How does group-owned land work?
Second Life groups can unify their projects and vision through group-owned land. Group-owned land is held by the group, not by any one group member. In order for the group to own land, it must have land contributions, which are donations that members make from their own personal land allocation. The group can own a total amount of land whose size in square meters equals 110% or less of the sum of all group contributions.
Important: Remember that even after your group has sold some or all of their land holdings, if your intention is to "tier down" and not be billed for it, you must remove land contributions to your groups.
To do this, go to Edit > Groups, and double-click the group in question. Then, click the Land & L$ tab. The Your Contribution field needs to be set accordingly. It can be set to 0 if you want to contribute nothing at all.
Total Contribution must be equal to or more than Total Land In Use, or your group risks losing that land.
See How do I change or remove group land contributions? for more information on setting group contributions.
Managing group land contributions can be confusing for many Second Life Residents, so here's an example:
Example
Adam, Bob, and Carol are all members of the "We Love Pretzels" group. They wish to purchase 4096 square meters to build their ultimate pretzel paradise, Pretzeltopia. Since no one person has enough land allocation to buy that much land without paying higher-tier land-use fees, the plan is to have the group own the land, with group land contributions from the group members.
Adam
Adam is a premium subscriber. He doesn't own land, but as a premium member, he can own or contribute 512m2 without additional land-use fees.
Adam's Current Tier: 0(+512) = 512
Adam's Land Owned: 0
Adam's Group Contribution: 0
Adam's Total Land Usage: 0
Adam's Remaining Allocation: 512 - 0 = 512
He decides to donate his 512m2 allocation to the group. He doesn't own land, but his 512m2 is now tied up in the group. He can't buy any more land without going to the next land tier (and paying higher land-use fees.)
Adam's Current Tier: 0(+512) = 512
Adam's Land Owned: 0
Adam's Group Contribution: 512
Adam's Total Land Usage: 512
Adam's Remaining Allocation: 0
Group Total Contribution: 512
Bob
Bob is a Premium member, and owns 3584m2 of land already (which puts him in the 4096(+512) land tier).
Bob's Current Tier: 4096(+512) = 4608
Bob's Land Owned: 3584
Bob's Group Contribution: 0
Bob's Total Land Usage: 3584
Bob's Remaining Allocation: 4608 - 3584 = 1024
Since his maximum allocation is 4608m2, and he currently owns 3584m2, he has 1024m2 to spare. He contributes this 1024m2 to the group. Since his total usage is now 4608m2 he will be unable to buy any more land without moving up a land tier (and paying higher land-use fees).
Bob's Current Tier: 4096(+512) = 4608
Bob's Land Owned: 3584
Bob's Group Contribution: 1024
Bob's Total Land Usage: 4608
Bob's Remaining Allocation: 0
Group Total Contribution: (512 + 1024) = 1536
Carol
Carol is a Premium subscriber, but doesn't own land. However, she's willing to increase her tier to help the group meet its doughy desires.
Carol's Current Tier: 0(+512) = 512
Carol's Land Owned: 0
Carol's Group Contribution: 0
Carol's Total Land Usage: 0
Carol's Remaining Allocation: 512 - 0 = 512
Doing a little kitchen math, Carol figures she needs to go to the 2048(+512) tier to support Pretzeltopia's planned land purchase. She confirms the tier change (to 2048), and contributes all her allocation to the group's land contributions.
Carol's New Current Tier: 2048(+ 512) = 2560
Carol's Land Owned: 0
Carol's Group Contribution: 2560
Carol's Total Land Usage: 2560
Carol's Remaining Allocation: 0
Group Total Contribution: (512 + 1024 + 2560) = 4096
The Group
The group now has 4096m2 of contributions from its members. Groups get a bonus allocation, equal to 10% of the total group contributions members give. As a result, the group can actually own 10% more than its individual members could.
Total Contribution in Group: 4096m2
otal Amount Group Can Own: 4096m2*1.1 = 4505m2
All that remains is for one of the group officers to go to their future home, right-click the land, select About Land, and click on Buy For Group. (Buy For Group allows an officer to send the land directly to the group without owning it themselves. Use this when you've already made group contributions ahead of time, like We Love Pretzels has.)
Additional Information on Group Land Allocation:
If at any time a group owns more land than they have land contributions for, Linden Lab will contact the founder of the group and let them know they need to either contribute more land allocation or release land within 72 hours, or else risk losing some of their land.
Notes:
Group-owned land refers to the group for all aspects of ownership.
Like Linden Dollars paid to a group, parcel directory fees are divided evenly among all group members.
Object return tools consider objects along the following lines:
Owned by parcel owner are group-owned objects
Set to group are objects set to the group but owned by group members
Owned by others are all objects not owned or set to group (including objects owned by group members but not set to group)
If group-owned land is sold, the L$ received is distributed evenly the next day to everyone in the group (members and officers) who has the ability Pay group liabilities and receive group dividends (in the Accounting category of group abilities). If nobody in the group has this ability, the L$ are spread evenly between all members of the group.
If you own land that you've deeded to a group and subsequently abandon it, 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.
If you're a group owner and you're about to shut a group down, you should immediately withdraw donations from the group in order to avoid unexpected tier charges during the shutdown waiting period.
Wondering what happens to group-owned land when the group is disbanded? Read Why was my group disbanded? to find out.
omg this is soooo confusing. I just had to deed my land to a group so my partner could have access to various settings. This used to be accomplished by just setting the land to group but now I actually have to deed it. This just horrifies me, because even after reading the above I have no idea how it works, that just makes no sense to me at all. Now I don't know how to be sure that my land will not be abandoned. Who pays the money for the group land fees? What account does that money come from? Am I now paying two fees for my land? One that's my personal fee and now one that's for the group too? ARGH.
Hi there guest.
I recommend you join the group "SL Land Answers Unlimited" and ask your question there.
Might be useful to give your SL name, if you want anyone to be able to contact you inworld.
If you have an additional account you can have it join the group, that way you know the group won't get closed due to lack of group members.
I'm not sure if you really need to deed the land to the group to accomplish your goals or not - I don't own any land so it's hard for me to get much feel for this stuff.
I've got someone saying they might try to give your questions some attention - so I think I'll defer to them.
SuezanneC Baskerville
Tier has to be contributed to the group for the land to be deeded to the group. This can be done by all members or just one. You don't pay twice. You just allow the group to use whatever amount of the tier you are paying for.
Be very careful doing this. Because the roles in the group *could* allow anyone in that group to abandon your land to Gov. Linden or even sell it. So, when deeding the land to a group make sure that you study the group roles that other members of the group have.
So, in summary, you contribue square meters from the tier level you hold and pay LL for. You must be careful that the other members in the group don't have abilities in the group that could cause you to lose the land. It might be worthwhile to have a group that only you and your partner are members of.
I should have added. IM Barb Carson in world. I can help you there.
OK, group management is a whole other topic so I won't get into that here. But, what Barb said is true, you must be very careful who you add as an owner of the group or give rights to in the role settings. I use an alt as co-owner of my groups. This works well for single owner land, deeded to a group. The above discussion is fine for multiple owners but many of us only have single owner land.
Yes, it is true that for group roles to work or to allow another person access to land settings, the land must be deeded. Only setting the group does not work anymore.
When you deed the land, you contribute the tier you are paying for into the group. That tier may only be used by that group until you withdraw the contribution. So, you are only paying once for the tier fee.
The group must always have enough tier donated to cover the land owned. If, at any time, the land owned exceeds the donated tier, the Lindens will notify the group founder that more tier must be donated or you risk them reclaiming enough land to make up the difference.
Bear in mind that I am talking about mainland tier paid to Linden Lab. I have no knowledge of private estate land.
Please feel free to IM me in world for further assistance. Or, as Suezanne said, join the SL Land Answers Unlimited group and ask there.