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GROUND RENT

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 626 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GROUND See also:

RENT . In See also:Roman See also:law, ground rent (solarium) was an See also:annual rent payable by the lessee of a superficies or perpetual See also:lease of See also:building See also:land. In See also:English law, it appears that the See also:term was at one See also:time popularly used for the houses and lands out of which ground rents issue as well as for the rents themselves (cf. Maundy v. Maundy, 2 See also:Strange, Iwo); and See also:Lord See also:Eldon observed in 1815 that the context in which the term occurred may materially vary its meaning (See also:Stewart v. Alliston, I Mer. 26). But at the See also:present time the accepted meaning of ground rent is the rent at which land is let for the purpose of improvement by building, i.e. a rent charged in respect of the land only and not in respect of the buildings to be placed thereon. It thus conveys the See also:idea of something See also:lower than a See also:rack rent (see RENT); and accordingly if a vendor described See also:property as property for which he paid a " ground rent," without any further explanation of the term, a purchaser would not be obliged to accept the property if it turned out to be held at a rack rent. But while a rack rent is generally higher in amount than a ground rent, the latter is usually better secured, as it carries with it the reversionary See also:interest in buildings and improvements put on the ground after the date at which the ground rent was fixed, and accordingly ground rents have been regarded as a See also:good investment. Trustees empowered to invest See also:money on the See also:security of See also:freehold or See also:copyhold hereditaments, may invest upon freehold ground rents reserved out of See also:house property. In estimating the amount that may be so invested, See also:account may be taken of the value of the houses, as, if the ground rents are not paid, the landlord can re-enter.

Again, where a See also:

settlement authorizes trustees to See also:purchase lands or hereditaments in See also:fee-See also:simple or See also:possession, a purchase of freehold ground rents has been held to be proper. A devise of " ground rent " carries not only the rent but the reversion. Where a See also:tenant is compelled, in See also:order to protect himself in the enjoyment of the land in respect of which his rent is payable, to pay ground rent to a See also:superior landlord (who is of course in a position to distrain on him for it), he is considered as having been authorized by his immediate landlord to apply his rent; due or accruing due, in this manner, and the See also:payment of the ground rent will be held to be payment of the rent itself or See also:part of it. A See also:lodge; should make any payment of this See also:character under the Law of See also:Distress See also:Amendment See also:Act 1908 (s. 3; and see RENT). Ground rents are apportionable (see See also:APPORTIONMENT). In Scots law, the term " ground rent " is not employed, but its See also:place is taken, for See also:practical purposes, by the " ground-annual, " which bears a See also:double meaning. (i.) At the time of the See also:Reformation in See also:Scotland, the lands of the See also:Church were parcelled out by the See also:crown into various lordships—the grantees being called Lords of Erection. In the 17th See also:century these Lords of Erection resigned their superiorities .to the crown, with the exception of the See also:feu-duties, which were to be retained till a See also:price agreed upon for their redemption had been paid. This reserved See also:power of redemption was, however, resigned by the crown on the See also:eve of the See also:Union and the feu-duties became payable in See also:perpetuity to the Lords of Erection as a " ground-annual." (ii.) Speculators in building ground usually See also:grant sub-feus to builders at a high feu-See also:duty. But where sub-feus are prohibited—as they might be, See also:prior to the See also:Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1874—and there is much demand for building ground, the feuars frequently stipulate for an annual rent from the builders rather than for a price payable at once. This annual rent is called a " ground-annual.' Interest is not due on arrears of ground-annuals.

Like other real burdens, ground-annuals may now be freely assigned and conveyed (Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1874, s. 30).- The term " ground rent " in the English sense does not seem to be generally used in the See also:

United States, but is applied in See also:Pennsylvania to a See also:kind of See also:tenure, created by a grant in fee simple, the grantor reserving to himself and his heirs a certain rent, which is the interest of the money value of the land. These " ground rents " are real See also:estate, and, in cases of See also:intestacy, go to the See also:heir. They are rent services and not rent charges—the See also:statute Quia Emptores never having been in force in Pennsylvania, and are subject to all the incidents of such rents (see RENT). The grantee of such a " ground rent " may See also:mortgage, sell, or otherwise dispose of the grant as he pleases; and while the rent is paid the land cannot be sold or the value of the improvements lost. A ground rent being a freehold estate, created by See also:deed and perpetual in duration, no presumption could, at See also:common law, arise from See also:lapse of time, that it had been released. But now, by statute (Act of 27th of See also:April 1855, s. 7), a presumption of See also:release or extinguishment is created where no payment, claim or demand has been made for the rent, nor any See also:declaration or See also:acknowledgment of its existence made or given by the owner of the premises subject to it, for the See also:period of 21 years. Ground rents were formerly irredeemable after a certain time. But the creation of irredeemable ground rents is now forbidden (Pennsylvania Act 7 See also:Assembly, 22nd of April 185o). For English Law see Foa, Landlord and Tenant (3rd ed., See also:London, 19oi); Scots Law, See also:Bell's Principles (loth ed., See also:Edinburgh, 1899); See also:American Law, See also:Bouvier, Law Dict. (See also:Boston and London, 1897).

(A. W.

End of Article: GROUND RENT

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