House

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Houses are part of the player housing system in LotRO. Player houses are located in four homesteads. Three different kinds of houses are available: Standard Houses and Deluxe Houses for personal homes, and Kinship Houses for kinships. The style of houses are different for each of the four homesteads depending on the area.

Basics

House types

Buying a house

  • The prospective house buyer must be at least level 15.
  • Only one house per account-and-server is allowed.
  • Any current house must be abandoned before buying another house.
  • Buying a house triggers a 24-hour cooldown before buying a new house, should you select the wrong world or street address. This is counted from the time of buying, not from abandoning the house.
  • Any race can buy a house anywhere, no restrictions apply.
New Personal House
Congratulations on buying your first house! Be sure to pay your weekly upkeep. you can pay up to 26 weeks in advance via the housing management panel.

You can see information about your house in the House panel which can be accessed via the Start menu under 'Character."

To visit your house, enter the Neighborhood Gate near the broker you bought the house from and choose the Neighborhood with your house.

Owning a house gives you a discount to purchases from vendors in your neighborhood as well as a new skill which allows you to travel instantly to your new home.

Weekly maintenance fee

  • The fee depends on the size of the house and the street address.
    • Standard houses: about 50 - 55 silver / week.
    • Deluxe houses : about 150 - 165 silver / week.
    • Kinship houses: 285 - 345 silver / week.
  • The fee can be paid up to 26 weeks in advance.
  • The fee can be paid at the Character Panels House tab from anywhere in Middle-earth, or on the house button in the radar while standing in front of the house.

Benefits of Home Ownership

  • All characters on the "owning account" have full access to the house and its features.
  • Can use the Travel to Personal House skill.
  • Can pay maintenance.
  • Can use the storage chest.
  • Can handle indoor and outdoor decorations.
  • Can use the house's mailbox.
  • Receive a 10% Discount from the Vendors in the town square. If your Kinship Hall is in the same Homestead, the discount rises to 20%.
Note: At the Permissions tab (of the House window) it is possible to grant access for other characters and/or the kinship to all of the features and options described above, but not to abandon the house.

Housing Storage

  • Standard, Deluxe and Kinship houses all have storage available. It appears as a chest inside a house.
  • Housing Storage allows you to share items among any character on the same server who has access to the storage.
  • The Housing Maintenance Panel controls who has access to the house. For a personal house, all characters on the account are considered owners of the house, so they automatically have access to the house and its storage. Permission to access the storage may be given to other characters or to all members of the owner's kinship.
  • The owner of a personal house can store bound items. Items bound to account can be shared this way by all characters on the same account and server. Nevertheless, items bound to a character can be retrieved by that character only.
  • Initial storage is 30 slots. Upgrades can be purchased for In-game Currency or Mithril Coins:
  • Upgrades for personal houses are specific to account and server. Once purchased, they remain available should the owner buy another house.
  • Housing Storage upgrades are not available in the LOTRO Store.

Housing Escrow

  • If your house is foreclosed upon or abandoned, any items in your Housing Storage are placed in Escrow.
  • You can view any Escrow you may have at any Vault-keeper or Escrow Broker.
  • Should you purchase another house, your Housing Storage will automatically be filled with any Escrow items you may have.
If this occurs, you may need to purchase additional Housing Storage to "free" up space so that you can add things to your Housing Storage.

Housing Management

When a character is near their home, two icons show up on the lower left of the mini-map radar, one is for Housing Management and the other is Toggle Decoration Mode. The latter is for placing and arranging decorations; it displays the decoration slots within the house or its garden. A character with appropriate permissions may drag and drop items to and fro these slots, rotate items within them, etc.

The Housing panel has three tabs:

  • Info - Displays static info for the house: address, purchase cost and upkeep cost.
  • Maintenance - Displays current status of upkeep and perks that are bought from the Lotro store for the house. At this tab it is possible to deposit upkeep for up to 6 weeks in advance.
  • Permissions - Displays and makes it possible to maintain permissions based on "Owner", "Kinship", and "Everyone". For example, it is safe to let anybody enter the house as long as no other permission is granted to "Everyone".
    At this tab it is also possible to Add individuals by name and maintain their permissions separately.

Abandoning a house

  • A house cannot be sold, it is Abandoned, without any refunds.
  • The option to abandon a house is only available via the general Character panel and the House button (bottommost).
  • Only the owner of the house may choose to abandon it.
  • Any items within the house and its garden goes into the Housing Escrow; see Escrow Broker.
  • Items remain in Escrow for a period of 14 days (including the day of Abandonment or Foreclosure). An Alert will appear to all characters advising of the existence of items in Escrow.
  • If any decoration items present in the house at the time of abandonment are bound to another account, they will be returned to the housing storage of that account's house (if they own one).

Lockout

Lockout occurs if you have failed to pay the current upkeep payment due by the date indicated in the Housing Upkeep panel.
Housing Lockout Pop-up
Housing Lockout Maintenance Panel View
This is the first step before Foreclosure.
  • You will also receive a mail message from the Housing Authority warning you of the pending lockout before the end of the Upkeep period.
From: Housing Authority (date)
To: <name>
Subject: Upkeep Required
Greetings!
We are writing to inform you that your last upkeep credit has been consumed. Please make deposit of additional funds before the next upkeep payment.
Thank You, and have a wonderful day!
-The housing Authority
  • One week later (after the Upkeep date has passed), you will receive another mail message from the Housing Authority
From: Housing Authority (date)
To: <name>
Subject: Home Locked
To Whom it may Concern.
We regret to inform you that the personal residence at <address> <Neighborhood> <Homestead> has been locked due to non-payment of necessary maintenance fees. While your house is locked you lose all benefits of house ownership, including access to storage, Decorations, travel skill and vendor discounts. You can regain access to it at anytime by paying a restoration fee until the house is foreclosed. The restoration fee will increase each week that payment is overdue.
Sincerely,
The Housing Authority
  • Your house will remain locked until the "Restoration Fee" is paid. This amount increases over time and is equal to the outstanding Maintenance Payments.
  • Contents of your storage also chests remain "locked," i.e. you cannot access them; however they are not destroyed.

Foreclosure

  • When the weekly upkeep is drained the house will be locked and all access as well as other privileges are revoked. The owner may unlock the house by paying a restoration fee.
  • Once Locked for 30 days, a final Foreclosure notice will be issued.
Housing Foreclosure Grace Period: You then have 30 days to pay down the upkeep owed.
  • If not brought current, 90 days later, the house will be Foreclosed.
  • Once Foreclosed, a house will be put back on the market and all items inside will be put into Escrow. These items in escrow will stay there indefinitely but you will need to clear out your escrow before you are allowed to buy a new home.
  • Note: A two month grace period will be allowed for homes which are already more than 6 months overdue when Update 11 goes Live. More details in the developer notes.
  • Further Changes are made in Update 13.

Housing Brokers

Houses are sold by Housing Brokers and they are found just outside the entrances of the homesteads respectively and at some other locations. The Housing Brokers are:

It is also possible to buy a house inside a neighbourhood by clicking a "For Sale" sign which opens a panel for the purpose.

House Details

Standard Houses

Standard houses offer:

  • 32 interior decorating hooks
  • 4 exterior decorating hooks
  • 1 exterior doormat hook
  • One storage chest (see details above).

Four different varieties of standard houses are available:

Deluxe Houses

Deluxe houses offer:

  • 72 interior decorating hooks
  • 6 exterior decorating hooks
  • 1 exterior doormat hook
  • One storage chest (see details above).

Four different varieties of deluxe houses are available:

Kinship Houses

Kinship houses offer:

  • 129 interior decorating hooks
  • 11 exterior decorating hooks
  • 1 exterior doormat hook
  • One storage chest (see details above).

Four different varieties of kinship houses are available:

Customizing the House

Each house can be furnished with Decoration Items by placing them in the appropriate "decorating hook". These are available for inside items as well as outdoor items. These also includes colouring and ambient music. The tables below summarize the decorating hooks available in each type of house.

To add, remove or arrange decoration items, click the Toggle Decoration Mode button at the radar. Double- or right-click the highlighted area to open a Decoration panel. Using the inventory of the character, drag items to and from that panel (not to/from the highlighted area). Rotate the item with the slider. It works more or less the same way for painting, music, and more; double- or right-click the hook to open the panel.

Floor and Wall: Players can customize the floor and wall textures and colours by purchasing the appropriate items from the Housing Furnishers inside the homesteads, or via an Auction House for paints crafted by Scholars. Textures and colours may be changed whenever and paintings and texture items are not consumed.

Inside

Furnishing Standard Deluxe Kinship
Storage Chest yes yes yes
Ambient Music yes yes yes
Ceiling 1 4 7
Floors:
    Surface 1 2 2
    Color 1 2 2
    Small hooks 2 5 10
    Large hooks - 1 3
Walls:
    Surface 1 2 2
    Colour 1 2 2
    Small hooks 8 14 20
    Large hooks 6 11 30
Furniture:
    Thin hooks 4 9 15
    Small hooks 8 19 20
    Large hooks 3 9 13
    Special hooks - 1 3

Outside

Furnishing Standard Deluxe Kinship
Doormat yes yes yes
Yard:
    Small hooks 3 4 5
    Large hooks 1 2 3
    Huge hooks - - 2
    Enormous hooks - - 1