For Rent - "Cannot make changes outside owned area"

[CristalViper]

When I try to create rental units, the game will only let me place one room before telling me I "cannot make changes outside owned area", every time I try to remove or add walls. I can add doors, windows, furniture, and flooring. Walls and wallpapers give me the error.

Worth noting: This only happens when the lot type is "residential rental", and when the unit is set to "shared". I can build if I change it to a unit and then back to shared, but after that it won't let me remove the last room on the lot for the above reasons.

I've removed my mods, deleted localthumbcache, repaired my game, and I'm still getting this issue.

[luthienrising]

Hi @CristalViper Are you playing as a Renter or Landlord? If so, there are limitations built into what you can and can't do at different times. Renters have things they can't change. Landlords have things they can't change if the unit is occupied. I'm somewhat going on memory here, but the system IS DEFINITELY complicated.  You might want to have a look at the Tutorials in-game.

[SpacemanBones]

@CristalViper Same here, made a Sim, bought an empty lot, placed a pre-made room, deleted it, now can't build 4 walls without getting that error, so confused..

[CristalViper]

Landlord, and this was a completely fresh lot, so no one was living there yet. I've mostly figured it out, but like you said, it's really complicated. Shared spaces can't be edited at all unless I turn them into a unit and then back into a shared space. And as mentioned in my original post, I can't remove the last room on the lot. Meaning I can delete anything I build but one room is always unchangeable. Which is why I think this is a bug and not just a complex system.

[iamsweetmystery]

Same problem. Suddenly mid-construction of the first unit, I wanted to shift a room a few spaces over to make room for stairs, and I was told I couldn't change it. Had to switch Lot Type back to Residential to continue building. Then I'll switch back when I'm finished. This shouldn't be necessary. The property owner should be able to build as necessary, at least until there are one or more tenants. I was building on an empty lot and there were no other units yet. I hadn't even finished building the shell of the first one because I hadn't finalized the layout yet.

[luthienrising]

@iamsweetmystery @CristalViper @SpacemanBones Just confirming some details here. Does this occur without anything in Mods? And there are no tenants?

[iamsweetmystery]

@luthienrising - You can't mod on PS4. And this was when I was first starting to build the first unit. I wanted to shift the 4th room to make room for stairs. It wouldn't let me. Only 4 empty rooms had been built. Not even wallpaper, flooring or doors. I was still figuring out the layout I wanted. Just the single owner living there. Nothing built for a tenant to rent. Not even any living space for the owner Sim at that point. I've finished the build, but I had to do it by changing the lot to Residential, completing the build, then changing back to Residential Rental and assigning the units.

[luthienrising]

@iamsweetmystery It seems like the options you get vary depending on whether anyone lives there or not. For buying a property, I suspect it's best to do all the editing before moving a landlord in. (A lot of us are still figuring the ins and outs of the system out!)

[iamsweetmystery]

@luthienrising - Seems that way, but I had created a new character for this and she needed to live somewhere. I put her on the big empty lot with the intention of her building her own rentals. While there are workarounds, this really shouldn't be necessary. Like, what about established Sims who want to build a rental unit for family on their home lot, like a side house for their adult child to live in while attending university, or some other such scenario? Seems the devs overlooked that portion of the gameplay when designing it. The owner should always have full building autonomy for any unoccupied units.

[RedheadFrancesca]

I managed to get around this! When building rooms, use the room tool versus single select walls.