Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Real Estate ground-rent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Real Estate ground-rent. Show all posts

Monday, March 10, 2014

Lawmakers respond to ground-rent ruling - Tim Wheeler March 3, 2014

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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Thursday, March 06, 2014

Baltimore Sun follow-up coverage on ground-rent from 2007 to 2011

Baltimore Sun follow-up coverage on ground-rent from 2007 to 2011

History, Real Estate, Real Estate ground-rent, Real Estate Maryland


Follow-up coverage: Ground rent

6:31 AM EST, November 11, 2011

Ground rents that had been canceled are resurrected

Fells Point resident Andrew Newhouse is one of hundreds of homeowners who took advantage of a new law that allowed them to effectively cancel ground rents on land beneath their houses — a vestige of Colonial times that had led to some people losing properties over small unpaid sums.
7:56 PM EST, November 8, 2011

Ground lease holders challenge state law

Another challenge by ground rent holders to Maryland's 2007 reform laws has been revived, with lease holders claiming that a state law unconstitutionally diminished the value of their property by making collection of payments costly and difficult to enforce.
9:06 PM EDT, October 25, 2011

Controversial part of ground rent law overturned

Maryland's highest court has overturned the most controversial part of the state's new ground rent law, throwing out the section that takes ownership of ground leases away from owners who fail to register them with the state.
March 12, 2009

Leeway sought on ground rents

Community activists are urging Maryland lawmakers to allow nonprofit groups to use ground leases to provide affordable housing, a move that some say will return a ground rent system marred by abuses in recent years to its intended purpose.
March 1, 2009

Judge throws out part of ground rent suit

1 A judge has thrown out part of a lawsuit filed by ground rent owners challenging a 2007 state law intended to halt abuses in the system, but allowed their constitutional challenge to move forward.
May 20, 2008

U.S. judge sends ground rent suit back to state

A federal judge said yesterday that he thought Maryland's ground rent law had been due for an overhaul because ground rent holders were able to eject homeowners for overdue rents and gain the entire value of their houses.
May 19, 2008

Ground rent reform faces test in U.S. court today

Maryland's ground rent reform faces a key test in federal court today as the state seeks to dismiss a case filed by dozens of the largest holders.
November 2, 2007

Ground rent owners sue for compensation

Dozens of Maryland's largest holders of ground rents sued the state yesterday, seeking compensation that could exceed $400 million, contending that ground rent reform laws effectively seized their property.
July 12, 2007
Sun follow-up

Rush to ejectment criticized

Leaders of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors, which for years served as an advocate for ground rent owners, are criticizing some of them for rushing to seize houses of delinquent rent-payers ahead of a recent change in state law and are proposing to help affected homeowners.
July 1, 2007
Sun follow-up

Ground-rent owners rush to file suits

Even though a state law ending ground-rent ejectments takes effect today, Baltimore residents will for years face the prospect of having their homes seized by investors or being hit with large fees over small unpaid land debts. About 775 cases - some dating to 2003 - are pending in Baltimore Circuit Court, including more than 300 new ones filed in June as ground-rent owners rushed to get cases logged in under the old law. There were 154 lawsuits filed on Friday alone.
June 26, 2007
Sun follow-up

Ground rent suit is filed

A trustee for a ground rent owner has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of new laws intended to reform a system that had cost hundreds of people their homes.
February 14, 2007

Ground rent bill due final votes

Final votes on a bill that would prohibit the creation of new ground rents, emerging as one of the major issues in this General Assembly session, are scheduled for tomorrow.
Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-ground-rent-followups,0,6157344.storygallery#ixzz2vDl9hviG
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City writes $1,105 check for rent it didn't owe - baltimoresun.com

City writes $1,105 check for rent it didn't owe - baltimoresun.com

Miscommunication, address confusion caused error, officials say

By Scott Calvert, The Baltimore Sun 11:26 a.m. EDT, August 3, 2013 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/sun-investigates/bs-md-sun-investigates-ground-rent-20130803,0,4638821.story 

 The Baltimore housing department recently tried to give away some money — $1,105 to be exact.

That was the amount of a check sent to retired lawyer Constance Putzel in June, with a notation that the city was paying her for ground rent she held on several city-owned parcels at Old Town Mall.

Except Putzel hasn't been entitled to any such payments since 2011. That year, the city paid her a lump sum of nearly $14,000 to extinguish Putzel's claim on the land under its property."


'via Blog this' History, Real EstateRealEstate ground-rent, RealEstate Maryland

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Md high court finds ground-rent law unconstitutional By Timothy B. Wheeler and Jamie Smith Hopkins Baltimore Sun Feb 26, 2014

Md high court finds ground-rent law unconstitutional By Timothy B. Wheeler and Jamie Smith Hopkins Baltimore Sun Feb 26, 2014

Md. high court finds ground-rent law unconstitutional

State can't take away ability to seize and sell homes over unpaid ground rents, court rules



Maryland's highest court tossed out Wednesday the heart of an ambitious legislative effort to stop homeowners from losing their property over unpaid rent on the ground beneath their houses.

The Court of Appeals ruled that the law violated the rights of "ground-rent" owners by taking away their ability to seize and sell the homes of tenants who don't pay, then keep the proceeds. Allowing owners to bring foreclosure proceedings instead was not a reasonable substitute, the court said.

The decision throws into doubt sweeping 2007 changes to a Colonial-era system under which many homes in Baltimore and around the state sit on ground that is owned by a leaseholder. Homeowners on those properties are legally required to pay rent, usually twice a year, to the holder of the ground rent.





Md high court finds ground-rent law unconstitutional By Timothy B. Wheeler and Jamie Smith Hopkins Baltimore Sun Feb 26, 2014
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