House Overview

Housing Guide

Welcome to the Banes World Housing Guide. This page covers everything you need to know about placing, managing, customizing, and securing your home.

Overview

Housing is one of the most important systems on the shard. Your house serves as a secure base of operations where you can store items, set up vendors, and build a homestead with friends and guild members.

Account Housing Limits

Each account is granted 2 housing slots by default. You may place up to two houses per account across all characters.

If you wish to own more than two houses, additional housing slot deeds can be purchased from the UO Store. Each deed permanently adds one extra housing slot to your account.

Placing a House

To place a house, you will need a House Placement Tool. Double-click the tool from your backpack to open the placement menu.

House Categories

The placement tool offers four categories of houses:

Category	Description
Classic Houses	Pre-built house designs ranging from small cottages to castles.
2-Story Customizable	Customizable foundations from 7x7 up to 13x13. You design the layout yourself.
3-Story Customizable	Larger customizable foundations from 9x14 up to 18x18. Three floors of building space.
Custom House Contest	Special contest-winning designs including a 23x23 Keep and 32x32 Castle foundation.

Classic House Options

House	Storage	Lockdowns	Cost
Small Old House (6 variants)	425 / 489	212 / 244	35,000 - 36,750
Small Shop (2 variants)	425 / 489	212 / 244	50,250 - 52,250
Small Tower	580 / 667	290 / 333	73,250
Two-Story Villa	1,100 / 1,265	550 / 632	113,500
Sandstone Patio	850 / 1,265	425 / 632	76,250
Log Cabin	1,100 / 1,265	550 / 632	81,250
Guild House	1,370 / 1,576	685 / 788	131,250
Two-Story House (2 variants)	1,370 / 1,576	685 / 788	162,500 - 162,750
Large Patio House	1,370 / 1,576	685 / 788	129,000
Large Marble House	1,370 / 1,576	685 / 788	160,250
Tower	2,119 / 2,437	1,059 / 1,218	366,250
Keep	2,625 / 3,019	1,312 / 1,509	562,500
Castle	4,076 / 4,688	2,038 / 2,344	865,000

Storage values shown as Base / New Vendor System. Actual values may be modified by the global storage scalar.

Placement Rules

• You must have the gold in your bank box to cover the cost.
• Houses cannot be placed in towns, dungeons, or restricted regions.
• You cannot place a house if you are already at your account housing limit.
• After placing a house, the placement tool will remain in your backpack for future use.

Managing Your House

To access your house management menu, double-click the house sign outside your home. The house gump has five main tabs:

Information Tab

Displays general information about your house:

• Owner name
• House type (pre-built or custom)
• Public or Private status
• Decay status and refresh type
• Date built and last traded
• House value
• Total visits

Security Tab

Manage who has access to your house:

• Co-Owners (up to 15) — Can lock down items, secure containers, add friends, and manage most house functions.
• Friends (up to 140) — Can lock down and release items and use the house speech commands.
• Ban List (up to 140) — Banned players cannot enter a public house.
• Access List — For private houses, only players on this list (plus friends, co-owners, and the owner) may enter.
• Public / Private Toggle — The owner can switch the house between public and private mode.

Note: You cannot make a house private while player vendors, vendor rental contracts, or House NPC Vendors/Trainers are present inside.

Storage Tab

View a summary of your house's storage usage:

• Maximum Secure Storage — Total secure item capacity.
• Used by Moving Crate — Items stored in your moving crate.
• Used by Lockdowns — Items that are locked down.
• Used by Secure Containers — Items inside secured containers.
• Available Storage — How much room you have left.
• Maximum Lockdowns — Total lockdown capacity.
• Available Lockdowns — Remaining lockdown slots.
• Vendor Count — Number of vendors placed vs. maximum allowed.

Customize Tab

Options for modifying your house:

• Convert Into Customizable House — Convert a classic house into a customizable foundation (costs may apply).
• Securely Replace This House — Swap a Keep or Castle for another contest house design of the same tier.
• Customize This House — Enter the house customization tool to redesign walls, floors, stairs, and roofing.
• Relocate Moving Crate — Move the crate to your current position inside the house.
• Change House Sign — Choose from dozens of sign styles.
• Change Sign Hanger — Customize the bracket that holds your sign (custom houses only).
• Change Signpost — Change the post style (custom houses only).
• Change Foundation Style — Choose from multiple foundation materials (custom houses only).
• Rename House — Set a custom name for your house sign.
• Sink House — Lower the house by 25 Z levels for a unique sunken appearance (see Sinking Your House below).
• Raise House — Restore a sunken house to its original height.

Note: You cannot customize or convert a house while House NPC Vendors, House Trainers, addon containers (aquariums, elven furniture, vanities, boiling cauldrons), or active auction safes are present.

Ownership Tab

• Demolish House — Permanently destroy your house. All items will drop to the ground or be placed in a moving crate. You cannot demolish while House NPC Vendors or Trainers are inside (GM override available).
• Trade House — Transfer ownership to another player. Both parties must be outside the house and within 5 tiles of the sign.

Sinking Your House

You can sink your house by 25 Z levels, lowering it into the ground for a unique visual effect. This is especially useful for creating underground-style builds or blending houses into terrain.

How It Works

• Found on the Customize tab of the house gump.
• Costs 100,000 gold withdrawn from your bank box.
• The fee is non-refundable — even if you raise the house later.
• All players inside the house will be moved to the ban location when the house is sunk.
• You can raise the house back to its original height at any time for free, but you will not receive a refund.

Important Notes

• Only the house owner can sink or raise a house.
• The ban location is automatically adjusted so visitors are not sent underground.
• Sinking/raising persists through server restarts.

Locking Down Items

Locked down items are anchored in place inside your house. They will not decay and cannot be moved by other players (unless they have appropriate access).

Speech Commands

Say these commands while standing inside your house:

Command	Access Level	Description
"I wish to lock this down"	Friends+	Lock down a targeted item.
"I wish to release this"	Friends+	Release a locked down item.
"I wish to secure this"	Co-Owners+	Secure a targeted container and set access levels.
"I wish to unsecure this"	Owner	Unsecure a targeted container.
"I wish to place a strongbox"	Co-Owners	Place a personal strongbox at your feet.
"I wish to place a trash barrel"	Co-Owners	Place a trash barrel (items are deleted after 3 minutes).
"Remove thyself"	Friends+	Target a player to eject them from the house.
"I ban thee"	Friends+	Target a player to ban them (public houses only).
"I wish to resize my house"	Owner	Must be standing on the house sign. Opens the resize confirmation.

Secure Containers

When you secure a container, you can set its access level:

Level	Who Can Access
Owner	House owner only.
Co-Owners	Owner and co-owners.
Friends	Owner, co-owners, and friends.
Guild	Owner and guild members.
Anyone	Any player (house must be public or player must have access).

Unsecured Item Warnings

When a house friend exits the house, they will receive a warning message if there are unsecured items or containers inside. The warning displays:

• The number of unsecured containers
• The number of unsecured items

This helps prevent accidental item loss from decay. Items that are not locked down or secured will eventually decay and be lost.

Automatic Lockdown Prompt

When you drop an item inside your house, a lockdown/secure prompt will automatically appear if you are a friend of the house. This gump lets you quickly lock down or secure the item without using speech commands. The prompt only triggers for recently dropped items within 3 tiles of a house friend.

Joined Houses

If you own two houses that are placed adjacent to each other, the shard supports seamless interaction between them. When houses share a border and have the same owner:

• You can move freely between the two houses without being blocked.
• You can see items across the border in both houses.
• You can interact with containers and locked down items near the border.
• Items secured in either house will not decay at the border.
• You will not receive false "inaccessible" or "that is secure" messages at boundaries.

Note: Friends and co-owners must be added to each house individually — permissions do not automatically carry over between joined houses.

House Decay

Houses require periodic maintenance to prevent decay. The decay system works as follows:

Decay Types

Type	Description
Ageless	The house will never decay (staff-owned or restricted).
Auto-Refresh	The house refreshes automatically when the owner's account is active. This applies to the newest house on an account.
Manual Refresh	The house must be refreshed manually by having a friend walk inside.
Condemned	The account is inactive. The house will decay through stages until collapse.

Decay Stages

Stage	Condition
Like New	0% - 0.5% of decay period elapsed
Slightly Worn	0.5% - 25%
Somewhat Worn	25% - 50%
Fairly Worn	50% - 75%
Greatly Worn	75% - 95%
In Danger of Collapsing (IDOC)	95% - 100%
Collapsed	100% — The house is destroyed and all items drop.

The full decay period is 180 days.

Refreshing Your House

• If your house is set to Auto-Refresh, simply keeping your account active is enough.
• If your house is set to Manual Refresh, have a friend of the house walk inside periodically.
• Custom (AoS) houses are refreshed when a friend enters the house.

House NPC Vendors and Trainers

You may place House NPC Vendors and House Trainers inside your home. These are special NPCs that provide shop and training services.

Important restrictions when House NPC Vendors or Trainers are present:

• You cannot make the house private.
• You cannot customize the house.
• You cannot convert the house to a customizable foundation.
• You cannot demolish the house (unless you are a GM).
• You must redeed all House NPC Vendors and Trainers before performing any of the above actions.

Tips and Best Practices

• Secure valuable items immediately after placing them in your house. Unsecured items will decay over time.
• Pay attention to exit warnings — if you see the unsecured item warning, go back and lock things down.
• Use the automatic lockdown prompt — when it appears after dropping an item, take advantage of it to secure items quickly.
• Add friends and co-owners carefully — co-owners have significant access to your house.
• Keep your account active to maintain auto-refresh on your primary house.
• Consider sinking your house for a unique look — just remember the gold is non-refundable.
• When joining houses, always verify both houses are on the same account for seamless border interaction.
• Check your storage regularly on the Storage tab to make sure you are not approaching your limits.
• Redeed House NPC Vendors before attempting any house modifications or customization.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I join houses?

A: Put in a help ticket from the location of the houses. Place both house plots as close as you can to each other. In the ticket please advise which house to be the base house. IE: Move the west house to the east house, leaving the east house in place. At this time there is no charge for joining houses. If the houses can not be joined in that area for some reason the ticket will be updated to show the reasoning.

Q: How many houses can I own?

A: Each account starts with 2 housing slots. Additional slots can be purchased from the UO Store.

Q: Can I transfer my house to another player?

A: Yes. Use the Trade House option on the Ownership tab. Both you and the recipient must be outside the house and within 5 tiles of the house sign.

Q: What happens when my house decays?

A: Items drop to the ground around the house location. Some items may be picked up by Grubbers (creatures that spawn at collapsed houses). Deed-based addons are converted back into deeds.

Q: Can I sink any type of house?

A: Yes. The Sink House option is available to the house owner on the Customize tab regardless of house type.

Q: What happens to my items if I sink or raise my house?

A: All players inside are moved to the ban location outside the house. Locked down and secured items move with the house. We recommend verifying item placement after sinking or raising.

Q: My friend owns the house next to mine. Will the joined house features work?

A: No. The seamless border interaction only works when both adjacent houses are owned by the same account. Friends and co-owners of one house do not automatically gain cross-border access.

Q: I'm getting blocked at the border of my two joined houses. What's wrong?

A: Make sure both houses are owned by the same character or characters on the same account. If you recently transferred a house, the system should recognize the shared ownership automatically.