How to find out if ground rent was sold or transferred

Dear Mr. Azrael:

My mother was a ground rent owner but this ground rent was left in her will to her granddaughter.

The question is: How can we find out whether mother sold this before she died?

Dear Reader:

An attorney or title company can check the land records and determine whether your mother is still the owner of record.

If she sold the ground rent, the land records should reflect a deed conveying the ground rent to a third party.

I assume that you've determined that your mother had not been sending ground rent bills or receiving ground rent payments for several years before her death.

If she still is the owner, her estate should promptly send a bill to the leasehold owner for three years of back ground rent.

Since your mother's will leaves the ground rent to her granddaughter, there will need to be a deed from the personal representative of your mother's estate, conveying the ground rent to her granddaughter.

Once this deed is recorded, the granddaughter will be the legal owner and will be entitled to collect the ground rent.

For purposes of transferring ownership, a ground rent is treated just like other real estate.

There must be a formal transfer from the legal owner to the new owner.