim and will do things on a case by case basis, so there's not a huge risk involved.

I say it depends on the situation... if they bought from you directly and have only lived there a month or two, I'd consider a giving a refund... But I do believe you need to be careful.. if your covenant says "no refunds", you've put that statement in for a reason, and you need to be very careful when you bend that rule.

I only gave a refund once. A tenant paid the rent and IM'ed me one minute later with "I made a mistake. I don't want to rent land. Please let me out. Help!!!"

We chatted a while. It was a pretty clueless newbie who didn't know what he was doing. Pity drove me to bend my "no refunds" rule.

Shows you have a good heart, Ciaran my dear But we knew that anyway.

The standard practice amongst the more ruthlessly money orientated is to reclaim the land and sell as new. Frankly, if abandoned completely, I'd say contacting them to ask is enough and if they don't come back to you ... then you ARE Guv Linden in your own world.

And if you like I will make something pretty there

Why would someone abandon land? Is it a large parcel with large tier? That's just.. silly. Maybe they just don't understand

Maybe VAT. Maybe husband/wife found the credit card statements. Who knows.

They possibly were unaware that they could resell the land; many island owners don't permit this. Either way, it's all speculation at this point.

Or they may have felt that with the current land glut, they would be stuck with the land for months before they could find a buyer at a rational price. If the parcel wasn't all that big, abandoning it may have looked more attractive than paying a few more mointh's tier on it.

Well, yeah, if someone juuuust rented the place and then a minute later changed their minds, that's one thing. I'd return money in that circumstance too. But the next day? Forget it. Not a day goes by that I have to turn people away from land, and if I have to turn away decent folks because someone was wishywashy, sat on a parcel inconveniencing others and then wants to leave... they can make up for being wishywashy by finding someone to buy their rental rights. I usually give them the names of the people they blocked.

It's not just money, it's pointless runaround time too. It's the same group that makes me 'hurry up and wait' standing there for 20 minutes while they decide/think/use-bathroom/yap-with-friends while I have literally 10 other people to take care of. I spend on average literally two hours with every resident answering questions, explaining things, and so forth - usually one hour before they choose any land (not all do) and an hour afterward helping with other stuff.

I don't begrudge a second of it for regular folks - in fact I like helping people as most of us do. But I'm sure not going to be a doormat for anyone to wipe their feet on either. There's maybe 1% of people on the grid that get off on people 'doing their bidding' or some weirdness like that, and I've encountered a few of them (or the 'slave' they sent to deal with me).

As for legitimate folks in a real pinch, I would say this: if you do refund anybody, don't talk about it. If you've got a starving college student in trouble and you are *sure* of the situation, well, maybe some random act of good luck might befall them. Especially easy if they have a shop. But even with that, one doesn't want to create a sense of a safety net or an 'easy world' - you may make someone happy momentarily but perhaps do a disservice to them over the long run.

I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it.

Close call!