Tough Call

This is a companion to the Business of surfing series I'm doing here. Just to give you some perspective on the types of issues that come up when you rent parcels to the great people here in SL. At Monkey Cove I use the Rent/Buy model, which allows the tenant to have almost as much control over their parcel as I do. This is a great way to go because you don't have to do a lot of maintenance on the parcel once its rented/bought.

I have a small waiting list at Monkey of people that want a spot when one comes available, well to make a long story short a very nice parcel became available and the out going tenant wanted to hand it off to a friend, against my better judgment I did this. Not a great decision by me.

Well the new tenant did and awesome build, beautiful in fact, but there were a few problems; ie fencing off access across the sim boundary and building a physical barrier in the water. The second is strictly prohibited in the covenant. Well needless to say the neighboring parcel owner was not happy. This I could handle, just one person. Unfortunately more complaints came in and I was forced to make a decision.

My choice was to revoke the new tenants lease and satisfy my long term residents or just tell everyone that what's done on an owner's parcel is their business.

I revoked his lease and paid him all the money he put into the rent even the used portion.

I was very unhappy in making this decision, but this is why I did it; The residents that complained had been some of my very first residents, they had gone through the ups, downs and changes in the way I do business. I felt a loyalty to them that was more important then being totally fair and objective. The new tenant was really angry, and I don't blame him, but ultimately I had to do what was right for the existing residents and my business.