Ground rent

Ground rent is a payment to a landlord by a person who occupies a property on a lease. Ground rent goes back to Roman times. It was a part of feudal systems. Laws about ground rent are different in different countries.

The ground rent is in the lease. The term of the lease is generally many years, sometimes hundreds of years and sometimes infinite. The amount of the rent may be fixed, or it may have rules about how it is increased. Inflation means that some ground rents are now so low that they are not collected. If the ground rent is not paid when it is demanded the landlord may be able to take back the property. There are companies which specialise in buying ground rents for long term investment from landlords who want to sell them.

Properties with ground rent may also have service charges.

In some countries the law gives leaseholders the right to buy the freehold and end the ground rent.