House was wrongly flagged for auto-demolition.

[Sotaris]

That exactly is how you cancel auto demo, I think people are finding excuses because they didnt do it on time, in any case, if the house is demo'd, there is nothing the gms can do, they cant put the house back up and make it belong to someone again, best case scenario they'll get a "sorry it might be a bug but we dont see it" response, worst case they'll get ignored, but I am pretty sure we dont have the full story as I have cancelled auto demo a lot of times and never had issues, just by entering and tp'ing away

Yeah, I get the feeling OP maybe was a tenant and not the owner, hence it didn't get canceled.

Apparently, entering the house does NOT always reset the timer (bug?). It’s better to double check if the timer reseted or not.

I've seen people claim this, I never encountered it myself or heard anyone close to me. So I take that with a huge grain of salt.

If that was true, they wouldn't have lost the house.

It SHOULD be enough.
It sometimes IS enough.
For some folks it can be enough.

But it won't be, not always, not for everybody.

Or else the OP wouldn't have lost the house.

Assuming they're the real owner and not just a tenant of it.

[SassyAssassin]

This is not true. Zoning into the instanced housing interior is enough. Not everyone has interactive furniture or hired NPCs to "use", and people are not compelled to redecorate regularly if they've already come up with an interior design that they like. If it's not functioning correctly, something is wrong.

Thankfully, got scared there for a minute

[Yeol]

If it’s a personal house, the house owner must enter it to reset the timer.
If it’s an FC house, any FC member entering the house will reset the timer.

Apparently, entering the house does NOT always reset the timer (bug?). It’s better to double check if the timer reseted or not.

[DragonFlyy]

To add, you can also check the status in the Timers window. It will show once you are over the 30 days I believe.

[NanaWiloh]

If it’s a personal house, the house owner must enter it to reset the timer.
If it’s an FC house, any FC member entering the house will reset the timer.

Apparently, entering the house does NOT always reset the timer (bug?). It’s better to double check if the timer reseted or not.

Given how rarely it happens. I would lay odds its caused by specific lines of code and variables being triggered in a specific order. Meaning chances of finding it :are around 1 in however many combination's you make with all the server code.

[ICountFrom0]

This is not true. Zoning into the instanced housing interior is enough. ?

If that was true, they wouldn't have lost the house.

It SHOULD be enough.
It sometimes IS enough.
For some folks it can be enough.

But it won't be, not always, not for everybody.

Or else the OP wouldn't have lost the house.

[Hoodcat]

I had a house since the patch in 2014, just entering the house gives you the message auto demolish aborted. they even send you an email pass the 30 day mark

Its a big ole red text

[MistakeNot]

The help info is wrong, the key word is "use", just entering isn't enough, you have to move an object, use an object, do a thing, interact with a retainer, or otherwise cause the server to notice you exist. It's an intentional trap to make more houses available faster.

GM's won't admit this to you, that's why your in a loop with them.

It is said that there is a bug like that, but it is certainly not how it is supposed to work, nor how it normally works.
I do know that on at least one occasion just entering the house reset the timer for me - without any interaction with anything inside needed.

[Hoodcat]

■Deactivating the Automatic Removal
Preparations for the automatic removal will be deactivated if at least one member of a free company accesses the free company estate, or if the owner of a private estate enters their house at least once before the Removal Date.
To confirm whether the automatic removal status has been deactivated, please go to the “Timers” interface section in-game. If the “Preparing for automatic removal” status has disappeared, this will indicate that the deactivation was successful.

*Please note that the automatic removal status will not be deactivated if a housemate through the house-sharing feature enters a private estate instead of the actual owner.

Thats from the email

Soon as you enter you get a red text aborted message. Ive done it apparently 8 times thats once a year so I'm due soon

[Jojoya]

your info is dead wrong and not sure why people liked what you said. you literally only need to enter your private house to reset the counter. same if you are a fc leader to reset that timer so you don't lose it to the next rank.

Except that isn't always enough as i know from personal experience as a tenant on a friend's house. There is something in the system so owner's entry into the house isn't always registered. In the case of my friend's house, I watched him go inside it and the demo timer did not reset. It wasn't until he interacted with the Mender he had inside that the pending demo cleared from both of our timers.

Considering I don't know anyone who only enters their completely empty house once every 45 days, I've got no comparison point to say "yes, entry only works for some but others also need to interact". But I can say that at least for some, they need to interact with something in the interior on occasion.

It could be a random bug so that the more often someone enters their house, the less likely they are to experience it. On the other hand, most players have at least a Summoning Bell inside for convenience and are likely to use it at least once a month.

Better safe than sorry.

I had this happen too. Lost my Medium house in the Goblet, despite having entered it prior to the demolish and contacting support just gave me the same auto responses for about a week before I just cut my losses.
Terrible service

Sorry you lost the house. I agree that a better response from support would be nice.

But in all honesty, what do you expect them to do as compensation? They can't just give the former owner the house back, especially if it's already been purchased by another player. At best they might be able to refund the last 20% of the plot price but that still leaves you without a house.

I'm not so sure that's true. When I've got the warning my house, it has reset by simply entering my house.

I think it legitimately is an infrequent random bug but unless a player is entering their house intentionally to reset the demo timer after the notification appears, they're not going to think to look for the reset message.

■Deactivating the Automatic Removal
Preparations for the automatic removal will be deactivated if at least one member of a free company accesses the free company estate, or if the owner of a private estate enters their house at least once before the Removal Date.
To confirm whether the automatic removal status has been deactivated, please go to the “Timers” interface section in-game. If the “Preparing for automatic removal” status has disappeared, this will indicate that the deactivation was successful.

*Please note that the automatic removal status will not be deactivated if a housemate through the house-sharing feature enters a private estate instead of the actual owner.

Thats from the email

Soon as you enter you get a red text aborted message. Ive done it apparently 8 times thats once a year so I'm due soon

That makes it sound like SE is aware that entering itself doesn't always deactivate the pending demolition and that the player should confirm it happened.

What it is missing is instruction on what to do if the Estate Timer shows the house still pending demolition after entering.

The next question is whether the player even checks the email associated with their account. A lot of players don't when they use a separate email for gaming accounts. If they don't check their email and they don't check the Estate Timers in game, they may not know their house is pending demolition and that they should be checking for the message after entering.