I've seen a lot of people who have hotels or lots of different shops on their residence. However, these businesses often run into trouble because there is nothing protecting the rights of tenants and nothing stopping tenants from doing things to other tenant's or the landlord's stuff if flags are granted. So here's the basic premise: The landlord would buy 'lease signs' from the Empire Shop. Basically, a specially-enchanted sign. There would be bulk discounts for more lease signs, so a player could buy a lot and sell them individually to make a profit. The tools would enable the landlord to allocate areas of their residence as lease areas by placing down the sign. They would write the lease cost and rate on the sign. The algorithm would scan upwards until it hit a 9-block wall of solid blocks. From the center point, it would scan outwards in all 4 directions until it hit four 2highx3wide areas of solid blocks, glass, or doors. The floor where the sign was placed would serve as the bottom edge. These 6 edges would serve as the cube which is the lease area. It would then ensure that all walls were solid blocks, glass, or doors. Once the details are confirmed by the landlord, a player who is interested in leasing the area would be able to sign the lease by clicking the sign and typing a confirmation on their end. The tenant can now place/break blocks, build shops, open chests, and use all equipment in the lease area (exclusive of the walls). The landlord would not be able to access the area (inclusive of the walls) while the lease is active (unless expressly written on the sign). They would also not be able to activate fire spread in the residence. The walls would be something that neither the landlord nor the tenant would be able to modify after the lease is signed. They would protect from lava or water or falling blocks. In addition, firespread would be disabled during the lease period. To renew the lease, the tenant pays into the rent by a command. (Basically an escrow.) They can put as much into the rent as they wish, and it is dispensed to the landlord at each renewal date. Tenants would extend the derelict of the residence by their activity, so it would not go derelict unless all tenants and the landlord went inactive. If the landlord no longer wishes to have any leases, they can use a command which provides at least 30 days notice to all tenants. Any additional rent would be refunded and in 30 days the landlord can reclaim the area. Obviously, the landlord cannot unclaim the plot unless all leases have expired. Once a lease expires, the landlord has the opportunity to clean up the leased area and allow another tenant to take on the lease. I think I've got all the holes covered, but if anyone happens to find one please let me know.
I think they've been planning res 'subzones' for a long time and haven't gotten to it yet. This sort of seems like it could just be an extension of that idea, only without the wall/ceiling detecting algorith and just with 2 signs. The whole concept seems like it would be a very niche idea for very few players, so maybe see about getting it incorporated in that bigger plan.
Without the walls, there are many abuses. What if I dump gravel or lava or water from above into a subzone, or the subzone does that to me? What about creating chickens and pushing them out of the subzone? I mean obviously, it's safer than giving build rights but not by as much as you might think.
If a chicken leaves your res now, it gets tp'd back to your res. I'm not sure about gravel, but the flow flag could handle water or lava. Anyway, you could still build walls between the subzones that are part of your res and no subzone. The perimeter just isn't defined by the wall. I'll see if I can find any links to the details later.. Edit: You are right that something could be done to protect people from the res owner. This just seems like a lot of content to add to that end, but maybe.
Residence already has a built in SubZone feature meaning this would be relatively easy to add. It's a good idea as I love marketplaces and actual malls (multiple player shops)
