Amen.

A terrific 3 part series.

It's been an excellent, albeit disheartening series.

It's been an excellent, albeit disheartening series.

I'm often critical of the Sun, but there is absolutely nothing negative that could possibly be said about this truly enlightening series. I remember reading an article last year about the family who lost a house they owned across the street from where they were living, but didn't truly understand the magnitude of what was happening. Where else can a debt of as little as $100 be settled by taking someone's home which is then sold at auction with the original owner retaining nothing? Let's hope the General Assembly realizes that this is the type of situation it has an obligation to fix. If I find out my delegate doesn't vote for a clean-up, no way do they get my vote next time around.

Poor a rheumatologist and a vice president at St. Agnes Hospital who has to pay $120 a year on his half million dollar house.

I'm not so ignorant as to miss the point of the article. It's fine. It's an important point to make I suppose, but does $120 a year on a $500,000 house apply to most of the Sun's readers? Is the $120 a year really felt?

I spend $2.09 on coffee every morning. That's over $120 a year in Dunkin Donuts.

Of all the worries of the world, of all the daily concerns and life altering considerations, is ground rent that high on your list?

Nonetheless vulgar emails suck. Ignore them, really, just as you would tell your children, don't give them the satisfaction of a response.

TLJ,
The point of the article isn't the small amount of money that is paid by a household per year on ground rent. Rather, the article brings to light that many of these ground rent lease holders purposefully don't take the time to find someone's address to inform them that their ground rent is past due, so that they can confiscate and sell the house for profit for as little as $24 past due.

In fact, all of the individuals in the article were more than willing to pay the past due amount. Due to a poor tracking system, many people do not know that ground rent is enforced on their current property. How would you feel if you recently purchased your dream house downtown and the seller forgot to inform you that your property was on ground rent land? 14 months later, a stranger is knocking on your door demanding $1,800 for a $24 past due bill, or your house would no longer be yours...and you have almost no legal recourse? How would you feel if you recently moved and forgot to update you Bank of America account and missed a payment. Only to have Bank of America inform you that they are demanding $1,800 in legal fees for accessing your $32 late fee, and if you don't pay up, they are taking your house?

These landlords do not need to contact a lawyer and charge these ridiculous fees either. With just a few minutes of simple research, you can locate just about anyone. Make no doubt about it, a majority of the new lease holders are in this business for ulterior motives.

Referring to your question as to does it pertain to many Sun readers...I believe that at least the more than 4,000 households effected over the past 6 years would say "yes".

What I don't understand is there is no registry of ground rent deeds. How do they prove they own the ground rent? Could anyone just send you a bill that you have to pay, or risk losing your house, without you knowing for sure that you aren't being scammed? It seems pretty wide open for fraud.

If Baltimore wants the housing boom to continue, the ground rent threat has to go away. It does nothing but scare potential new residents. This was a great article, it really opened my eyes.

As an attorney for a title company, I think that the Sun deserves a standing ovation for their investigation and bringing this problem to the limelight. Ground rent has a chilling effect on homeownership in Baltimore City, because many out-of-state lenders will not provide financing to Baltimore City homeowners because of the ground rent issue.

It is time to ban the creation of new ground rents, and then require the ground rent holders to register their ground rents with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation. This way, homeowners can simply visit the SDAT website, conduct a real property search for their house, and find the name and address of the ground rent holder, together with the liber/folio of the ground rent deed. The website already states whether a property is subject to a ground rent, so this is not a stretch.

Also, as an aside, I have always wondered if these ground rent holders were paying taxes on ground rent income.

Super article. A classic Baltimore 21st century scam opportunity. Title companies and mortgage lenders can not be depended on to provide buyers the right information. And I see no real changes while the elected are still in bed with the special interests.

Honest to God, how can those attorneys (the ones suing dead people) live with themselves?? If I ever wondered what was lower than a late-night TV ambulance-chaser...well, no need to look any further.

What has the world come to when someone can lose their home over less than what I pay for a tank of gas? At Christmas, no less.

Just when you think people can't sink any lower...

It's a shame that a system that was so very useful in the past has come to this. My parents bought their home with a ground rent in the mid 1940's, and it made their home more affordable because they didn't have to pay for the ground. The system helped many buy homes in those days, and the ground rent holders were not the vultures they appear to be now. I hope that the legislature sets things right, so the benefits of the system can help housing in Baltimore become more affordable.

My parents paid for the land 20 years ago and no longer pay land rent but there is no record of them paying for the land.Could they of got scammed no one has came after them or kicked them out they still live there.What can they do about this situation.The people who owned the land are probably dead.