So, I wanted to buy the home in Riftin, and become thane. I did the skooma quests like I was suposed to. After clearing out the cave, I went back to Jarl Law Giver, and told her I took care of the problem.

Now, by all accounts, I was suposed to be granted two tasks here, help 5 people in the hold, and buy honeyside. If i did this, i would be thane. That didnt happen. All she had was her usual Civil War/ Thieves guild dialog options, nothing about becoming thane.

My first character had no trouble doing this, waltzed in and became thane. My 2nd character didnt try to be thane untill after the rift had fallen into imperial hands. Blackbrier offerd him a home as soon as she saw him. She was a little buggy about leting me be thane, but with some bug work arounds, she let me. Today, I tried to be thane in my 3rd character, and this happend. Just to see what was going on, i started a charachter from scratch, jsut to make sure there were no conflicting quests.

In this 4th character, all I did was Bleak Falls Burrow, kill the first dragon, and a few companions quests. i made it to lvl 10. I then went to rifton to see if it would work. I did the skooma quests again, and to my compleate and utter dismay, no dice. She had no dialog options about becoming thane.

So, what do I have to do? What did I do wrong? Do I have to let the imperials take over in order to buy it? Do I have to just get compleatly lucky?

Im on 360, and am runing patch 1.3, thanks for any one who can help.

I am not sure about your situation, but you might want to check if http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim_talk:I_Done_Got_Thaned! might shed any light on your issue.

I was having this problem a while ago. Apparently you need to have helped someone in Riften already, someone besides the Skooma addicted Argonian, At least that was the problem for me. I just went and helped someone around town and went back to talk to the Jarl and she had a couple new options. One being the tasks for her people and such. If you think you've already done one or more try to complete another and see if it works. There are plenty of miscellaneous tasks in Riften. I went and did the quick easy task where you have to pick up a weapon from Balimund, Riften's Blacksmith, and take it back to the punk who hangs out near the Jarl or to the left outside of the little palace practicing his swing on a battle dummy.

@Inki, sadly, Im on the 360, most of the info on there is for some one with acess to the console. Thanks anyway for trying.

@ Xurts, Thanks, Ill try this the next time I get on. In my 3rd playthrough, I did this, and it didnt work,I treid to help the guy get rid of his fake debt with saphire, no new dialog appeared. Ill try it in my new 4th one that I made today.Thanks again.

Maybe its my new patch? idk, this is the first time Ive had this problem, didnt have it with the other patches.

Any more info on the subject from anyone els would be great, thanks.

But not all of it. There is a point about the specific sequence of dealing with the Steward and the Jarl, plus not taking a break to check upon the house in between. If that does not apply, then ok, but it could be worth double checking.

I read the whole thng. That applies to the problem where the jarl wont give you the option to finish helping people, and be thane if you've gone into the house, and then went back to the jarl to tell her you helped every one.

She wont even give me the option to buy the house, let alone help 5 people, and I compleated the skooma quests all ready.

Again, thanks for your help, and please, if any one can give more info, much obliged.

Ive searched around, and it looks like Im not the only one with this specific peoblem, but I havnt seen any solid work around, only a work around for the problem in the link Inki provided.

have you tried to reload the game just before the skoma dealers quest?

im on the 360 with no patches.

if that doesn't work reboot console, clear system cashe and try it again.

I've heard you need to talk to the Jarl after buying the house but before buying furniture or it could bug out. Not sure how accurate that is, though.

Yes. If you don't you will have the house but not be Jarl.

OP; this happened to me as well. Just keep doing quests for people and it should pop up.

Try following these Steps, Cow500.
Link: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Honeyside

I just became Thane of the Rift, and I bought the house and all upgrades in one session with the steward, then talked to the Jarl and it was all set.

Might be some sort of random glitch, as it didn't affect me.

Always a good idea to keep lots of save data.