ground rent

ground rent (countable and uncountable, plural ground rents)

1. (law, real estate) Rent paid under a ground lease, usually long-term or in perpetuity, for a surface right or estate in land where the landowner (surface owner) and the owner of improvements (ground lessor) are separate; the improvements are effectively security for the payment of the rent.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 99:

     "You had better go to the devil and ask him for my ground-rent," he said.

2. (law, Pennsylvania, Maryland) Rentcharge.