To read letter below, click on it;
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net November 15, 2021
On October 29, 2021, an OG resident posted a long letter in Facebook concerning an issue regarding ground rent. We will not reveal his name.
He says that there is a single family home which his parents have owned in town for 60 years. His father died recently and he is the executor of the will.
The house is in his father’s name, and the plan was to turn it over to his mother as the new owner. But he asserts that the CMA has not so far honored the 99 year renewable lease which he expected to be placed in his mother’s name.
He also says that he found a buyer for a commercial property owned by the family on Main Avenue, but the CMA offered a shorter lease instead of the “standard lease which had been renewed since 1878.” As a result he claims that his buyer would not be able to finance the buy.
We are aware that there has been turmoil about the CMA’s ground rents for years, including a recent suit involving some condo owners. The CMA won that suit.
But, for those of us who have single family homes in the Grove which have inexpensive renewable leases, we have not made a fuss because who can complain about $10.50 per year even if the CMA policies seem bizarre? A lawyer friend once told me that his profession loves when someone sues on principal.
Our complainant says that he is “scared and disappointed” that the CMA may be changing their policies regarding ground rents.
He also has produced a “model lease” which I cannot possibly interpret but he says that it proves the desire to change longstanding policies regarding ground rents.
I feel like Paul Revere alerting the citizens that trouble in red coats with guns is coming, but he, at least, saw the enemy. Here we have rumors and no proof of any wrong doing.
The CMA has every right to try and capitalize on its properties, and if so, they have lawyers who can meet any challenges.
The Home Groaners could go to bat for its members, but they hired a lawyer in the past regarding these issues, and they never revealed the legal opinion which the members paid for, and instead they hid under their beds and did nothing. Now I am told that they will try again.
We know that condo owners have been upset about their ground rent issues which are a separate category, and there also are concerns about commercial properties which are handled in their own way.
But these special interests are way above our pay grade here on Blogfinger where the ordinary resident homeowner is most important.
Now there are new rumors, voiced by certain home owners, some of which we will repeat below, but there is no proof that any of it is true.
We are simply posting what some of our neighbors are worried about and talking about–thus “the natives are restless.”
a. The CMA wants to get more ground rents from homeowners, especially those who have 1 or more rentable apartments in their homes. They want those properties to be considered “commercial” and thus subject to different and more costly lease arrangements. And they don’t want the home leases to be renewable when properties are sold.
b. Homes with leases that are not renewable, unlike the current guaranteed renewable ones, may be harder to sell because mortgage companies do not like uncertainty.
There is a fear that the CMA wants to change the leases for single family homes, but in the 2016 letter shown above, the CMA promised not to do that. Of course, promises may be broken.
c. Commercial and condo leases are more complex, and we are not qualified to comment about them.
So, if you have something to say about these matters, please comment here, but we seek substantiated information to put to bed any worries that are not true. You can read some other Blogfinger posts about this topic. Just go to the search block (above right) and type “ground rents.”
And how about telling us your name and let’s have some true words. If this were music, you would want to know the name of the song and the exact lyrics.
SESAME STREET:
Here is a very interesting letter to the editor from a Grover in 2017 regarding ground rents: