dishonest landowner

Hi, I "bought" a full region from the sim owner, have been there several months but she gave me some bad information and I lost estate manager rights for two weeks, meanwhile she refused to respond to me. Eventually it was fixed, but by then I was ready to move. So I let her know a week and a half early that I would not be renewing, and everything was fine. Suddenly she notified me that I had to be out two days early so she could "prepare" the sim for the next people. I let her know that would be fine, she could refund me for the two lost days. She never responded, has set so that I cannot see when she is online, and changed the tier box so that it looks like the tier is due earlier. I am chalking this up to a bad experience and glad I got out before things got any worse, but is there anything that I could do about this situation?


Thanks in advance!

Don't feel bad i have a friend that lost an entire months rent after she gave notice and moved out, the sim owner took another months rent on her auto paypal set up and flat refused to return it, $150 USD...be careful of most of these ppl in SL, i'm at the point i trust no one.

Don't think the Lindens will help you either, they don't give a rats @ss.

If you've done all you can to get it back, i'd just move on and get more cynical like the rest of us.

Just exactly what you did.

While there is usually a covenant for private estate land, and the owner will often publish their payment and refund policies, none of it is a legally enforceable contract. The owner may change their mind at any time. (In fairness to estate owners, tenants have been known to change THEIR minds too, or be late on payments, etc.)

Why would your friend agree to an automatic PayPal payment to someone she does NOT KNOW? That was unwise.

This was the only way this particular land company sets things up for rentals if you want to pay any other way than with Lindens, but you live and learn i always say.

Trust me i know both sides of this fence, and how to be an honest landlord, i have to look at my self in the mirror every morning, no matter what my tennants do.

every time i read one of these posts i love Des more and more.

Everytime I read one of these posts I still wish there was a way we can purchase a homestead without the full sim requirement AND not put anyone out of business.

Yes, yes I have heard time and time again why not and what will could happen. It is just wishful thinking on MY part.

Well, why not pay with Lindens then? Or deal with a different company. My point is, she had a choice and took a risk, presumably to save the hassle and small extra cost of currency conversion.

I agree, there should be. They could charge more for a "sole homestead", to leave existing landlords an "edge".

Every time I read one I become more and more resolved not to buy a full region from anyone except LL. It's worth the money not to have the heartache, drama and financial hassles these people go through with buying/renting privately. Parcel ownership is one thing, the outlay is less but if I were going to go for the gold, a full region, I'd go with LL.

They could go with a slightly higher setup fee than if you already owned a private island, as well.

More than ever referrals and references are important when "buying"/renting land in SL to protect both the landlord and tenant.

I'm very grateful for the group of land owners in our small four-sim Island. Most of us knew one another before banding together one year ago, and there have been very few changes in the past year.

For anyone who wishes to spend quality long-term time in SL, I think it's worth spending the time getting to know people who are connected with stable estates on the Grid.

I hope the OP finds a new place that is definitely more satisfying. Good luck! Take your time and find the right fit.

This person didn't buy a full region, they're renting it. Buying, truly buying "full transfer" from another player has become safer, since LL put in some protocols for the process to make it safer for the buyers. That isn't a problem anymore.

But the renting process is still fraught with risk. It is fraught with risk at any level.

This is why "buying" is NOT really buying and the language should be changed.

Oh ok, yeah, she said 'bought', but in quotes.

Treasure...don't throw away good money!!

You can buy a Full sim for around 500 USD from the 2nd hand SIM market.....you get to rename and re-position free of charge. Its' done through LL's ticketing system....LL kind of hold the money (your money)....and then pass onto Seller, once they have authorised the transfer. It's pretty safe nowadays!

The only draw back, is that from LL Land Store, your get your Full SIM (1000 USD) almost instantly, whilst transferring from one owner to another owner can take 5-10 days through the ticketing system.

Not really, cut your losses and move on, and as far as online status goes, it's impossible for her to hide her avatar's online status. I sell a scripted device that well tell if she's on weather she's showing her status or not if you're interested. You only lost the two days, so consider yourself lucky I guess.

I've always had nothing but Mainland.

Over the years I've had friends who were hard done by. Either by PI owners who were avaricious and unprincipled or who were well-meaning but clueless.

I don't think I could justify a PI to myself.
A homestead might be OK, but I can't get that direct from SL.
The only people I know of and would trust as landlords would be Des or Elanthius.
- which leaves Des

I'm really flattered, but there are tons of decent estate owners who can actually balance the books. It's not that hard to do, really.

If anyone's really in need of a reliable land baron, even if it's not in my theme, send me a PM and I can refer you to a whole bunch who aren't me. Anything from elven to gothic to western to sailing or modern or unthemed, you name it.

you can contact PayPal I believe you can get it back if you take your time and explain wasn't service rendered

Makes me so happy i have a great landlord for my homestead . been renting from them for over 6 months

Thanks guys! I wound up buying a region full transfer, I was lucky and it only took about 12 hours for the transfer to be complete! I never want to have to deal with this again! lol I approached the owner of the sim I had before and gave her my documentation, and she suddenly became extremely verbally abusive, so I have submitted a report about that, at least. And I know LL will probably do nothing about it. But at least I did what I can. I'm not worried about the money so much as it really bugs me when people try to take advantage, and I don't want her to do this to anyone else.

Just be sure that you really ARE buying the region. If you will be paying your monthly service fee in dollars directly to Linden Lab, then you are. If you are paying the person you are buying the sim from, then you may have "estate manager rights" but you do NOT own the region...you are still renting it from a third party.

If we're naming names, I can also recommend Jackson Rickenbacker. I'm just not sure she's still around. I was with her for over a year before she sold the sim to a vampire clan where I suppose I still could have stayed, but naw, was time to go. The new vampire owner bought my parcel and I moved on, but Jackson was awesome while I was on her sim, and she had a great tier payment system too.

This is not correct. The seller, in this case the landlord, cannot pull payments from your PayPal account. It's not possible. Your friend, however, set up a billing agreement or a subscription with the landlord, which will pay the landlord at regular intervals. A seller can NEVER initiate a payment from anyone's PayPal account. It is up to the buyer (renter in this case) to cancel the subscription or billing agreement.

I know this because I used to work for PayPal.

You and me both. Miss Serra too. And Charlene Trudeau.