Why cant I hire a steward?

[Earth]

The wiki says any follower, but all the one's I've tried haven't had the option. No I don't want Lyida for the millionth time.

[smr1957]

It is not any follower. See this page for those eligible to become stewards and the prerequisite quests:
http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Personal_Steward

[Docsprock]

I would recommend: Ingjard from the Dawnguard, Njada from the Companions, or Ilia from Darklight Tower. Anneke from Darkwater Crossing is good too.

[mpd1958]

I just become Thane and then ask my Housecarls to be my Stewards. I don't like followers so there is no loss.

[jle30303]

Assuming you are not using any non-Bethesda mods:

You don't get to appoint a Steward in one of your five basic town houses (Breezehome in Whiterun, Vlindrel in Markarth, Hjerim in Windhelm, Honeyside in Riften, Proudspire in Solitude). Only in the three Hearthfire residences that you have to actually build (Heljarchen Hall in The Pale, Windstad Manor in Hjaalmarch, Lakeview Manor in Falkreath.

Also: To appoint a steward, they have to be able to live in the property. You must therefore have a livable house (minimum: Small House Layout) and sufficient beds (one for you and one for them: if you only build the Small House, they can be there, but you may want to put the beds in the Main Hall instead, and wait until you have a completed Main Hall to do so.)

Thirdly: To appoint somebody as a steward to one of your Hearthfire residences, both you and they must be actually within the bounds of the property.

This means that they must be either (1) Your current follower, and you are at the residence, OR (2) Your housecarl in that hold (Gregor at Heljarchen Hall in The Pale: Rayya at Lakeview Manor in Falkreath: Valdimar at Windstad Manor in Hjaalmarch), who also lives at that residence if you have built the property and have enough bed space.

(If you have not built the property and bed space for the housecarl, they will live at the local Jarl's longhouse, although they will come and patrol round your grounds anyway even if this means walking through hostile terrain to do so, which is pretty much a permanent reproach to the player for not having built a livable house for them.)

Thus, it pretty much follows that the most usual people to appoint as Stewards are the local Housecarls (of course, it's possible that you don't have one yet, if you have bought the property but not yet earned the title of Thane in the holds of Falkreath, Hjaalmarch or The Pale). If you want to appoint somebody else, make them your follower and bring them there. If you want to appoint the housecarl, they'll be already there and you don't have to leave your regular follower behind.

(I assume that Lydia is your regular follower. You'll have to leave her behind to bring along the follower of your choice. Also, NOT all followers can become stewards, although all of the Housecarls can - both the local ones and the five city-based housecarls from the original game: you can move one of the city housecarls out to the country and make them steward, but that will leave you with no housecarl in the residence that he came from.)

[jle30303]

A further annoyance: If you decide to appoint your local Housecarl as your steward in a Hearthfire property, but have another Follower with you at the time, then your old follower will be considered to be dismissed, and wander off.

This is because the process of appointing the housecarl as steward (when they are already present at the house, but are not your current follower), is achieved by the game automatically dismissing your current follower without the usual dialogue, they will just begin to walk home: and replacing them with the housecarl, then instantly promoting the housecarl to steward, which removes *them* from your service too.

If you don't want to take you're quick, you can chase off after your previous follower and re-engage them before they've walked very far. Otherwise, you'll have to head back to wherever it is they consider "home" to pick them back up again. For instance Lydia will head back to Breezehome if you have bought it, or Dragonsreach Palace otherwise. Or your marital home if you have married her, or Sky Haven Temple if you have enrolled her in the Blades.

Alternatively, you can re-hire your new steward as a follower instead, and let the old one go. They will only be able to perform their Steward duties (hiring employees, furnishing the place, buying livestock, defending it from bandits or monsters) while actually at the property.

[gnewna]

Just to add, it's worth choosing a follower other than a housecarl, who you don't particularly want to bring on adventures with you. That way, once you have your housecarl and your steward, you'll have two NPCs guarding your home. Most attacks only happen when you are there (eg bandits will spawn when you approach, fast travel in, or leave the house), so it can be rather handy to have a steward and a housecarl to fight, especially if it's something that spawns right by the house and starts attacking your chickens etc while you're walking up, as the chances are your staff will be closer to the enemy spawn point.

(The exception to the "nothing much will happen when you aren't there, from what I recall, is the "you arrive home and your spouse has been abducted" quest, I'm not sure if that can happen regardless of whether you have your housecarl and/or steward at home.)

[SuperNova SA-MP]

they're hiring him for steward little part 3