The website will be updated to reflect this, where it is currently 'in error' but, for now the following is the actual policy (as detailed in Theressa's post):
Slaves do not own things as they, themselves, are property. The day-to-day administration of that is bordering on impossible as well as impractical. Like a lot of things we leave it to the conscience of our players. However for some of the larger stuff, like property and boats and ships we feel we should be a bit more hard-line as despite the logical similarity of owning a thing there is a world of difference between a teaspoon and a cottage ...
What does this mean? In simple terms, from now a slave will not be able to buy any REB item (plot, improvement, etc.,) or boat/ship (from SLIPWAY or DOCKYARD), nor will such plots, if already owned, be allowed to be altered (upgraded or degraded) regardless of who would pay (so a slave's owner will not be able to upgrade a slave's plot, if they had one).
Those plots and boats ALREADY owned will not be subject to buy-back, forced sale, etc., but will be subject to the ongoing 'no improvements'. We did discuss various measures to be taken (plots to be 'given' to slave owner, be placed in some form of escrow, etc.,), but in the end L`aquera decided that a policy of 'let be' was a more sensible approach.