I have found after having some problems starting this quest that there are lots of bugs for it. I wanted to get the Hjerim house but it turns out that i cannot buy it because the Jarls housecarl says something happened in it. So i read online for alternatives to start the quest and found that you can pickpocket Nilsine Shatter-Shield for a key to the place and the quest will start, but it turns out i killed her for a dark brotherhood quest and her body is gone. I have left the city and came back many times and waiting at the graveyard for the murder thing to take place and nothing happens. I have pretty much realized i am glitched for good. Which svcks because i really want this house and i am on my character which is almost level 80 with over 200 hours on it and i do not want to start a new game just for a house. over 400 days have passed in game. Anyways if i did start a new game a glitch/bug would probably pop up somewhere else in that one.

So, thing is......do you think they are going to fix this in a patch/update. The new patch was just released two days ago and it did not do anything. Is anyone else experiencing bugs with this quest? I would get the house in Solitude but people are saying this is the best house, compared to the one in Solitude, what do you guys think?

P.S I am on the Xbox 360, so please, do not recommended console commands or anything like that.

Thanks.

This should help, but remember Bethesda have already said that no quest fixes will happen until January but I have played through this quest three times and had no problems, it's all about how you get it started, and that is by dialogue

Thanks. I didn't know Bethesda announced quest fixes. That puts my mind at ease. Also i am going to try what you suggested in the spoiler box.

I just tried talking to the captain and there was a dialog option for the murders but after i waited countless days and fast traveled more than 10 times waiting for the murder to happen......nothing showed up. Unfortunately i think it is glitched for me until they patch it, which i am really hoping they will.

I had to complete this quest using an online wiki because the amount of potential things that can bug this quest is staggering. Dialog options not appearing, NPCs vanishing, quest markers pointing in the wrong place etc etc etc. Even if you get the quest its a nightmare to complete.

Unfortunately for you there is very little you can do without a patch. There's always a risk that killing someone for the Dark Brotherhood will prevent you from completing another quest that you have already started. I think that's just the risk associated with that guild.

I really can't imagine Bethesda not sorting this quest out in the next patch. There are so many things that can go wrong that it's almost impossible to work through without a wiki to avoid the bugs (unless your darn lucky of course). Even if you get the house there are a ton of problems with it due to the blood on the ice quest that you complete prior to obtaining it. I would just hold off until January with the next patch.

What kills me is that I followed the clues to a house, lockpicked my way in, was led to a lady that led me to the perp. I pickpocketed him, got his key, cracked into his personal chest, found evidence against him, and yet I had no option to then either turn him into the guard or take him out. I then went back to the red herring dude, who told me what to wait for, but upon exiting the castle the perp runs to the house, and is unkillable. NO FUN! Now I have to wait until January!!! Bogus... I found out my main problem was I didn't take the notes I found in the house with me. GARBAGE.

I have a feeling that any patch/quest fix update that does come in January, or whenever, is not going to help a current character either, only new ones... I too could not get Blood on the ice to trigger no matter what I tried. I think mainly because I didn't really start any of the windhelm stuff until later in my character, and other things I did made the quest not work. So I tried the steal the key from the lady and break in fix, to no avail, it would not trigger.. I have a feeling that even if they patch it, on my current character it will still not work as I've probably "broken" the quest. I did start a new character just to see if I could get the quest to go, and It worked. but my 150 hour invested original character is likely never going to own that house... too bad, so sad.