Arelith

Using similar code to that involed with boarded NPC ships, replace all the cheap one tile rooms available for rent (upstairs in bars, tenements, ect. add some more, in soulhaven maybe, for example.) with instanced quarters.
Instanced quarters are blank empty rooms with perhaps one or two pieces of module furniture (Exit door should always exist for example), but player fixtures are not saved normally.

Instead, fixture ID and XYZ co-ordinates are stored somewhere, and a unique ID attached to the quarter you "own".

When you interact with the property in any way (Door, sign, storage if it exists), it reserves one of the quarter slots and begins loading your fixtures into it. If you do not interact with your quarter for 15 minutes, and no one is in it, than the slot is unreserved, the fixture database for that room updated, and the fixtures unloaded.

This would allow for rarely active players to own a property without limiting access to other players or increasing server load, while keeping the various more interesting properties rare and distinctive. It could allow for modifying of the server rules to allow any character to own any number of instanced quarters, so that they may have a safehouse in every city, but no player may own more than one *Limited* property.

Potential Issues and solutions
1: It could become impossible to tell if someone resides at a location, or where someone resides, as well as to rob them.

Solution: Whichever interface allows you to rent these properties also allows you to "Visit" someone, populating their home for a limited time to rob them or leave notes on their door. Additionally, these properties probably shouldn't have any storage, requiring characters to use citizen storage or a separately rented bank vault (which could also be instanced)

2: A player could log out in a property and end up logging into someone else's property.

Solution: Assuming a more elegant solution involving checking whether a session ID is valid and teleporting the character out if it's expired isn't viable, this can be solved by simply making sure the area has an entry/external area outside the rooms proper. A hallway before the rooms that all characters that spawn in the area spawn at would prevent anyone from spawning into a claimed property. Where that solution isn't possible the character should simply be ejected to in front of the front door.

Thoughts? Possible problems? Improvements?

I've long ruled this out in favour of careful and artistic area design (the 'more intersesting' properties you menntioned above), whereby every house, even most simple rooms are individual, and in a location that has some meaning. I'm also certain that Arelith benefits from the demand this limited supply generates.

I can defniitely see the benefit this generates for casual players who are not able to maintain a home, but overall it is not a path I wish to go down.

Rejected.