I was just wondering if anyone knew of any good characters to marry or make followers just for access to their houses. I am looking to play a kind of spy, some-one living somewhere where infomation is likely to flow freely and I have just married into the Winking Skeever in Solitude - sure enough I have my own room and safe storage here now - but I was just wondering if there was anywhere else I could steal off another character. For the record I have no problem with marrying any race or six to get the property, they'll just be killed afterwards.

If you kill your spouse do you get to stay in their house?

I believe so, there's no "official" way of getting a divorce is there.

But... I don't think you can remarry, can you?

No. I don't care about that though personally, not in this character. It's just an easy and free way to get some potentially good housing.

Hmmmm this interests me as well

(( You should find a list of all marriagable NPCS and what they have to offer. ))

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Marriage

ive tested a few and yes you can kill your spounce and keep the house, remember not every house lived in by a partner will be all theres, some are shared and the items/containers/bed may also be someone elses, make back up saves and test first, i use the blacksmiths at shors stone north of rifyen as it only has the one person living there, it is a man and he had to die(well he didnt have to die but i get fed up with them calling me love every 5mins!) to allow my character to live there with the follower i wanted.
It a good way to get slightly more fitting housesfor certain roles, there are few mineing town houses, a mill and some other city property available if your not picky on the sixual orintation of your character or are just happy to kill them and dump there body so you xan rp the character you want(my prefered style is to 'set up' characters, by getting them property and starting at a different place on the map after finishing the tut, after all its your game you can deside when it starts as long as you have the patience to do the leg work.

After you have befriended anyone, through doing favors or quests, you can visit their house when they're home and take some of their stuff and sleep in their bed ("rested" benefit only). If they've been made a follower, you can enter without a key at any time, I think (done this with Faendal but haven't tried it with anyone else). Of course, with a follower, you can just take their key when trading items. Or kill them and loot it off them. But the person has to be favorably disposed toward you for you to sleep in their bed. As far as I know, anyway. You can sleep in Jarl Balgruf's bed after becoming Thane of Whiterun, for example. Heh, there's a storyline for you. "The Spy of Dragonreach."

One of my characters killed Faendal after he was a follower (caught him with Camilla in Breezehome), and then I had a nice secret hideout in Riverwood. It's well-placed for a spy to keep an eye on Delphine -- she's acting suspiciously. Uthgerd is marryable and has a nice little home in Whiterun that's close to the houses of clans Battle-Born and Gray-Mane. Whiterun is the Lisbon of Skyrim, a neutral city likely containing agents from both sides in the war. In Windhelm, Viola Giordano has a nice house. There's a spoiler to making her marryable. Just tell her about anything you come across that involves her.

Will the chests in the house be safe?

For the most part, outside of Dungeons and Barracks, if the container says Chest, it will not respawn. Ownership is the only issue to worry about.