Sim is gone and so is my rental

[lookin4d]

Hey everyone, I'm back with another question for you guys. You guys helped me so much with my "SLAM" phone issue that I thought I would give it another go. A couple of weeks ago, February 09 to be exact,I rented a cheap place on a sim that is evidently not there anymore. I say evidently because the group tag is still active and I've gotten no notices about the sim closing. (Which I'm not sure is a thing anyway)I only paid a small amount for a month rental but I'd still like to have the Lindens back I paid for the rent,$200 Lindens a month. I've tried reaching out to the owner, twice now, but get no response. Firstly, as a property renter on a sim,do I get notified if a sim closes? Secondly, can I get my Lindens back, even though it wasn't a fortune? Thirdly, if I can get my Lindens back, how do I go about doing that?

Thanks everyone for any help or tips you might be able to give me for this issue.

[Prokofy Neva]

2 minutes ago, lookin4d said:

Hey everyone, I'm back with another question for you guys. You guys helped me so much with my "SLAM" phone issue that I thought I would give it another go. A couple of weeks ago, February 09 to be exact,I rented a cheap place on a sim that is evidently not there anymore. I say evidently because the group tag is still active and I've gotten no notices about the sim closing. (Which I'm not sure is a thing anyway)I only paid a small amount for a month rental but I'd still like to have the Lindens back I paid for the rent,$200 Lindens a month. I've tried reaching out to the owner, twice now, but get no response. Firstly, as a property renter on a sim,do I get notified if a sim closes? Secondly, can I get my Lindens back, even though it wasn't a fortune? Thirdly, if I can get my Lindens back, how do I go about doing that?

Thanks everyone for any help or tips you might be able to give me for this issue.

Welcome to Second Life! That's how it is. Buyer beware. Study rental boxes when you rent to see if they are refundable (like mine), usually for a small fee. Islands seem more prone to this but fortunately it's not as frequent as you would think from reading the forums.

PS It works the other way, as I can say "Where are my tenants? Scenes don't rez, sims stay crashed, they're gone. Some to Belisseria, where the same things happen."

Every time there is an outage, the tickets come in. "Why can't I rez on YOUR land?" "Why aren't my items visible on YOUR land? Did YOU take them or delete them?" Why is YOUR land lagging?" "Why aren't scenes visible on YOUR land"?

This land is their land. This land's not your land. 

From "California," to the "New York Island"

From the "redwood forest" to the "Blake Sea waters"

This land is made of fantasy.

 

[lookin4d]

Thanks for your reply. I guess I've been very fortunate then. I've rented several properties over the last year and a few have closed down while I was there. They all were very gracious about it and refunded me 100%. So I guess I am lucky that this lesson didn't cost me a fortune.

[Lucia Nightfire]

Never rent anything more than one week at a time.

[Annie Nova]

Also rent from established companies, until I got my homestead, I always rented from Anshe, they've been in SL forever and very reliable. 

[Gwin LeShelle]

200L a month?! For what? 10Li? Maybe you misread and it was weekly? And they kicked your for overstaying? X3 just brainstorming...but really only losing 200L on a rental you are lucky other places usually charge much more for a month. I really hope you will find a new, nice place to live tho ʕ⁠·⁠ᴥ⁠·⁠ʔ

[Maitimo]

6 hours ago, lookin4d said:

Hey everyone, I'm back with another question for you guys. You guys helped me so much with my "SLAM" phone issue that I thought I would give it another go. A couple of weeks ago, February 09 to be exact,I rented a cheap place on a sim that is evidently not there anymore. I say evidently because the group tag is still active and I've gotten no notices about the sim closing. (Which I'm not sure is a thing anyway)I only paid a small amount for a month rental but I'd still like to have the Lindens back I paid for the rent,$200 Lindens a month. I've tried reaching out to the owner, twice now, but get no response. Firstly, as a property renter on a sim,do I get notified if a sim closes? Secondly, can I get my Lindens back, even though it wasn't a fortune? Thirdly, if I can get my Lindens back, how do I go about doing that?

Thanks everyone for any help or tips you might be able to give me for this issue.

You were fortunate that you didn't lose a large amount of money. Unfortunately there isn't any way to get it back, unless you can somehow make contact with the previous landlord and they are feeling generous (which doesn't seem likely in this case).

No, renters would not be notified if a region closes (unless, again, the landlord was kind enough to inform their tenants).  Even land managers don't get notified; I was one of the managers on an estate which closed last year following the death of the owner. While we could figure out roughly when the regions would close, because we knew when the payment was due, we didn't know the exact date and one day Linden Lab just turned it off without warning. Fortunately we had no paid tenants and those who did live there knew that it was going away soon-ish. I warned people a few weeks beforehand not to leave out anything no-copy, because when a region is closed, the items on it do not get auto-returned.

Also - L$200 per month is insanely cheap, even for a very small property, so I'm not really surprised it closed down. It wouldn't take the landlord long to realise that there's no way they can maintain that sort of pricing without paying a huge amount out of their own pocket. 

[Love Zhaoying]

10 minutes ago, Maitimo said:

I warned people a few weeks beforehand not to leave out anything no-copy, because when a region is closed, the items on it do not get auto-returned.

TIL!

[Rick Nightingale]

Hmm... I didn't know about the no-copy items issue either.

Check out who you are renting from, carefully, if you value stability. Until quite recently I wouldn't even consider renting; had always bought mainland. When I decided that I might give it a go and started looking, checking out the owner was top of my list. After passing quite a few, I was fortunate to find a good piece of land from Prokofy, whom I had seen a lot of on the forums here and met (just in passing sort of thing) in world a few times. I felt comfortable enough with what I knew to take the plunge even though I know stuff can go wrong and sometimes happens without any warning to anyone.

If I hadn't found Prokofy's rentals, I most likely wouldn't have rented.

(Not saying there aren't other good land owners too - but like everything in SL, it's all buyer beware and I don't trust people easily.)

Edited February 22, 2023 by Rick Daylight

[Ceka Cianci]

Did the sim just disappear in the last day or so, or has it been gone for a couple of weeks?

If it's only been like a day or so, there may be something going on and it may come back up.. But if it's been a couple of weeks, then ya it's probably gone gone..

If you're just looking for a little spot to call your own, you may want to look at getting the premium membership and doing the annual, which brings the cost down on the membership.. You can get a linden home that comes with the membership, plus 300 in lindens ever week, plus other perks to..

So you won't have to pay someone else for land, get a little something in your pocket every week to boot and only ever have to worry about keeping it up once a year..

 

 

[lookin4d]

1 hour ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Did the sim just disappear in the last day or so, or has it been gone for a couple of weeks?

If it's only been like a day or so, there may be something going on and it may come back up.. But if it's been a couple of weeks, then ya it's probably gone gone..

If you're just looking for a little spot to call your own, you may want to look at getting the premium membership and doing the annual, which brings the cost down on the membership.. You can get a linden home that comes with the membership, plus 300 in lindens ever week, plus other perks to..

So you won't have to pay someone else for land, get a little something in your pocket every week to boot and only ever have to worry about keeping it up once a year..

 

 

It's going on 2 weeks or so at this point.

[lookin4d]

2 hours ago, Rick Daylight said:

Hmm... I didn't know about the no-copy items issue either.

Check out who you are renting from, carefully, if you value stability. Until quite recently I wouldn't even consider renting; had always bought mainland. When I decided that I might give it a go and started looking, checking out the owner was top of my list. After passing quite a few, I was fortunate to find a good piece of land from Prokofy, whom I had seen a lot of on the forums here and met (just in passing sort of thing) in world a few times. I felt comfortable enough with what I knew to take the plunge even though I know stuff can go wrong and sometimes happens without any warning to anyone.

If I hadn't found Prokofy's rentals, I most likely wouldn't have rented.

(Not saying there aren't other good land owners too - but like everything in SL, it's all buyer beware and I don't trust people easily.)

Thanks for your reply. Lesson learned. I'm diggin your avatar, very cool.

[lookin4d]

4 hours ago, Maitimo said:

You were fortunate that you didn't lose a large amount of money. Unfortunately there isn't any way to get it back, unless you can somehow make contact with the previous landlord and they are feeling generous (which doesn't seem likely in this case).

No, renters would not be notified if a region closes (unless, again, the landlord was kind enough to inform their tenants).  Even land managers don't get notified; I was one of the managers on an estate which closed last year following the death of the owner. While we could figure out roughly when the regions would close, because we knew when the payment was due, we didn't know the exact date and one day Linden Lab just turned it off without warning. Fortunately we had no paid tenants and those who did live there knew that it was going away soon-ish. I warned people a few weeks beforehand not to leave out anything no-copy, because when a region is closed, the items on it do not get auto-returned.

Also - L$200 per month is insanely cheap, even for a very small property, so I'm not really surprised it closed down. It wouldn't take the landlord long to realise that there's no way they can maintain that sort of pricing without paying a huge amount out of their own pocket. 

Thank you for the inside on renting. Now I'm more aware maybe I can control my losses better.

[ChinRey]

14 hours ago, lookin4d said:

It's going on 2 weeks or so at this point.

That's a bit long and there may not be a backup copy of the sim anymore. But you should try to file a support ticket to LL about it. They won't give you your land back or refund your rent but in situations like this they are usually willing to reinstall the sim temporarily to give the tenants time to recover their items.

Edited February 23, 2023 by ChinRey

[Anna Salyx]

22 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

That's a bit long and there may not be a backup copy of the sim anymore. But you should try to tile a support ticket to LL about it. They won't give you your land back or refund your rent but in situations like this they are usually willing to reinstall the sim temporarily to give the tenants time to recover their items.

I've done that.  Had a sim go poof on me and I had quite a few NC decor items dotted around my flat. I filed a ticket seeing if there was some way I could at least get those returned.  The sim was brought back online for 24 hours so I could to do a quick mass retrieve. (I wasn't expecting that honestly.  I was just hoping they'd be able to magically put my things back into my inventory maybe lol)  I'm sure it probably not possible in all cases, but it's worth taking the time to file a ticket and see, IMO.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

Happened to me several times too. The landlord disappeared and so then did my little abode.

A Linden Lab support person was so helpful to bring back the region for me temporarily, so I could pick up a few things in an orderly fashion.

I've only been able to rent a homestead at Azure for 15 years now, and later, a bunch of regions, reliably, from Linden Lab directly.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Arduenn Schwartzman

[lookin4d]

16 hours ago, Gwin LeShelle said:

200L a month?! For what? 10Li? Maybe you misread and it was weekly? And they kicked your for overstaying? X3 just brainstorming...but really only losing 200L on a rental you are lucky other places usually charge much more for a month. I really hope you will find a new, nice place to live tho ʕ⁠·⁠ᴥ⁠·⁠ʔ

It was in a trashy trailer park. A secret place I kept.....👣

[lookin4d]

8 hours ago, Anna Salyx said:

I've done that.  Had a sim go poof on me and I had quite a few NC decor items dotted around my flat. I filed a ticket seeing if there was some way I could at least get those returned.  The sim was brought back online for 24 hours so I could to do a quick mass retrieve. (I wasn't expecting that honestly.  I was just hoping they'd be able to magically put my things back into my inventory maybe lol)  I'm sure it probably not possible in all cases, but it's worth taking the time to file a ticket and see, IMO.

I didn't realize that things like this happen. It just never occurred to me that someone would abscond with my rent. When I rent these new digs, I never put anything in them until I've been there at least 3 months. I'm sure that will come back to bite me in the butt. I just have to say, after a year of playing and this is the first time anything like this has happened to me in Second Life, I've been VERY fortunate. Instead of a roving band of thieves, you've got, a roving band of landlords....

Thanks for your response.

[lookin4d]

7 hours ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Happened to me several times too. The landlord disappeared and so then did my little abode.

A Linden Lab support person was so helpful to bring back the region for me temporarily, so I could pick up a few things in an orderly fashion.

I've only been able to rent a homestead at Azure for 15 years now, and later, a bunch of regions, reliably, from Linden Lab directly.

I will look into support at Linden Lab. Couldn't hurt at this point I suppose. I'm going to have to start doing my do diligence. Thanks for your response.

[lookin4d]

9 hours ago, ChinRey said:

That's a bit long and there may not be a backup copy of the sim anymore. But you should try to tile a support ticket to LL about it. They won't give you your land back or refund your rent but in situations like this they are usually willing to reinstall the sim temporarily to give the tenants time to recover their items.

I think after I contact support, I'm just going to leave it as a lesson learned. Thank you for your help, much appreciated.

[lookin4d]

12 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Did the sim just disappear in the last day or so, or has it been gone for a couple of weeks?

If it's only been like a day or so, there may be something going on and it may come back up.. But if it's been a couple of weeks, then ya it's probably gone gone..

If you're just looking for a little spot to call your own, you may want to look at getting the premium membership and doing the annual, which brings the cost down on the membership.. You can get a linden home that comes with the membership, plus 300 in lindens ever week, plus other perks to..

So you won't have to pay someone else for land, get a little something in your pocket every week to boot and only ever have to worry about keeping it up once a year..

 

 

I have a premium membership. I'm not sure how often I pay, it's an automatic thing, I never have to bother with it. I want to say every 6 months maybe every 3 months. That weekly stipend comes in handy. Thanks for your help.

[Ceka Cianci]

2 hours ago, lookin4d said:

I have a premium membership. I'm not sure how often I pay, it's an automatic thing, I never have to bother with it. I want to say every 6 months maybe every 3 months. That weekly stipend comes in handy. Thanks for your help.

You should take advantage of the free  home.. it's roomy if you put something up in the air, that or even stay on the ground.. I have a house boat and love it.. You can  pull your boat right out of your back yard and go boating and exploring for sims and sims of water..

[Maitimo]

21 hours ago, Anna Salyx said:

I've done that.  Had a sim go poof on me and I had quite a few NC decor items dotted around my flat. I filed a ticket seeing if there was some way I could at least get those returned.  The sim was brought back online for 24 hours so I could to do a quick mass retrieve. (I wasn't expecting that honestly.  I was just hoping they'd be able to magically put my things back into my inventory maybe lol)  I'm sure it probably not possible in all cases, but it's worth taking the time to file a ticket and see, IMO.

Definitely worth a try if the OP had any no-copy stuff left out. 2 weeks is nothing - they can stay "available" indefinitely (at least until the server is re-purposed for another region). When I was on the committee as a builder for Fantasy Gay Pride, we had two regions that would be available for a month and then mothballed again until the following year. Our first task when the regions went online each year was to return everything that had gotten left behind the year before. There was always someone who was too slow to pick up their stuff at the end of the event.