Ground Rents?! Get Rid of Them!

While reading this article I thought to myself "I heard of rents but ground rents?" I looked up wikipedia on the topic and here's what I find out regarding Baltimore's suituation:

Ground rents are also found in some portions of Maryland, primarily in the Baltimore area. These are typically 99-year leases, renewable in perpetuity, subject to a semi-annual rent payment. Under Maryland law, the tenant of a residential property has the right to redeem the ground rent for a one-time payment and obtain full title to the property. If the renter does not pay, the ground rent holder can go to court and have the tenant evicted or ejected over as less than $300 if they so please, and takes possession of the home. They can then resell it for full profit, as the former owner does not get anything from the deal.

That means if the renter is unable to pay the ground rent, the renter can be evicted as much as one missed payment and the owner of the property gets to sell the entire house at full profit?!

Oh hell no, that practice needs to end ASAP. However the MGA instead will end the pracitce of enacting new ground rents.

"The consensus is that ground rents serve no viable, good purpose at this time," said Del. Maggie L. McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat and chairwoman of the House Environmental Matters Committee. "In fact, they sometimes impede people getting [mortgage] loans. What we're going to embark on is a modernization of the ground rent system in Maryland."

It's time that ground rents need to go, NOW!

P.S. I did a bit of snooping around with Google and found a interesting three part series about ground rents in Baltimore:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three