Lawmakers respond to ground-rent ruling - Tim Wheeler March
3, 2014
Legislation aims to address court's decision overturning key
reform
Lawmakers in Annapolis moved Monday night to take another
look at Maryland's arcane ground-rent system only days after the state's
highest court invalidated a key element of sweeping reforms enacted seven years
ago.
Emergency ground-rent bills were introduced in both House
and Senate to, as one sponsor put it, "resurrect" some of the
provisions of the law declared unconstitutional Wednesday by the Court of
Appeals.
Since Colonial times, many homes in Baltimore and around the
state sit on ground that is owned by a separate leaseholder. Homeowners on
those properties are legally required to pay rent, usually twice a year, to the
holder of the ground rent. Until 2007, ground-rent owners seeking to collect
unpaid rents could seize homes through "ejectment," sell them and
keep all the money, regardless of the amount owed.
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