Homes and Property

Who grants it

A hold's ruler or one of their Stewards claims a house, shop or room and grants it to a player from the property menu: aim at its door and press X. In Bruma that is the Count and the County's Stewards, and a Baron or Baroness in their own town (see Nobles and their towns). Inside an Orc stronghold its Chieftain and Banes do it, and a hold's officials have no say there.

Asking for a home

Speak to the ruler or a Steward of the hold you want to live in: the terms are theirs to set. They can also put an empty house up for sale (see Buying a house) or let it out for rent, with a deposit and a weekly rent (see Renting from the hold).

The property menu

Aim at a door or chest of your property and press X. From there the owner locks and unlocks it, names it, cuts keys, hands it to someone else or gives it up. To hand it over, pick that in the menu, then look at the person and press X again.

The hold's officials

The ruler and the Stewards (in a stronghold, the Chieftain and the Banes) manage every property in their own hold: they grant it, take it back, rename it, change its locks, and put an empty house up for rent or, where the hold keeps a treasury, for sale. Who holds those offices is on the Holds & Factions Guide.

Up for sale

A hold's Count, Jarl or Steward, or a Baron or Baroness in their own town, puts an empty house up for sale from its door's property menu, at a price of 1 to 1,000,000 gold. The gold goes to the hold's treasury, so houses are sold only in a hold that keeps one, as Bruma does.

Buying it

Aim at the house's door, press X and choose Buy or rent. The property panel shows the price and the hold's property tax. Choose Buy it, say yes once more, and the house is yours, for the character who paid. Bring the gold with you: the price is paid from the gold you carry, not from the bank. Then cut keys from the door's property menu.

The price you saw

You pay the price the panel showed you. If an official changes the price while your panel is open, nothing is paid and the panel shows the new price: buy again if you still want it. From chat, stand at the door and say /property buy <price>: it buys only at the price you name.

Still one home

A bought house is your character's home, as a granted or rented one is, so the one-home rules apply (see A home for each character): a character who already has a home cannot buy another, and keeps their gold. Only the hold's empty houses are sold; you cannot yet put your own house up for sale.

Its tax

A bought house pays the weekly property tax on its sale price. A sale far below the house's value lowers that value by half at most, so a token price does not escape the tax: a house valued at the standard 2,000 gold and sold for 100 is taxed as if worth 1,000 (see Property tax).

Yours, not your account's

Every house, room and business belongs to one character, the one who got it. Property tax comes out of that character's bank account, rent and takings go to that character, and only that character, and the people holding its keys, can use it.

One home each

Each character may own one home, and each account up to two between its characters. A home is a building, whether a house, a shop or an inn, and a house you rent or buy counts too. A chest or a room granted on its own is not a home and does not count.

Property from before 11 October

On 13 October every house, room and chest from before 11 October was given to one of your characters: the one it was granted to by name, or, if none of your characters carries that name, your first living character on the character list. A house went whole, with its rooms and chests. Your other characters no longer share it, and it counts only as its own character's home. If it went to the wrong character, open a ticket.

Everything inside

Every door and chest inside is yours without being granted one by one; one that another player already owns there stays theirs. Handing the house over or giving it up takes everything inside with it. Naming it, handing it over and giving it up work on the whole house from anywhere inside.

Chests and inner doors

Chests inside open only for you and the hold's property officials, unless you share one or give it to someone from the property menu's Rooms and chests. A shared chest opens for everyone who holds a key to the house. Doors inside stay open unless you lock them or give the room to someone.

Locking

Aim at a door or chest inside and press X: Lock locks just that one. Locking a door in from the street locks every way in, but not the doors inside. A locked door or chest stops everyone else, but you, the people holding its key and the hold's officials walk straight through, with no need to unlock it first.

Chests of their own

A chest claimed on its own, outside a house, starts locked, and should stay that way: an unlocked chest outside a house opens for anyone. Locked, it still opens for you, the people holding its key and the hold's officials. Claimed chests that had been left open outside a house were locked once on 12 October.

Your beds

Every bed in any of the house's rooms is your own. Sleep in one to log out; come back at least 30 minutes later, without playing another of your characters in between, and you wake Well Rested and Well Fed for 2 hours.

Your key ring

Every key you hold is kept on your character's key ring rather than carried as an item, so copies never stack or get mixed up, and a key cannot be dropped or left in a chest. /keys opens your ring as a menu: the keys you hold, and every lock you own. A ring holds up to 64 keys.

Giving a key

Stand beside the player, press X on them and choose Give a key, then the key; or choose the key in /keys, then the player. A menu opens for them to accept or decline it, and they have 30 seconds. The key leaves your ring only when they accept.

Cutting and taking back

The owner cuts a key from the property menu (X at the door or chest), and it goes onto their own ring to give away. /keys also lists every copy of your locks and who holds it: cut another there, or take a single copy back, and that copy stops working at once. Up to 32 keys to one lock can be out at a time.

Keys from before

House keys you carry as items move onto your key ring when you log in. A key left in a chest or sack moves onto the ring of whoever opens it next. A key that no longer opens anything falls off your ring, and you are told.

Named and numbered

A property with a name of its own cuts keys called after it, such as Key to the Jerall View Inn; one without a name cuts keys called after its building, such as Key to Bruma Castle. Each copy after the first carries its own number, so keys never stack and you can tell which is which.

A key for each lock

Inside a house, each chest and inner door has its own key, cut at that chest or door. A key cut at a door in from the street opens the doors in from the street; inner doors and chests need their own. The owner opens them all.

Holding a key

Whoever holds a key can lock and unlock what it opens, and a key to the doors in from the street also lets its holder use the home's weapon racks. Renaming a property does not stop old keys working; new ones carry the new name. To shut everyone out again, the owner can void every key cut for it from the menu, and every copy stops working.

Hanging a weapon

Hold the weapon you want to show and use an empty rack: it hangs there. Use the rack again to take it back. Shield racks take the shield you carry, dagger displays take daggers, and some racks take neither daggers nor bows.

Who may use them

Only the home's owner and the people holding its key can put weapons on its racks or take them down. A weapon on a rack keeps its enchantment, its tempering and its name.

When a home changes hands

If a home changes hands or is given up, the weapons on its racks go to the home's previous owner, whoever of the household hung them: at once if they are online, or when they next log in.

Decoration and the hold's say

The weapons that used to sit on the racks in player buildings are gone, so those racks are free for yours. A rack that still has a weapon of its own keeps it for show: you cannot take it, and it holds nothing of yours. A hold's leaders (its Jarl or Count, a Steward, a Chieftain or a Bane) may take weapons down from racks in their own hold, and keep them; what happens to them next is up to the hold.

Shared with the members

While the faction has a leader, its hall is shared with its members: they sleep in its beds and open, lock and use its chests and doors as the owner does. Members cannot hand it over, give it up, rename it or cut its keys.

It follows the leader

A hall follows the faction's current leader, whoever owns the building: the leader has the owner's say over it, and when the faction has a new leader, the say passes to them at once.

In their own town

A Baron or Baroness looks after the houses of their own town as a Steward does: they grant a house, take it back, assign its rooms and chests, and put it up for sale or rent. The price of a sale and the rent still go to the hold's treasury.

Their own houses

A noble's own houses in their own town do not count against the one-home limits. Outside their town they have no say over property, and they do not set the hold's tax. A quarter of the property tax on their town's houses goes into the fief's own treasury (see Property tax).

Finding a house

Officials list a house at its door for a deposit of up to 20,000 gold and a weekly rent of up to 5,000. The panel at the door shows the terms, and Ask to rent it puts your name down. In chat, /property shows the terms and /property interest puts your name down.

Moving in

If the officials offer it to you, you have 48 hours to come back to the door and move in from the panel, or say /property accept. You pay the deposit and the first week, and the house and its keys are yours to live in. A rented house counts as your character's one home.

Paying rent

Pay at the door from the panel or with /property pay, up to 8 weeks at once; the rent goes to the hold's treasury. When rent falls overdue you and the officials are told, and the officials may remind you, give you a week's grace, or evict you, in which case the hold keeps the deposit.

Leaving

Leave in good standing, with Hand back the keys in the panel or /property leave, and your deposit comes back. You cannot leave while rent is overdue, so pay it first.

At the door

• /property the terms
• /property buy <price> buy a house for sale, at the price you name
• /property interest put your name down
• /property accept move in when offered
• /property pay <weeks> pay rent, 1 to 8 weeks
• /property leave hand back the keys

The rate

A hold has one tax rate, from 0 to 30%, for property and rents alike: property pays it on its value each week. Its Count, Jarl or Steward sets it with /tax <percent>, on the Court tab or on the Treasury page of the faction panel (F3). Until they set one, property pays no tax and inn rents pay the standard 10%. Land held by another faction pays the rate its leader sets on the Treasury page, from 0 to 30%.

The value

A property is valued at 2,000 gold, and a house bought from the hold at its price, or at half its former value if that is more (see Buying a house). At 10%, a house valued at 2,000 gold pays 200 gold a week.

Paying it

Tax is paid at the weekly reckoning, every Sunday at 00:00 UTC, on every owned building on the land, whether a house, a shop or a storehouse, once per building however many doors it has. It goes from the owning character's bank account into the treasury of whoever holds the land, so nobody needs to be online. A chest or room held on its own pays none. If the bank cannot cover it, the tax falls overdue and you are told.

In a noble's town

In a fief, a quarter of the tax on its buildings goes into the fief's own treasury, which takes deposits only: nobody can take gold out of it. The rest goes to the hold, in Bruma the County, as before (see Nobles and their towns).

The Imperial tithe

Bruma is a county of the Empire, and the Empire takes its due. On land in Cyrodiil, a tenth of the property tax each faction collects goes to the Imperial Legion's treasury. It comes out of what the faction collected, not out of your pocket.

Renting a bed

Use a free bed at an inn to rent it: 10 gold for 24 hours, unless the inn's owner has set another price. It is yours alone until the rent runs out, and you can sleep in it to wake Well Rested. You rent one bed at a time across all your characters. In Bruma, try the Jerall View Inn or the Restful Watchman.

Where the rent goes

The rent goes to the inn's owner, less the hold's share; an inn nobody owns pays it all to the hold. That share is the hold's one tax rate, the same it charges on property (see Property tax): its Jarl or Count or a Steward sets it, from 0 to 30%, and until they do, inns pay the standard 10%. /tax shows the rate where you stand. An owner who is away is paid when they next log in.

The owner's bed

An inn's owner can keep one of its beds as their own, to sleep in for free. It is never offered for rent.

Opening

Stand inside a property you own, such as an inn or a shop, and say /business open <name>. Its ledger book goes down in front of you, ready to set on the counter. The business belongs to the character who owns the building, and its takings go to that character.

The ledger

Use the ledger book to run it: the week's and the month's takings, the price of a bed (1 to 200 gold), a log of every rental and change, and a logbook of notes. Take on up to 12 staff, who can set the bed price and write in the logbook too.

Commands

• /business the ledger where you stand
• /business rent <gold> the price of a bed
• /business staff add <name> take on someone who is online as staff (or remove)
• /business note <text> write in the logbook
• /business collect owner: pay out the takings the ledger holds
• /business close owner: close it; the building is a plain home again