Neighbor MIA

[Jake McNamara]

I own a good chunk of mainland, and I have several neighbors that have been offline for years, yet they still hold onto their land. It would be nice to be able to obtain this land somehow as they clearly aren't using it, and I would like to expand..... thoughts? 

[Leora Greenwood]

All I can think of to suggest is sending them notecards or IMs and to keep trying.  That said, a while ago I was in a similar situation, owning three contiguous parcels on Nautilus and yearning to complete a larger square parcel by buying the neighbor's lot to make the square.  I sent messages forever and never did hear back, sigh.

[belindacarson]

you *can* actually file a ticket with support.  Use category "abandoned land" and explain your reasons.  Support will look, and if possible, release the land for sale.

 

to save you being spammed, here is the link to the article from Linden Lab:

 

[Alwin Alcott]

2 hours ago, Jake McNamara said:

 It would be nice to be able to obtain this land somehow as they clearly aren't using it, and I would like to expand..... thoughts? 

if they chose to hold it, and paying for it,  is their money as good as yours. 

If you want to expand, you also could start looking for another place to live.

That you don't see people online, doesn't mean they are not online, or on alts.
There also are old accounts that payd a nice amount of money as, a not continued program, life time members .. they are owner since many years. It would be not very ethical those parcels would get reclaimed. As these can also have a special meaning for them.

[Blush Bravin]

19 hours ago, belindacarson said:

you *can* actually file a ticket with support.  Use category "abandoned land" and explain your reasons.  Support will look, and if possible, release the land for sale.

 

to save you being spammed, here is the link to the article from Linden Lab:

 

From the material you linked, you can find the following:

Abandoned land is owned by Governor Linden and contains the term "Abandoned Land" in the parcel name.  The parcel description often includes the name of the previous owner.

Land that is owned by another Resident is not abandoned, even if it appears to be unused.

Therefore this policy does not apply to the land asked about by the OP. 

21 hours ago, Jake McNamara said:

I own a good chunk of mainland, and I have several neighbors that have been offline for years, yet they still hold onto their land. It would be nice to be able to obtain this land somehow as they clearly aren't using it, and I would like to expand..... thoughts? 

I have been in the same situation a few times during my many years owning land in SL. Unfortunately, in all those circumstances, I was never successful in obtaining the desired parcels. Before I understood that the Lab won't intervene in such a circumstance, I filed a couple or so tickets hoping the land could be released since the owner seemed to no longer be in SL, but I learned quickly that the Lab does not do this kind of thing. So eventually, I gave up hearing from the owner(s), sold my land, and purchased in another area that suited my needs more adequately.  I hope you have better luck than I had, but if not, perhaps it's time to look elsewhere.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Blush Bravin

[Polenth Yue]

3 hours ago, Blush Bravin said:

I have been in the same situation a few times during my many years owning land in SL. Unfortunately, in all those circumstances, I was never successful in obtaining the desired parcels. Before I understood that the Lab won't intervene in such a circumstance, I filed a couple or so tickets hoping the land could be released since the owner seemed to no longer be in SL, but I learned quickly that the Lab does not do this kind of thing. So eventually, I gave up hearing from the owner(s), sold my land, and purchased in another area that suited my needs more adequately.  I hope you have better luck than I had, but if not, perhaps it's time to look elsewhere.

There are times when the land isn't paid for by the owner, but the automatic system hasn't taken it back. Land claimed a long time back and group land sometimes ends up in this situation. A ticket might work in those cases. But most of the time, people are still paying. They're just not logging in.

[Blush Bravin]

32 minutes ago, Polenth Yue said:

There are times when the land isn't paid for by the owner, but the automatic system hasn't taken it back. Land claimed a long time back and group land sometimes ends up in this situation. A ticket might work in those cases. But most of the time, people are still paying. They're just not logging in.

In all but one of the cases, the land had been claimed back in 2004. I'm pretty sure those lands were claimed by those who were part of the beta test and had the option to pay for lifetime memberships that included land, so the owners don't need to pay any tier or log in to retain their lands. I totally understand why the Lab would not try to reclaim those parcels. Should those lifetime members decide to return after being gone for a very long time, their parcels should be there waiting for them. In the other case, that land appears as though the owner hasn't logged in for years, but I'm sure tier is being collected on that land. Though I have no desire to obtain any of it now, I still run by there every so often just to see if anything has changed. It just amazes me that someone would own nearly a whole region and just not do anything with the land and appears to not be logging in. But we all have our own motivations for how we use or appear to not use our land.  

Back quite a few years ago, I watched nearly a whole region, which had been owned by a rental company, get reclaimed by LL. It was an interesting situation. The owner just stopped logging in, or so it appeared. The renters couldn't get in touch with the owner nor were rents being collected. Some decided to just move to another location fearing that the hammer was going to drop so better to get into something else instead of waiting. Others stayed on because it was free. But soon enough the land switched back to Linden owned and the tenants were given notice to find something else. I don't know if anyone who actually owned land in that region tried to obtain any of it by filing a ticket, but if my memory is correct, the land was eventually auctioned off. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Blush Bravin

[belindacarson]

5 hours ago, Blush Bravin said:

From the material you linked, you can find the following:

Abandoned land is owned by Governor Linden and contains the term "Abandoned Land" in the parcel name.  The parcel description often includes the name of the previous owner.

Land that is owned by another Resident is not abandoned, even if it appears to be unused.

Therefore this policy does not apply to the land asked about by the OP. 

I have been in the same situation a few times during my many years owning land in SL. Unfortunately, in all those circumstances, I was never successful in obtaining the desired parcels. Before I understood that the Lab won't intervene in such a circumstance, I filed a couple or so tickets hoping the land could be released since the owner seemed to no longer be in SL, but I learned quickly that the Lab does not do this kind of thing. So eventually, I gave up hearing from the owner(s), sold my land, and purchased in another area that suited my needs more adequately.  I hope you have better luck than I had, but if not, perhaps it's time to look elsewhere.

you missed the relevant part:  "review" 

 

Review of land that looks abandoned

If you find a parcel that appears to be owned by a defunct account or group, there is a possibility that we can make the parcel available for sale.  However, please note that land owned by a valid account or group is not abandoned, even if it appears to be unused.  Please bear in mind that many Residents have annual accounts, and it may take many months for the account status to expire  if they have chosen to leave or use a different account.  Land cannot be reclaimed simply due to inactivity.

[Qie Niangao]

It used to be common for Group-owned land to go without tier contribution (or without enough contributed tier) for months or years. (It used to be possible to tell how much tier was contributed to any land-owning group, using a little viewer loophole, long since closed.)

This is not an invitation to try under-tiering your group land: you'll be unlucky and lose your land, fate being fickle and all.

That's one way "review" of land may free it up. I've had it work a few times.

[Blush Bravin]

8 hours ago, belindacarson said:

you missed the relevant part:  "review" 

 

Review of land that looks abandoned

If you find a parcel that appears to be owned by a defunct account or group, there is a possibility that we can make the parcel available for sale.  However, please note that land owned by a valid account or group is not abandoned, even if it appears to be unused.  Please bear in mind that many Residents have annual accounts, and it may take many months for the account status to expire  if they have chosen to leave or use a different account.  Land cannot be reclaimed simply due to inactivity.

I did miss that part. Though, as I mentioned in a previous post that I did try filing a ticket long ago on some land I thought was owned by someone long gone from SL, but nothing came of it. It never hurts to try though. I just wouldn't get my hopes up on getting land that seems to be owned by someone who is no longer active in SL. 

[Sparkle Bunny]

On 2/12/2023 at 9:47 PM, Qie Niangao said:

It used to be common for Group-owned land to go without tier contribution (or without enough contributed tier) for months or years.

LL has become a lot more proactive about reclaiming such land over the past year or so, so if any of the parcels the OP wants are group-owned it would be worth putting in a ticket. I do  know of one parcel owned by an absent individual eventually being acquired by a neighbour, so it's not as if it never happens. Yes, some people leave and never cancel their tier payments, but sometimes there's just a lag between their departure and the payments stopping. If they're not paying for it any more, they can't bank on hanging on to it indefinitely.

[David Cartier]

This is one of the main reasons why Mainland is so horrible. I knew several who purchased lifetime accounts and have since passed away. There are others who have simply moved on. Some of them have been dead for over fifteen years, now. Linden Lab perhaps needs to alter the terms so that if someone has not logged in for a certain length of time, say ten years and then five years and then later on, two years, they are given plenty of notice, then are refunded the same amount which they paid for their mainland and it is made available for others to enjoy. 

[Alwin Alcott]

9 hours ago, David Cartier said:

This is one of the main reasons why Mainland is so horrible. 

sorry but with the % of abandoned land, the lifetime accounts are of no influence at all. Just a resident that wants to expand, but hits owned land, is a made problem, not a caused one. ... meaning... the resident that wants to expand, can move.. a life time account can nót. The same with "first land "residents. If they give up the parcel, it's lost forever for them.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Juan Marques

[Sorina Garrigus]

On 2/11/2023 at 1:01 PM, belindacarson said:

you *can* actually file a ticket with support.  Use category "abandoned land" and explain your reasons.  Support will look, and if possible, release the land for sale.

 

to save you being spammed, here is the link to the article from Linden Lab:

 

If LL is still getting money for the land then they probably won't treat it as abandoned. But it's possible it is and they haven't gotten to repoing int yet. I also have the majority of a mainland sim with a couple holes here and there ... I don't really need them. But some thought I was eager to buy so they cranked up the prices and sold thinking I would jump on it ... I got them later when it went back to normal price levels just for the heck of it even though I didn't need it. But if you come off as over eager they might try to sting you with inflated prices. I just wish RL real estate prices did the supply and demand thing properly. If you couldn't tell ... I live in California where if you don't own a house now and you are not rich you are kinda screwed. 

[belindacarson]

2 hours ago, Sorina Garrigus said:

If LL is still getting money for the land then they probably won't treat it as abandoned. But it's possible it is and they haven't gotten to repoing int yet. I also have the majority of a mainland sim with a couple holes here and there ... I don't really need them. But some thought I was eager to buy so they cranked up the prices and sold thinking I would jump on it ... I got them later when it went back to normal price levels just for the heck of it even though I didn't need it. But if you come off as over eager they might try to sting you with inflated prices. I just wish RL real estate prices did the supply and demand thing properly. If you couldn't tell ... I live in California where if you don't own a house now and you are not rich you are kinda screwed. 

The emphasis was on "we'll review it". I.E. file a support ticket and ask Support to review it - there's zero harm in doing that. xD

 

I had hoped to stop people being spammed up to next Christmas with it.

 

re-quoted:

Review of land that looks abandoned

If you find a parcel that appears to be owned by a defunct account or group, there is a possibility that we can make the parcel available for sale.  However, please note that land owned by a valid account or group is not abandoned, even if it appears to be unused.  Please bear in mind that many Residents have annual accounts, and it may take many months for the account status to expire  if they have chosen to leave or use a different account.  Land cannot be reclaimed simply due to inactivity.

[Sorina Garrigus]

40 minutes ago, belindacarson said:

The emphasis was on "we'll review it". I.E. file a support ticket and ask Support to review it - there's zero harm in doing that.

 

I had hoped to stop people being spammed up to next Christmas with it.

 

re-quoted:

Review of land that looks abandoned

If you find a parcel that appears to be owned by a defunct account or group, there is a possibility that we can make the parcel available for sale.  However, please note that land owned by a valid account or group is not abandoned, even if it appears to be unused.  Please bear in mind that many Residents have annual accounts, and it may take many months for the account status to expire  if they have chosen to leave or use a different account.  Land cannot be reclaimed simply due to inactivity.

Question: did you need the land for land impact reason ... or to expand into reasons. I just ask because I have a zombie city area I am building and I am using experience teleporters to effectively make the city a LOT bigger than the size of the land I am using by using collision teleporters. So you can sorta almost seamlessly double or triple or quadruple etc the space you are using. 

[Prokofy Neva]

On 2/11/2023 at 1:39 PM, Jake McNamara said:

I own a good chunk of mainland, and I have several neighbors that have been offline for years, yet they still hold onto their land. It would be nice to be able to obtain this land somehow as they clearly aren't using it, and I would like to expand..... thoughts? 

I just filed a ticket on that very subject over land of 7000+ where some of the objects protrude on to our land but I don't want to return their whole landscaping. The person hasn't logged in for two years or answered any IMs. But the response was that it was properly covered. So I guess some people pay way in advance or have autopay, lucky them.