Theres been a considerable amount of debate surrounding the gentry the nobility and AL. Unfortunately the exact details about AL are still unknown with regard to the contracts granting them to each land owner.
We currently know that only Bloodline+(gentry+) packages can purchase EP and therefor AL. This makes sense because traditionally untitled landowners were gentry.
How does someone become a land owner when they haven't been granted a title over a county, duchy, or similar fiefdom? Again by tradition we can look at a knights fee as an example. In this case, a knight would be awarded ownership of a fief with the provision he swears to serve the king when called to arms. Often there were provisions allowing another to be sent in lieu of the knight (a lieutenant).
Other examples of land awards may be for working/developing the land and paying a tax. Another could be for services already rendered, such as saving the crown from a would be assassin.
Starting out Ancestral Lands will have no taxes set upon them, making them closer to Allodial Lands than a fief. Any changes to this would constitute a change to an existing contract between the gentry and the king.
It has been said repeatedly that no title holder will lose their position without due cause, meaning your title cannot be taken until a situation has forced you to make a choice. You either stay Loyal and risk being overthrown with your liege, or you risk treason and then should the coup fail your title can be stripped. Shouldn't the gentry have this same protection?
As has been described to us thus far, the gentry could invest alot of effort into developing their lands only to have them suddenly attained by the kings edict and redistributed for control under the dukes or counts of the kingdom with no action of treason or abandonment by the gentry.
I'm proposing SBS implement similar protections on the Ancestral Lands, making them Allodial Lands until some other contract has been signed with their local counts, dukes, or king warranting such unilateral control over the ALs.
I understand that the royals and nobles paid a lot of money for the positions they've received, I also know there are a large number of gentry that also have paid a great deal of money for the position they plan to fill. I don't believe this should be a pay to win game, and especially not with how each tier fills out the population. Every tier of the game is important in its own right and deserves some bit of security that those roles will not be invalidated by other players without some personal choices initiating such a conflict.
TLDR: Gentry need the protections planned for every other position and shouldn't have their role invalidated without some act of crime, treason, etc.
Please upvote if you agree.