Land Ownership by Group

Sorry to post what is a pretty basic question, but I looked in the Knowledge Base and did not get a specific enough answer to guide me.

First of all, a group must have at least two members, or the group will be dissolved, right? If one of the members doesn't log in very often, are they still considered active enough to preserve the membership as the second member?

Secondly, A group can own land. If the land was purchased by a group member with Premium status and deeded to the group, and then that member later downgrades to Basic membership when they come up for renewal, is the group still ok to own the land, if another member buys enough tier to donate to group to cover it? In other words, do two group members have to have Premium accounts, or can one member have Premium, and other member be basic?

I'm considering downgrading my Premium membership to basic, and my husband (who has Premium account) will buy tier to cover the tier I am going to have to pull out. As long as we both belong to the group, it should still be all right, am I correct?

Thanks for any input.

The members of the group never have to log in and their accounts will stay active and the group will still exist.

The group only actually has to have one member donating tier - the rest can all be Basic accounts.

There is a point where it is financially more advantageous to have two premium accounts to hold land, because of the stipend offset and the extra free 512. Depends on how much land you own, but I think it's somewhere in the ballpark of 8k m2. Do the math before downgrading, it may be financially advantageous for you to keep your premium account.

You are ok on all counts. As long as your account remains active at all, it will be ok to maintain the group. And, as long as the one premium member maintains enough tier to cover the land then you will be fine on that score as well.

Actually, the savings point can be hit at small amounts of land.

Here are some calcs for amounts of land up to 4096m. These are all calculated using Quarterly membership payment and assuming that the exchange rate is roughly L$265 per US$1:

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1024m

- one premium: 31.14 / yr + $60 ($5 x 12 mths) tier = $91.14 / yr

- two premiums: 62.28 / yr + $0 tier = $62.28 / yr

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1536m

- one premium: 31.14 / yr + $96 ($8 x 12 mths) tier = $127.14 / yr

- two premiums: 62.28/ yr + $60 ($5 x 12 mths) tier = $122.28 / yr

- three premiums: 93.42 / yr + $0 tier = $93.42 / yr

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2048m

- one premium: 31.14 / yr + $180 ($15 x 12 mths) tier = $211.14 / yr

- two premiums: 62.28 / yr + $96 ($8 x 12 mths) tier = $158.28 / yr

- three premiums: 93.42 / yr + $60 ($5 x 12 mths) tier = $153.42 / yr

- four premiums: 124.56 / yr + $0 tier = $124.56 / yr

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4096m

- one premium: 31.14 / yr + $300 ($25 x 12 mths) tier = $331.14 / yr

- four premiums: 124.56 / yr + $180 ($15 x 12 mths) tier = $304.56 / yr

- six premiums: 186.84/ yr + $96 ($8 x 12 mths) tier = $282.84 / yr

- seven premiums: 217.98/ yr + $60 ($5 x 12 mths) tier = $277.98 / yr

- eight premiums: 249.12 / yr + $0 tier = $249.12 / yr

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Basically, if you have enough premiums to drop you a full tier level or more tier levels, it is cheaper to do the premiums. I have only calculated this up to 8192m but it seems to hold true for everything I have calculated at that size and lower.

I have redone these calcs a few times, but it is still possible that I have messed up somewhere.

I would strongly recommend creating an alt of your own and have them join the group if you are the group owner. The can be a basic account, but this way you are sure that the group will always have at least two members, you and your alt.

With a Group membership you can have somebody join just to donate teir. I buy teir from a Large Landowner and pay the same rate as if I owned half a Sim (they oen full Sims so they make money) and I save a significant amount of money as I only own small peices of land.

Interestingly enough, twice now I have been part of a group where I was the ONLY aparent member remaining, and yet the group persisted until I quit it.

In both cases, the founder had left SL, and presumably had allowed their Premium account to lapse. I was an officer in the group, and should have been able to see any remaining members. Yet I could only see myself on the member list, and it said the group had only one member. They persisted in that state for many months. Once I quit those groups, they ceased to exist.

My supposition is that there is a period of time where, if a Premium account is not renewed and is not manually downgraded to basic, the account is considered "Lapsed for non-payment", and is suspended. Then there is a period of time where the Premium member could renew and regain everything. Then they have some more time before they lose inventory and land, and the account is deleted.

If the account is actually downgraded to Basic, it remains active indefinitely.

But I will afree with others here. The safest course is to make sure any land group has the land owner plus one alt for that land owner in it.

@LittleMe Jewell

My premium account costs $72.00 per year, paying once a year--which I think is the least expensive way offered. Your calculations (unless I'm not understanding them), show priemium membership cosing only $31.14. Are you deducting the weekly stipend from the cost to get $31.14?

Oops - I left that piece out:

One premium @ 22.50/qtr x 4 qtrs = $90.00 / yr
L$300/wk x 52 wks (265 L$ rate) = -58.86 / yr

results in a cost of $31.14 per year per premium acct.



Though I did state that I calculated based on quarterly, cuz that is how I am paying right now, and so paying yearly would be even better.

How does this work for private islands? I just bought one, and would like to know the mechanics of private island payments and groups. Can the land be grouped (I think yes). How is the "tier equivalent" calculated and/or donated, or is it just that the original owner needs to pay to LL and the others have to pony up to her?

as an estate owner you cannot accept tier donations to apply toward island tier. old fashioned renting (paypal, $L) is your only real recourse.
island parcels can be group owned, but there is no way for group members to donate tier to the group in relation to that plot.

What I thought. Thanks for clarifying, Nina.

That is good advice. Our group is owned by my avatar and my husband's avatar. Additionally, we have several alts each that serve as officers. We do not rely on outsiders for something as valuable as a long-holding group. Don't want to get the shaft from anyone down the road!

Princess Ivory

Ok, if you are Premium account, you get 512 sqm in tier at no additional tier cost. If you donate that 512 sqm to a group, does the group still get the 10% group bonus, therefore making your group contribution actually worth 563 sqm to group? Or is that 10% bonus only for purchased tier over and above the free 512 sqm tier? This little issue is throwing a monkey wrench in my calculations. ARGH! Someone please respond promptly so I can figure this out.

Thanks!

Yes, the group always gets the 10% bonus, so a single 512 donation would really allow the group 563m.

That's what I thought.

Thanks!

If I downgrade my Premium membership a few days early, will it cause a problem for my group, or will they still get the benefit until my actual expiration date? I need to downgrade my membership, and pull tier, and then have husband (already Premium) purchase and donate more tier. Trying to do it without having to pay twice for the same time period.

Anyone know how it would work? Trying to figure out the best order to do things.