Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland
My wife and I are about to close on a house and there was no ground rent on the house. The house is located in Maryland. We just got a phone call from our real estate agent this week who said that there may be a ground rent on the house. We specified to our real estate agent that we did not want a house with ground rent. Our agent got some information from the title company that said there may be a ground rent on the house. Is there some kind of illegal situation here?
2 Answers from Attorneys
No. The title search evidently revealed the possibility of ground rent, which is not uncommon, especially in the city of Baltimore. If your contract states that you have the right to terminate it if there is ground rent, then you have that option. Or if you specifically asked the seller about it and they denied it, that might be grounds for breaking the contract. Otherwise, you are at risk of losing your deposit if the seller wants to hold you to the contract. The seller should have known there was ground rent and if your agent inquired about this after you specified that you didn't want it, that information should have been revealed to you before the contract was signed.
Check your contract to see if you can cancel the contract on these grounds without losing your deposit. Ask the Realtor if she asked the seller about this and whether he knew or should have known before you signed the contract. This may provide grounds to cancel the contract. Contact a real estate attorney for further advice. Regards,
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