Prospective house buyers:
Please be aware that there is a 24 hour cooldown timer between when you first purchase a house and when you can purchase your next one. Additionally, houses are not immediately released for sale when you choose to abandon a dwelling.
Please do not attempt to hold houses for friends in this manner, and please be aware that your choice of house is effectively binding for 24 hours.
Customer service cannot resolve this issue. Players who are in the cooldown period must simply wait for the timer to expire prior to trying again.
In LOTRO Housing, you choose from...
- Four different racially-styled homesteads (landscaped areas containing many different houses). Each homestead has a distinctive architectural style and environment.
- Up to 250 instanced neighborhoods to each homestead, so you can settle down near your friends.
- Thirty different houses per neighborhood: 4 kinship houses, 10 deluxe personal houses, and 16 standard personal houses.
- Over 250 decorations to mix-and-match, including paint for walls and floors, rugs, bookshelves, welcome mats, scenic paintings, even background music!
You can be the elf who chooses to live amongst the Dwarves, but still decorate the interior of your home in the style of your homeland. Next door might live a hobbit who likes living close to Thorin's Halls for easy access to crafting forges. And a Kinship of stout Dwarves might own a great hall and host parties and recruiting events.
How do I purchase a house?
To purchase a house, you must be level 15 or higher. Once you are, visit a Housing Broker (or just go into a housing neighborhood and house hunt).
How much do houses cost?
Houses range in price, but the average prices for Eriador's 3 different sizes are as follows:
- Standard Personal Home - 1 gold to purchase
- Deluxe Personal Home - 7 gold to purchase
- Kinship Home - 15 gold to purchase
What are Housing Brokers and where can I find them?
Housing Brokers are NPCs which players can purchase houses from. Housing Brokers will have a green and gold tabard over their heads and will appear as a green and gold tabard on your radar.
Housing Brokers are available near the entrance to each housing neighborhood. Any player of any race can own any house (providing the meet the level and/or kinship rank requirements). You are not limited to just your race's neighborhood.
Right-click on a Housing Broker to begin interacting with him/her.
The House Purchase panel will appear.
What’s the difference between Standard, Deluxe, and Kinship Houses?
- Standard Houses are single-player houses. They have two stories, contain exterior and interior housing hooks, and can hold one housing chest.
- Deluxe Houses are upscale single-player houses, larger and more expensive than standard houses. Deluxe houses will have more exterior and interior housing hooks, and can hold two housing chests.
- Kinship Houses (or Kinship Halls) are houses created specifically for kinships. Kinship Houses are larger than Standard and Deluxe Houses, have more exterior and interior housings chests, and can hold three housing chests. Only kinship leaders can purchase Kinship Houses. The kinship leader must be in a kinship which has reached Rank (or lifespan) of 7 or higher in order to purchase a Kinship House.
With the House Purchase panel open, click on any of the neighborhoods in the neighborhood list on the left to display houses for sale in that neighborhood.
What is housing upkeep, and how do I pay it?
Think of housing upkeep as rent (or mortgage) that you must pay in order to retain ownership of the house. Housing upkeep is a real-time weekly fee that must be paid in order to avoid house locking. If you own a personal house, (be it standard or deluxe) you are solely responsible for housing upkeep. If your kinship owns a house, any member of the kinship can pay the housing upkeep cost at any time.
To pay housing upkeep:
1. Click on the Housing Maintenance icon on your radar
2. Click on 'Maintenance'
3. Click on 'Deposit Upkeep'
What happens if I don't pay the upkeep?
When housing upkeep is overdue, your house becomes locked and is marked for eventual foreclosure. While your house is locked, you are denied the benefits of home ownership, including entry, access to storage, decorations, travel skill, and vendor discounts. You can unlock your house and prevent foreclosure by paying a restoral fee via the housing maintenance UI. If you lose ownership of your house due to foreclosure, all items in your house will remain in housing escrow until you claim them.
Can I pay upkeep in advance?
Yes. You can pay upkeep up to 26 weeks in advance. When you first purchase a house, the upkeep cost is automatically paid for a month.
How much is the housing upkeep for each housing type?
Standard: 50s upkeep
Deluxe: 150s upkeep
Kinship: 300s upkeep
Once you see an available house that you would like to visit, click on the house address on the right and click ‘Visit’. You will be transported to the selected house in the selected neighborhood.
Once you’re in the neighborhood, feel free to walk around and shop for a house which you like. Perhaps you see houses with a better location or look; you are free to walk around the neighborhood and buy any available house which you’d like.
How do I look at the inside of a house before I buy it?
You can always enter a house that is not currently owned to see its inside.
If you see a house that you’re interested in purchasing, look for a ‘For Sale' sign in its front yard.
Right-click on the For Sale sign to get details such as:
• Address/price of the house
• Number of interior decoration hooks
• Number of exterior decoration hooks
• Number of housing chests allowed
When you’re ready to purchase a house, select BUY HOUSE.
You’ve purchased your house! Along with ownership of the house, you will acquire the following:
• Passive Skill: Neighborhood-Name Home (always on)
• Combat skill: Travel to Personal House: This skill, found in the Housing section of your Skill Tab in your Character Journal, will allow you to return quickly to your personal home. This skill is easily interrupted. Materials required: Travelling Rations Cooldown: 1 hour This skill can be quickslotted.
• Passive Skill: Travel to Personal House (same as the skill above)
Can other characters on my account use the “Travel to Personal House” skill?
Yes. All characters on your account share in the privileges of home ownership. All characters on your account on the same server get the "Travel to Personal House" skill, and all characters will get discounts on the neighborhood vendors.
Players whose kinship owns a Kinship house will also receive the ‘Travel to Kinship House’ skill. Both skills operate independent from themselves and other travel skills, have a cooldown of one hour, and require Travelling Rations.
Now that you own your house, two new icons will appear on your radar.
• Housing Management
• Toggle Decoration Mode
HOUSE MANAGEMENT
The Housing Management panel, accessed by clicking on the corresponding icon in your radar, contains three panels:
Info: This panel lists the details for the house that you are currently visiting (or own).
Maintenance: This panel will display information on your upkeep costs and housing chests. You (or anyone given permission to do so) can pay upkeep costs and unlock housing chests any time from the Maintenance Panel.
Permissions: This panel allows you to manage your housing permissions.
For standard and deluxe houses, there are three player types which you can use to assign housing permissions:
• Individual: To add or remove an individual character to your permissions list, click on ADD or REMOVE and enter the name of the player to add or remove.
• Everyone: Use this to assign housing permissions to every character on your server.
• Kinship: Use this to assign housing permissions to your entire kinship.
For kinship houses, there are six player types which you can use to assign housing permissions:
• Individual: To add or remove an individual character to your permissions list, click on ADD or REMOVE and enter the name of the player to add or remove.
• Kinship Leader: If you are the Kinship Leader, you can determine which housing permissions you would like to have yourself.
• Everyone: Use this to assign housing permissions to every character on your server.
• Kinship Member: Use this to assign housing permissions to Kinship Members.
• Kinship Recruit: Use this to assign housing permissions to Kinship Recruits.
• Kinship Officer: Use this to assign housing permissions to Kinship Officers.
There are five housing permissions which you can assign to individuals, your kinship, or to everyone. Check or uncheck the corresponding boxes to permit/deny the specific housing permissions.
• Visitor: When checked, this permits someone to visit your house at any time. Visitors cannot access your housing chests, pay upkeep, or interfere with your house decorations.
• Housing Chests: When checked, this permits someone to both put items into and take items from a container. (Presently there is no way to grant someone only one of these).
• Upkeep: When checked, this permits someone to pay the upkeep on your house.
• Decorate: When checked, this permits someone to decorate your house.
• Manage Permissions: When checked, this permits someone to manage the permissions of the house. If you grant this to someone, they can change any of the above four permissions at any time.
As the owner of a house, it is very important that you make sure to assign housing permissions wisely!
DECORATING YOUR HOUSE
The Toggle Decoration Mode icon on your radar allows you to toggle decoration mode on and off. Decoration Mode can only be used while you are on the house’s property.
When you enter Decoration Mode, available decoration hooks around the house will appear. By right-clicking on the housing hooks, you can see what kind of housing hook it is, as well as what kinds of furnishings can be used on the housing hook. Only while in Decoration Mode can the house have its decorations changed.
Decoration hooks work in much the same way as you slot equipment and traits.
How do I get items to decorate my house with?
To get items to decorate your house, visit a Housing Furnisher. Housing Furnishers are generally found in the center of neighborhoods. Owning a house in a neighborhood gives you a discount to the vendors there. Remember to buy local!
Decorations are also available in the Auction House. Look in the 'Decoration' tab for current decoration item auctions.
It’s a good idea to check out the Housing Furnishers in each of the four racial areas for different decoration options (including crafting recipes). Each individual Housing Furnisher gives you a bunch of choices for getting started, but there are a lot more options out there. For example, each neighborhood Housing Furnisher offers two kinds of floors and two kinds of walls. One of each is the default for the houses in that neighborhood. However, you can use the flooring and wall surfaces from other race's neighborhoods in yours. So if you want to install a dwarven stone floor in a hobbit house, you can do so.
Housing Furnishers offer many different items which you can decorate your house with. Some of the many items which Housing Furnishers offer are:
Ambient Music Boxes
Floor Paint
Wall Paint
Wall Plaster
Cupboards
Plants and trees
Chandeliers
Floor Paints
Furnaces
Floor Tiles
Rugs
Beds
Chairs
Dressers
Chests (not for storage)
Bookshelves
Vases
Stools
Candelabras
Wells
Note that some items may have crafting requirements in order to use. There’s also Taxidermy NPCs which you can interact with to get mountable trophies of some of your defeated enemies!
I have furnishings. How do I decorate my house with them?
Now that you have furnishings, head back to the house’s property and enter Decoration Mode.
For this example, let’s add a tree stump to the outside lawn.
Step One: Enter Decoration Mode.
Step Two: Find an exterior decoration hook where items can be placed. Both interior and exterior hooks have a blue glow around them.
Step Three: Right-click the exterior decoration hook. You’ll see the exterior decoration hook’s specifics appear, which lists the exterior decoration hook’s type and allowed furnishings.
Step Four: Open your inventory (Press I). You'll notice that all of the furnishings which can be used on this decoration hook will be highlighted in your inventory. (hang decorations)
This will be the case for both interior and exterior decoration hooks. Whenever you right-click a decoration hook and open your inventory, all of the furnishings which can be used on that decoration hook will be highlighted.
Step Five: Drag the furnishing into the exterior decoration hook’s description panel (not the decoration hook itself).
The furnishing has been added!
You can continue to add furnishings to your house wherever exterior and interior housing hooks are available.
Note: You can always remove furnishings from decoration hooks by dragging the furnishing’s icon from the decoration hook back into your inventory.
My question is for the decoration items when you currently hover over the decoration item it says decoration item. Is this a bug or is it how it's suppose to work?
Well, we try to label each item with a description that tells you what it does. As a result, the Decoration items for houses are called "Decoration Item". -Annuvin
How do I rotate my furniture? Is this possible?
With Book 12, it became possible to rotate furniture. To rotate a housing item, right-click it (once it's been placed into a slot) and use the slider to rotate a decoration to your liking.
How do I paint my walls or my change my floor's appearance?
Look inside your house for 'Wall Surface' and 'Wall Color' hooks. Right-click on the one of your choice and drag the wall surface or wall color item into the description panel (as explained above).
STORAGE
What are housing chests and how do I get one?
Housing chests are storage units which can be purchased and placed in player-owned houses. Whether it’s for a personal house or a kinship house, housing chests will allow for additional item storage.
To purchase a housing chest, get to your house property and click Housing Management on your radar.
Your Housing Management panel will appear. Click on Maintenance to open the Maintenance Tab.
Housing chests which are grayed out are available for purchase, while brown chests have already been purchased. Once a housing chest has been purchased, it will be placed inside your house.
NOTE: Any member of a kinship can purchase available housing chests. However, the purchaser will not be able to use them unless he has permission to do so!
How much do housing chests cost?
First chest - 100 silver
Second chest - 500 silver
Third chest - 2 gold, 500 silver
How much space does each housing chest have?
Each housing chest can store 30 items.
How many housing chests can I put in my house?
Standard Houses can have one housing chest.
Deluxe Houses can have two housing chests
Kinship Houses can have three housing chests.
How do I unlock housing chests?
To unlock housing chests:
1. Click on the Housing Maintenance icon on your radar
2. Click on 'Maintenance'
3. Click on 'Unlock Chest'
NOTE: Keep in mind that you must be the owner of the house or have been granted permission to use chests in order to access chests. You must also be at the house in order to unlock and access chests.
Can I move housing chests from one location in the house to another?
No.
What kinds of options are available for housing chests?
Presently, you can grant other players access to place items into a housing chest (as well as take items from a housing chest).
This housing permission is found in the Permissions tab of your Housing Panel.
Presently it is not possible to grant players permission to place items but not take them, or vice versa.
ABANDONING A HOUSE
How do I abandon a house?
To abandon a house, open your Character Journal (Press C) and click on the House Tab. Click ‘Abandon House’ and confirm abandonment by entering your house’s address.
The house will be abandoned. NOTE: Only the character who purchased a house can abandon one.
What happens if I abandon a house? Do I get gold back if I abandon a house?
When you abandon a house, all items inside your house will be immediately placed into your housing escrow. Items must be retrieved within 2 real-time weeks of entering escrow or they will be permanently lost. You will not be refunded any of the money you spent on purchasing or paying upkeep on the house. The house abandoned will not become immediately available for purchase.
You will also need to wait 24 real-time hours from the time you purchased your house before you may purchase a new house.
What is Housing Escrow?
Housing Escrow is where your items go when you lose a house through foreclosure or abandonment.
All of the items in your house (decorations and items in the housing chests) will be placed into your Housing Escrow upon abandonment or foreclosure of a house.
To retrieve your items, visit a Vault-Keeper (Escrow Broker) and choose the ‘Access Housing Escrow’ option.
How long do my items stay in escrow?
When your house is foreclosed on for non payment, items that were in the house are moved into an escrow account that may be accessed via Vault-Keeper. These items will remain in escrow indefinitely.
When a house is abandoned, items in escrow are only available for the following 14 days (13d 23h 59m). After the 14 days have expired, any item left in escrow will decay and no longer be accessible. In-Game Support will not be reimbursing any items lost if you abandon a house.
TAXIDERMY
Show off your prowess and decorate your house at the same time with taxidermy!
Taxidermy works within the Bartering System. By bringing specific purple barter items to a taxidermist, he/she will stuff and mount the animal onto a hookable house item.
For example:
Undamaged Barghest Corpse = Barghest Trophy
Undamaged Cave-Troll Head = Cave Troll Trophy
Undamaged Black Bear Corpse = Black Bear Trophy
Look for Clar Whitethron, found at Whitethorn’s Taxidermy in Bree 30.3s 52.4w (Across the street from the Vault-Keeper), for your taxidermy needs.
MISCELLANEOUS
How can I determine my house’s address if I’ve forgotten it?
Click on the Housing Management icon on your radar and click the Info Panel to determine your house’s address. The house’s purchase and upkeep costs will also be displayed there.
Can just one person own a Kinship house? Or is the Deluxe house the largest you can go for a single person?
Only a kinship leader can buy a kinship house. Kinship Leaders can also buy a personal house. Players that are not kinship leaders can only buy one personal house. Your kinship much be Rank 7 or higher to buy a kinship house. The Kinship Leader must be the one to purchase a kinship house.
Can I sell my house?
No. You can only abandon the house and collect any prepaid upkeep costs which you may have.
This has probably been asked, but are players able to buy houses together? Maybe split the price between it and live together?
It is not currently possible to purchase a house jointly. A house owner can give another person all housing permissions, but ultimately only one person has ownership of a house.
I had heard that mini-maps would be added to the neighborhoods, is this true, and are there any plans to add directional pointers to indicate roads or at least exits. Getting lost in a neighborhood and waiting for fast-travel to cooldown is no fun.
Scenario - Our map panels for neighborhoods are being wrapped up as we chat (well... our UI team has probably gone home for the night by now, but you get my point). The map panels themselves will indicate the roads and locations of houses in each neighborhood.
Scenario - Additionally, you will get a directional indicator pointing you towards the entrance of each neighborhood on your radar ring (like the Town directional indicators).
Can I own more than one house on a server?
You can only have one personal house per server per account. However, if one of your characters is a kinship leader of a kinship of Rank 7 or greater, that character is eligible to purchase a kinship house.
Can you upgrade a house? For example, if I own a standard house, is there anything I can do to change it to a deluxe house?
No. You would need to purchase a deluxe house.
Can you put workbenches or forges in your house? Or vendors?
Not at this time.
Can you visit a neighborhood if it does not show up on the list from the broker?
Yes. You can always visit neighborhoods and have a look around. Unless a house in the neighborhood is available however, you will not be able to purchase a house.
Can I buy a house from another player if that player owns the house?
No. That player would need to abandon the house before you could purchase it.
Can houses be posted in the Auction House?
No. Houses are only available through Housing Brokers. However, decoration items may be posted in the Auction House.
I just bought this house but now it’s up for sale. Why?
Housing is divided up by neighborhood. Since these neighborhoods all mirror one another it is very easy to get lost and end up at a house that looks just like yours, is at the same location but isn’t yours. When this happens use your new Recall Home skill to recall to your actual house. If you are on an alt that can not recall to the house, exit the neighborhood and verify that you entered into the correct neighborhood.
Is there a way to see who owns a particular house?
Yes. As you approach a house, the owner's name will be displayed under your radar (mini-map).
When you purchase a home, your name will be displayed in the billboard, under the radar, and in the Housing Info panel, along with the house address. If you don't want your home to display your name, you can turn the display off under Options->Social Options->Housing->Display my home ownership information .
What are Ambient Music Boxes?
Ambient Music Boxes are Decoration Items which, when hooked, play ambient music around you house. Ambient Music Boxes are placed on the Ambient Music housing hooks. They can be turned off by removing them from the housing hook.
Shop around for many different types!
Are all the neighborhoods the same?
No. All of the houses and neighborhoods for each race differ. Remember that you can purchase an available house in any neighborhood, regardless of which neighborhood the house is in.
Can I transfer ownership of a house to another character on the same account?
It's not possible to directly transfer ownership of a house. However, the owner of the house could abandon the house and have the other character purchase the house. Please be aware that there is a 24 hour cooldown timer between when you first purchase a house and when you can purchase your next one. Additionally, houses are not immediately released for sale when you choose to abandon a dwelling.
Please do not attempt to hold houses for friends in this manner, and please be aware that your choice of house is effectively binding for 24 hours.
Customer service cannot resolve this issue. Players who are in the cooldown period must simply wait for the timer to expire prior to trying again.
Why do i need travelling rations?
Travelling rations are necessary in order to use the Housing Skills ‘Travel to Personal House’ and 'Travel To Kinship House'.
If someone plays on 2 servers, could they have a house on each?
Yes. In fact, they could have a personal house and belong to a kinship with a house on each. Moreover, every character on that server could belong to a different kinship with its own house if they wanted.