OP, as a player without personal house, I think it is completely fair that FCs are getting first dibs. FC housing services more players, which is best available trade off when housing is a limited as it currently is and will be for the foreseeable future.

Quote Originally Posted by Youkulm View Post
Then you're in the wrong FCs. I let any of my members use the gardens all they have to do is ask. Mind you only one person has the ability to use them at a time to prevent trolls griefing ( removing ) / stealing plants. Finding the right FC can take time. Most FC leaders & officers are greedy when it comes to gardens/workshops when there is no need to be. So I don't disagree that most FCs are indeed exactly like what you've stated.
It's not so much the wrong FC and the FC owners are not typically greedy SOBs. Too many FCs have been burned by "trusted" members and SE has done next to nothing to police these actions in the past. There is just a culture of fear due to no restitution options available.

I am no better than the next FC leadership member in regards to this because we have been burned before. Lost several million gil, chest items and our house was demolished. It was pretty bad and when we complained the response was basically "Tough luck. Learn and move on."
Our lowest rank is restrictive, pretty much on Chocobo stable and general house access only. We only keep people at that rank for about a week or two to give them enough time to leave us for somewhere if we are not a fit.
Our next rank allows purchasing and execution of FC actions, and garden planting.
Our next rank allows furniture placement, orchestration, and some FC chest removal permissions.
After this point you into the leadership ranks, which have unfettered access.

Quote Originally Posted by Niqote View Post
It’s my assumption that they did this because they won’t be allowed to have multiple characters on the same servers in a FC together, thus denying them of the precious convenience of trading millions of Gil to each other in a flash via the FC chest. The new restrictions are a pretty big pain in the tail for RMTers, so that's a good thing at least!
There is another significant reason the RMTs are making "fake FCs". The RMTs planning on selling the plots for profit now must deal with a random plot repurchase timer; which does not "guarantee" the buyer access to the demolished plot. The buyer will have to join the FC and just purchase the FC as whole and get the house instantly. FC selling has always been allowed and the RMT are just moving more aggressively in that direction, in comparison to the past.