Im posting this because I have had conflicting answers from staff in chat. So I hope this brings clarity. Can a town claim ( such as those that come with tycoon and ranks) be used in lieu of a town transfer application?
According to the information provided by the server's Wiki articles, Town Claims can be used in lieu of Town Transfers if and only if the current official ("original") owner of the Town in question has both added you as a current owner of the Town (as listed in /rg info [Town Name] in-game) and has made a Contract on the server's forums consenting to the forfeiture of said Town over to you. It should be noted in this circumstance however that the other party involved in said Contract (the official "original" owner) has the right to negotiate any monetary price they wish for the sale of said Town via Town Claim. For further clarification, here are three different scenarios which demonstrate the aforementioned policy. Scenario 1 Jack is a President and Bob is a Tycoon. Jack owns the Town of Aspen and Bob, seeing how Aspen is a completely flattened area with no residents, wishes to become the new owner of Aspen. If for example, Jack feels that as the owner of two other towns he does not have the time to devote to making Aspen a safe and prosperous community, then Jack could consent to a Town Claim of Aspen by Bob free of charge. Bob and Jack make a Contract stating that Aspen is now officially owned by Bob, and Bob has used up one of his free Town Claims as stipulated by his in-game rank (ie: a Tycoon gets one free Town Claim). Bob is now the "original" owner of Aspen. This is an example of a Town Claim being essentially equivalent to a player claiming ownership over an abandoned Town. There are no server fees payed by any party whatsoever. Scenario 2 Daniel is a President and Maria is an EcoLegend. Daniel is the proud owner of the Town of Harpersville. Daniel took out a 30-day loan against Maria exactly 22 days ago, however, due to unforeseen circumstances, Daniel has been so far unable to recoup all of the necessary funds to pay back Maria. Maria though has agreed to purchase the Town of Harpersville from Daniel in exchange for forgiving the rest of the $150,000 EcoDollars he still owes her for said loan. Daniel considers this proposal carefully and agrees to the terms Maria has laid out. If a Town Transfer of Harpersville from Daniel to Maria were to be completed, Maria would be charged a $150,000 EcoDollar Town Transfer Application processing fee. Maria does not want to lose the funds she had loaned to Daniel because of an application fee, so she is unwilling to complete a Town Transfer. Maria remembers she is entitled to four Town Claims (which she has not used) awarded to her through her EcoLegend status, so she begins filling out a Town Claim Application for ownership over Harpersville. Daniel and Maria alter the terms of their Contract concerning the afforementioned loan and establish a new Contract stipulating the forfeiture of "original" ownership of Harpersville from Daniel to Maria. Maria is now the "original" owner of Harpersville and Daniel is no longer indebted to her. This is an example of a Town Claim being essentially equivalent to a Town Transfer. Either Town ownership exchange can be initiated in this instance, however a Town Claim benefits both players more than a Town Transfer would (ie: both the Town Transfer and Town Claim are worth the same amount or $150,000 EcoDollars). Scenario 3 Sally is an EcoLeader and Catherine is a Tycoon. Catherine owns the Town of Sweetwater which has many active community members and is enclosed by a diamond block border to protect its sprawling, urban skyscrapers from public view. Catherine wants to sell Sweetwater for $1,000,000 EcoDollars to Sally, and Sally suggests that a Town Transfer Application be initiated in order to complete the transaction. Catherine points out to Sally however, that a Town Transfer would cost an additional $150,000 EcoDollars in addition to the $1,000,000 EcoDollars Sally owes her. Sally is not willing to pay more than $1,000,000 EcoDollars in total for ownership of Sweetwater. Sally has used all of her Town Claims as an EcoLeader, so Sally must either become an EcoMaster to earn another Town Claim credit, or a Town Transfer from Catherine to Sally must be carried out. Because Sally does not have the funds for the former, Catherine applies for the latter. Catherine ends up losing $150,000 EcoDollars on this transaction, netting only $850,000 EcoDollars. This is an example of a Town Transfer being used over a Town Claim insofar as a necessity rather than a reasonable choice. The Town Transfer here costs less money than a Town Claim would, but much to the detriment of Catherine. All three scenarios are different, but hopefully each situation shows the positives and negatives of completing a Town Transfer versus a Town Claim and when each type of Town ownership exchange can be conducted. tl;dr @blgordon Yes. A Town Claim can be used in lieu of, or substituted for, a Town Transfer.
https://ecocitycraft.com/forum/wiki/town-claim-application/ This is in the Town Claim Application rules, it is one of the things a claim may be used for. It does however have the same rules as the transfer, you need to have a proper contract in place.
Just to clarify though, your examples are slightly incorrect. Town Transfers, like Town Claims, are applied and paid for by the new owner.
Maybe it would be nice to have a wiki page specifically with these refined examples. @pokeball92870 speaking of the wiki, how's the revamp coming along. Are you still doing that?