Group-owned land facilitates collaboration between group members, making it easy to work together on builds and other projects.

How to tell if land is owned by a group

To find out if land is deeded to a group:

1. Right-click the land and choose About Land.
2. Click the GENERAL tab
3. If it says next to Owner you see (Group Owned), then the land is deeded to a group.

Contributing land allowance and deeding land to a group

Group-owned land is held collectively by a group, not by any one group member. For the group to own land, its members must submit land contributions, donations that members make from their own personal land tier allowance. The group can own a total amount of land whose area equals 110% or less of the sum of all group contributions.

Example: A group of friends have a group together and decide they'd like to have their group own a parcel of land for a shared hangout space. Group members contribute some of their Premium land allowance for a donation total of 1000m of land allowance. Because there's a bonus to group-owned land, the group can own 1100m of land (1000m donated plus 10%, or 100m bonus land).

If you own a parcel of land and would like to transfer ownership of that parcel to a group, you may do so if you have a role in that group which has the role ability Deed land and buy land for group power. 

To transfer a parcel's ownership from yourself to a group and contribute the land allowance to support it at the same time:

1. Right-click the land and choose About Land.
2. In the GENERAL tab, click Set and select the desired group.
3. Select Allow Deed To Group, then Owner Makes Contribution With Deed.
4. Click Deed.

To donate land allowance to a group without transferring a parcel at the same time:

1. In the Second Life Viewer, open the Communicate > Groups menu.
2. Select the group the land is deeded to from the Groups tab of the People window.
3. Click the Group Profile button or right click the group's name and choose View Info.
4. Select Land/Assets.
5. Set Your contribution to your preferred donation amount.
6. Click Save.

Estates and Private Regions

Provided that it is not an Openspace region, you can deed land on an estate if you are the region owner or if the covenant on the estate allows you to resell your parcel. This process is handled slightly differently than on the mainland.

A few things to consider:

• It is best if the group you select does not own any land on the mainland. Estate land and mainland are handled differently, and groups that own both often run into complications. Your group may for example lose certain features (such as traffic reporting) that are calculated differently for estates and mainland.
• The estate owner is the only person responsible for paying Linden Lab for land on an estate; mainland rules for land use fees (tiers, group land contributions, etc) do not apply. Accordingly, do not select Owner Makes Contribution With Deed, as the estate land requires no tier contribution.
• The land management system considers deeding a change of ownership, so you cannot deed land to a group if the Allow Land Resell checkbox is unchecked in the Region tab of the Region/Estate window.

To deed estate land to a group:

1. Select World > Place Profile > About Land to open the About Land window.
2. Select the group you want to deed to. As always, you must have the ability to deed land to this group.
3. Select the Allow Deed to Group checkbox.
4. Click the Deed button.

Note:

• Group members do not gain access to the estate tools.
• Group land on an estate can be reclaimed by the estate owner at any time.

Buying land for a group

When shopping for land, you can buy a parcel for your active group.  This puts the parcel directly under the group's ownership without first belonging to you.  

Before purchasing, confirm that your group's land allocation is equal to or higher than the size of the parcel, and that your active group is the group for which you wish to buy the parcel. You can view your group's current land allocation by going to the group's profile page and checking the Land/Assets tab.

Follow these steps to buy land for a group:

1. Right click the ground on the parcel, then choose About Land.
2. Click the Buy For Group button in the ABOUT LAND window.
3. Confirm your purchase on the BUY LAND window, then click Purchase.

Excess group land

If at any time a group owns more land than they have land contributions for, Linden Lab contacts the founder of the group. Groups members must contribute more land tier credits to the group or release land within 72 hours, or the group risks losing some of their land.

Restricting access to group land

If a parcel of land is owned by (or set to) a group, the landowner (who may also be the group owner) or another group member with the right abilities can restrict access to allow group members only. This is useful for private events. Here's how:

1. Choose World > Place Profile > About Land.
2. Click the GENERAL tab.
3. Verify that the desired group is shown next to Group. If not click Set, choose the right group, and click OK.
4. Click the ACCESS tab.
5. Deselect Allow Public Access.
6. Select Allow Group Access.

Region-wide maturity ratings take precedence over land parcel group access within a region. This means that you can't visit group-owned land in a region that exceeds your maximum maturity rating. If you are at least 18 years old, make sure to set your preferences to access adult content. For more information, see Age-restricted content and Age restriction parcel and estate management features.

Group income and liabilities

Group members share all income and expenses of group-owned land, IF they have the Pay group liabilities and receive group dividends ability.

Like Linden dollars (L$) paid to a group, parcel directory fees are divided evenly among all group members with the ability Pay group liabilities and receive group dividends associated with their group role. If nobody in the group has this ability, the fees are paid by the group owner, who always has all abilities.

If group-owned land is sold, the proceeds are distributed evenly the next day to everyone in the group who has the ability Pay group liabilities and receive group dividends associated with their group role. If nobody in the group has this ability, the L$ go to the group owner, who always has all abilities.

If you own land that you've deeded to a group and subsequently abandoned, the land is returned to Governor Linden and is lost to the group. After abandoning your land, you still need to adjust the amount of land you've donated to the group in order to be billed accurately.

Land tier donated to a group is always considered active, whether or not it's currently being used to hold land; in other words, land tier donated to a group always counts toward your own peak usage, and you are responsible for paying the associated fees. 

If you are owner of a group and plan to disband it, withdraw all donations to avoid unexpected tier charges during the shutdown waiting period.

 Managing objects on group-owned land

Group-owned land provides great flexibility for multiple users to collaborate on builds. However, a poorly organized group-owned parcel can make it difficult to remove other Residents' objects from your land without accidentally removing your own.

There are three categories of objects on group-owned land, as listed in the OBJECTS tab of About Land window (accessed by selecting World > Place Profile > About Land).

Owned by parcel owner

These are objects that have been deeded to the group.

To deed an object to the group:

1. Right-click the object and select Edit.
2. Under the General tab, click the Edit Wrench to choose a group.
3. Select the Share checkbox and click Deed.

Set to group

These are objects owned by group members and set to the group. To set an object to the group:

1. Right-click the object and select Edit.
2. Under the General tab, click the Edit Wrench.
3. Select a group. The object is set to this group.

Owned by others

These are objects owned by people who are not in the group, as well as objects owned by group members, that are not deeded or set to the group. This distinction is very important; anything you build that isn't set to the right group gets placed in this category.

About auto return

If all the objects on your group land are either deeded or set to the group, any third-party objects appear in the Owned by others category, where they can be returned through the About Land window or through auto return. You can set auto return in the OBJECTS tab of the About Land window; it's the field labeled Auto return other Residents' objects (minutes, 0 for off).

Auto return returns all objects categorized as Owned by others (in order of most recent to oldest) before any objects belonging to the group, which helps your group prevent malicious users from trying to attack your build by bringing in their own objects. When you enter a number of minutes, auto return is set instantly and retroactively, so entering 15 (for example) immediately causes any objects marked as Owned by others that have been left for more than 15 minutes to return to their owners. See also Managing land.

Reclaiming group land

If you wish to reclaim land you have donated to a group, you must complete both of the following steps.  Remember that your land contribution to the group (in square meters, not parcels) counts against your total land usage, and does not automatically decrease if you reclaim a parcel of land from the group.  

Failure to remove group land contributions before reclaiming a parcel for your personal use can result in an increase in land tier fees if your total land usage in group contributions and owned parcels exceeds the next land tier.

Remove your existing land contribution 

Go to Communicate > Groups. Select the group the land is deeded to from the GROUPS tab of the People window. Click the Group Profile button. Select Land/Assets. Set Your contribution to "0" sq meters. Click Save.

Sell the land to yourself

Follow these steps: Right-click the land and select About Land.  Click the OBJECTS tab and set Auto return other Residents' objects to "0". Warning: Failure to turn off auto return may result in the return of all objects on the land! On the GENERAL tab, click the Sell Land button. Enter L$0 or L$1 under Set a price. Under Sell the land to, choose Specific person from the dropdown menu and click Select.  Enter your name in the search field of the CHOOSE RESIDENT window and click Go. Select your name and click OK. Under Sell the objects with the land? option, choose No, keep ownership of objects. Click the Set Land For Sale button. Right-click the land and select Buy Land. Click the Purchase button to return the land to your ownership.