House Ownership & Decay Changes
The following points summarize the system of player housing and house decay within Ultima Online after Publish 16. (Note that, for the purpose of this document, the term “active account” means one that is paid up – it has nothing to do with the amount of time logged or frequency of play.)
Players who owned multiple houses prior to Publish 16, regardless of whether the multiple houses are on different shards or all on the same shard, are allowed to maintain these houses, but they will need to be refreshed manually.
Acquiring a new house will put all other houses owned by that account on any shard into condemned status, meaning they cannot be refreshed and will decay within 5 days.
Players may opt to own only one house per account, setting that house as primary, and causing any other houses on that account to become condemned and decay. In exchange, the primary house will be automatically refreshed for as long as the account remains active. (See "Primary Houses" below for more details.)
Houses that are owned by inactive game accounts will be marked as condemned and will decay within 5 days. Note: Currently this only applies to accounts that are inactive at the time that the Publish 16 changes take effect. See "Primary Houses" and “Grandfathered Houses” below for more details.
Any player who places a new house (this includes upgrading an old house by redeeding it and replacing it with a new house), or has a house transferred to them will be automatically opted into this system.
If a player places a house, has a house traded to him, or sets a house to Primary, a one-week timer begins. During that time, he may not place another house, have another house traded to him, or set another house as Primary. However, that player can still give away any number of houses on any number of shards without restriction.
You can find out whether your timer is still active by double-clicking a house deed. If you still have a timer, it will say, "You must wait __ days to place a house." Otherwise, you'll just get the house placement tool, which you can then cancel.
Only a house's owner, co-owners, and friends will be able to see a house's current state of decay ("This house is slightly worn," "This house is somewhat worn," etc.) of a house, which will be done by single-clicking that house's sign.
The co-owner feature for houses will continue to exist, with all the rights and privileges they currently enjoy, although being a co-owner will no longer count against your house ownership status.
