HOw do I protect myself from unscrupulous landlords?

[Supersatan3]

Hai Guyz.

 

So I got "evicted" from my home, despite paying 3 weeks of rent in advance. Sadly, I know that LL couldn't care less based on how they treated me when I owned a full sim. Aside from the Chunge Estates, is there any reputable landlords who won't randomly evict me because their gf doesn't like me, or because they randomly decided to sell the sim I am living on?

[Randy Pole]

Consider going premium and buying your own plot on the mainland. 
 

if that is not an option then only pay the minimum amount of weeks in rent and renew at the last moment. 

[Rowan Amore]

18 minutes ago, Supersatan3 said:

Hai Guyz.

 

So I got "evicted" from my home, despite paying 3 weeks of rent in advance. Sadly, I know that LL couldn't care less based on how they treated me when I owned a full sim. Aside from the Chunge Estates, is there any reputable landlords who won't randomly evict me because their gf doesn't like me, or because they randomly decided to sell the sim I am living on?

From the Grid Survey page, the top land owners/companies in SL.   I only have experience with DreamSeekers.  Good company.

Richmond Land Management 6.2%

Azure Islands (ACS) 4.9%

Dreamseeker Estates 4.9%

Zoha Islands 4.2%

Surreal Chung (ACS) 3.1%

Weezles Real Estate (WRE) 3.0%

Victoria Chung (ACS) 2.9%

Miriam Chung (ACS) 2.5%

Lorena Chung (ACS) 1.8%

Fruit Islands Estate 1.7%

 

[Silent Mistwalker]

5 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

From the Grid Survey page, the top land owners/companies in SL.   I only have experience with DreamSeekers.  Good company.

Richmond Land Management 6.2%

Azure Islands (ACS) 4.9%

Dreamseeker Estates 4.9%

Zoha Islands 4.2%

Surreal Chung (ACS) 3.1%

Weezles Real Estate (WRE) 3.0%

Victoria Chung (ACS) 2.9%

Miriam Chung (ACS) 2.5%

Lorena Chung (ACS) 1.8%

Fruit Islands Estate 1.7%

 

I rented from Fruit Islands a long time ago. The owners back then were excellent landlords. It has since changed hands and I don't know if the "new" owners have continued the tradition. It's worth a shot if you can find a vacant lot or empty homestead. I haven't heard or seen any issues of being arbitrarily evicted by the new owners.

[Rowan Amore]

29 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

I rented from Fruit Islands a long time ago. The owners back then were excellent landlords. It has since changed hands and I don't know if the "new" owners have continued the tradition. It's worth a shot if you can find a vacant lot or empty homestead. I haven't heard or seen any issues of being arbitrarily evicted by the new owners.

I rented there briefly years ago.  Great place if you like boating, too.

[Claireschen Hesten]

You could look for mainland rentals there are estates that use a heart or house symbol to mark their land on the map another goes by the name Life. i've been using a lesser known mainland estate 'rent mainland' for years, for renting anything i go by never have more paid in advance than you can afford to loose if things go wrong then pay weekly. i currently keep about a month pre paid in case something happens and i can't log in to pay my rent box for a week or two 

[Lindal Kidd]

Most landlords in SL are OK. They have to be, because if they get a bad reputation, they won't be in business very long.

One fellow who's really excellent is @Desmond Shang, the estate owner of Caledon. Caledon's rents are higher than many places, because the people who live there form a community, and that's hard to find in SL. It does help a lot if you are fond of Victorian Steampunk, though.

On the Mainland, I can recommend @ShadowKnight Falconer from personal experience.

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

38 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Most landlords in SL are OK. They have to be, because if they get a bad reputation, they won't be in business very long.

One fellow who's really excellent is @Desmond Shang, the estate owner of Caledon. Caledon's rents are higher than many places, because the people who live there form a community, and that's hard to find in SL. It does help a lot if you are fond of Victorian Steampunk, though.

On the Mainland, I can recommend @ShadowKnight Falconer from personal experience.

I've heard of ShadowKnight.  A friend rent land from that person and had good experience.

[Krystina Ferraris]

I rented a beautiful place for many years with Bella Pointe. Never had an issue and both landlords were super nice and helpful.

[Dragon Mommy]

I've rented from three companies that have treated me well; Excalibur Estates, Dreamseeker, and Fantasyland. 

The best way to protect yourself from unscrupulous landlords is to find ones that have good reviews, and ones with long established business. 

Of the three, Excalibur was my favorite. They were just always on the ball with any issues. The only reason I left was they didn't have any homesteads for rent when I needed one.

[Bagnu]

I pay tier fees  for our Estate to Count Burks. He's almost always available, and extremely knowledgeable and helpful.

[StarlanderGoods]

2 hours ago, Dragon Mommy said:

I've rented from three companies that have treated me well; Excalibur Estates, Dreamseeker, and Fantasyland. 

The best way to protect yourself from unscrupulous landlords is to find ones that have good reviews, and ones with long established business. 

Of the three, Excalibur was my favorite. They were just always on the ball with any issues. The only reason I left was they didn't have any homesteads for rent when I needed one.

I rented from Excalibut Estates too for a while, and had no problems.  In fact Ive never had an issue with a landlord.

[Sorciaa]

7 hours ago, Kimmi Zehetbauer said:

I've heard of ShadowKnight.  A friend rent land from that person and had good experience.

I got a place off Bingo Straits  from him, have had a very good experience with him sofar..Serenity Estates I believe

[Jaylinbridges]

Zoha Islands also owns the Fruit Islands now.  I rented from Zoha for 8 years and never had a problem, even if my neighbors kept blaming me for the lag, and Zoha always found the problem was never with me. I only left for personal family reasons.

I also have rented from a private owner friend who didn't last long, from another pair of owners who were excellent landlords and friends, but cut their holdings back, and from Dreamseeker.   I left my Dreamseeker parcels ( I had three of them) because of their retarded breedables policy, almost as bad as in Bellisseria.  To them all breedables are bad, and there is no difference between the worst and the best.  I would never go back to them, breedables or not.  I don't pay Lindens to inflexible landlords.

I can't say where I live now, because I value my privacy, but they have all the advantages of a private island (no ban lines, no privacy walls) a sane breedable policy based on facts, and competitive rental fees.  I hope they expand their land holdings.

Overall Zoha was the best, and good rates if you asked.  They converted many regions to 30K, and gave the renters the extra prims with no change in rent from the original 15K region.

I have dealt with the Chung families but never rented directly from them. They all seemed reasonable and pleasant - many friends rent from them and I seldom hear any complaints.

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Jaylinbridges

[Alwin Alcott]

18 hours ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

I rented from Fruit Islands a long time ago. The owners back then were excellent landlords. It has since changed hands and I don't know if the "new" owners have continued the tradition. It's worth a shot if you can find a vacant lot or empty homestead. I haven't heard or seen any issues of being arbitrarily evicted by the new owners.

the new owner is Zoha Islands, i don't know about the traditions at Fruit, but in my experience Zoha is also a respectable landlord, never had any issues with them during at least ten years.

[Marianne Little]

Never pay more in advance than you can afford to loose.

This sucks if you get ill and can't log in to pay. Or if you go on a 3 weeks vacation and have to pay 3 weeks.

But I have not had a bad experience with landowners.

[Coffee Pancake]

Don't rent mainland - you don't have parcel control.

Rent on private estates, don't put more in the rental box than you are prepared to lose. This is less of a financial worry and more about giving you the option to easily up and move should your neighbors change or someone decide to set up a club or something.

[Claireschen Hesten]

3 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

Don't rent mainland - you don't have parcel control.

Not entirely true, if you're renting group owned deeded land you get the parcel controls the owner has allowed in your tenant group role. My rented mainland parcel is set up like Bellisseria so i can ban anyone i like but that's it. If i wanted full access control i'd either ditch my Belli home for mainland or go to a private estate

[Myntz Mysterious]

I've used http://amestate.it/lands with no issues from the landlords in the past. Only issues I had where with a neighbor or two... But now I just use mainland with Premium account, I find it easier payment wise without the need to buy Lindens and pay the landlord.

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Myntz Mysterious
info

[Ayashe Ninetails]

1 minute ago, Myntz Mysterious said:

I've used http://amestate.it/lands with no issues from the landlords in the past. Only issues I had where with a neighbor or two... 

I'll second this. Been renting with them since I returned to SL in 2020 and it's been a great experience. Their customer service reps (who you can contact very easily outside of SL via live chat) are super responsive and really nice. I mostly just love how flexible and automated everything is with them, though. I've bounced all over their islands (want more prims, want fewer prims, want a different view, feel like being near mountains, want to be on the beach, etc.) and only ever needed to contact them to let them know when I move so they can forward my remaining rental time to the new plot, if needed.

[Solar Legion]

I rented Mainland once, long ago. I do not remember the name of the rental agency. I had to give it up thanks to financial concerns as well as inability to regularly access Second Life at the time.

since then I have maintained a Linden Home in the older (512 plot) Fantasy style and have - for quite a bit now) been renting a 4096 on an Island that has a 1.1 object bonus. The estate started as Surreal Estates, they then merged with ACS and then after that handed the region I rent in, over to another ACS affiliate - Jessica Chung.

I've not had any issues in that entire time outside of a griefer incursion or four, a few years back.

Overall the advice here to not pay more in advance than you are willing to lose is quite sound advice.

[Ceka Cianci]

I've been living on Skybeam estates since my second year in second life, which would be, 2007 if i remember right..

I've never had a problem at all, not from them or griefers or really many people dropping by at all.. even if I hadn't been in SL for awhile and went over by a day or two, they always knew I would be there to pay for my land and give me a little leeway on it, which I always thought was nice of them..

when you not in world for a bit it can be easy to forget.

you get owners rights of the parcel and some have double prim.. I'm ojn a 1/4 sim right now which is like 7800 a month, but they have other sims where they have smaller lots or even larger..The smaller one are less even with the double prims.

[Jennifer Boyle]

The blunt answer to the OP's question is: The only absoulute protection is to rent only from LL, .i.e., whether mainland, Bellesaria, another Linden home, or a private island. Even that isn't foolproof; LL could abruptly cease operations immediately after your monthly payment.

The numerous people who have advised picking a landlord with a long record and a good reputation are correct, but that isn't foolproof, either. Companies can run into unforeseen problems. Proprietors can die unexpectedly, leaving chaos.

My main reason for posting is that I want to describe the excellent experience I have had with an alternate approach. I have been renting tier, not land, from Ninjaland Rentals, aka Elanthius Flagstaff, since 2009. My experience could not have been better. Once, in 2013, I forgot to pay. I was traveling with no device that could run a viewer when I received the email saying that my rent was overdue, so I could not logon to SL to pay. I replied to the email, describing my situation and was allowed to pay after I returned home a week or so later. I pay L$0.25 per square meter per week. At many levels of mainland ownership, there is a significant saving compared to what it would cost to pay LL directly. The way it works is that you make your land group-owned, and a representative joins your group and donates tier. They have earned my trust, and I keep my rent paid up 6 months in advance in case a prolonged illness keeps me off SL. I could lose that if the proprietor dies or has a prolonged illness; that's a risk I'm willing to take.

Edited May 31, 2022 by Jennifer Boyle

[Bree Giffen]

Pay only on a weekly basis. If things go bad then it’s only a week’s loss. I once rented a parcel but then found a better place. Entirely my fault but I was only out a week’s rent which wasn’t that bad in real life money. If life goes well for a few months then consider renting for longer periods.

[Blaise Glendevon]

Before I moved to Bellesaria, I rented from Willowdale Estate. They were then acquired by Luxory Estates, and I'd highly recommend them for an estate parcel.

I would never rent mainland.