What are the rules on alt accounts?

[Underworldly]

There is this page on "Alt account policies" that says you can only have 5 accounts per household (not user, so, if you live with someone who also plays SL you can't make your own 5 accounts)

However, that page has not been updated since 2012 and some people have told me it's not true anymore.

So, what is the current, official rule on alt accounts?
I ask because I have a couple of old accounts I don't really use anymore, however, they had Marketplace stores and probably still have earnings. I've decided I will close these stores and abandon the accounts, however they still have L$ on them so I'd like to transfer that to my main account. However I think logging in both of them would break the 5 account rule, and I don't want to get banned.

Is the 5 account rule still true? If so, how do I do this without getting my accounts disabled?

[Chic Aeon]

1 minute ago, Underworldly said:

There is this page on "Alt account policies" that says you can only have 5 accounts per household (not user, so, if you live with someone who also plays SL you can't make your own 5 accounts)

However, that page has not been updated since 2012 and some people have told me it's not true anymore.

So, what is the current, official rule on alt accounts?
I ask because I have a couple of old accounts I don't really use anymore, however, they had Marketplace stores and probably still have earnings. I've decided I will close these stores and abandon the accounts, however they still have L$ on them so I'd like to transfer that to my main account. However I think logging in both of them would break the 5 account rule, and I don't want to get banned.

Is the 5 account rule still true? If so, how do I do this without getting my accounts disabled?

I am not sure that there IS an "official" policy any longer. Twelve years ago or so you could have five PAID  ($9.95 each) alt accounts. More were possible but not "legit". 

It has been mentioned many times here on the forums that some folks have an "army of alts" mostly use to save on land tier, at times long ago in order to have each letter and number for lucky chairs (yes, really). No one has been in trouble. 

These days it SEEMS like more than five alts isn't an issue -- pretty obviously that rule never solved any real problem anyway. At one point "semi-officially" (not on the wiki obviously) someone a few years ago from the lab said that as long as the alts played nicely it was fine.  I don't remember who that was but perhaps someone else does.   So no griefer alts etc.  Perhaps someone official will reply to this thread for you. You might also check the archives for threads on this in the recent past. I know there are some out there. 

[Rolig Loon]

The rule is still the same, and Linden Lab says that they may charge a fee for extra accounts.  In point of fact, the rule has not been enforced seriously for a very long time.  It's not likely to be invoked either, unless you start creating an "army of alts" and doing something that calls attention to them -- like camping to drive up your statistics, or going into griefer warfare.  If you mind your own business and don't annoy other residents, especially if you rarely have more than one or two accounts logged in at once, Linden Lab is unlikely to bother you.  They have much more important things to do.

[LittleMe Jewell]

I've said multiple times here on the forums that I have around a dozen alts.  Eight of the accounts are Premium, to donate tier to the land group, and the rest are simply used for testing different things.  As mentioned, as long as the accounts behave, nobody really cares -- especially if some of them are paying the Premium fee.