GROUND RENT. (1) A rent reserved to himself and heirs by the grantor of an estate in land in fee simple out of the land granted. (2) Rent paid, usually on a lease for a term of years, for the right to occupy and build upon land. In Roman law ground rent was annual rent paid by the lessee of a perpetual lease of building land. In England ground rents were part of the feudal system, and this form of tenure is continued in that country to-day in the sense of a fixed rent paid for the use of land for a period of years, with the right to make improvements thereon. In a modified form it exists also in Scotland, where it is known as °ground annual." In the United States pure ground rent, in the sense of definition (1) above, exists mainly in Pennsylvania, although the manor lease, for merly quite common in New York State, comes well within this definition, inasmuch as in this form of tenure a fee simple estate is conveyed to the grantee. The rent paid under a lease for a
term of years renewable forever as it exists in Maryland, as well as the rent under the per petual lease of Georgia, is properly termed ground rent. In Pennsylvania, a ground rent, being a hereditament, descends to the grantor's heirs, whereas in Maryland and other parts of the United States the leasehold is treated as personal property. This form of tenure is found elsewhere, to a limited extent, in other parts of the United States, mainly in Ohio and Louisiana. In the latter State the contract, to constitute a valid ground rent, must convey the property in perpetuity and the rent reserved must be a charge upon the land itself. As ground rent is usually fixed for a long period of years, the difference between this form of rent and economic rent is often necessarily very large. See RENT.