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Ground rent exists in the US as well. Baltimore has a lot of it, maybe Philly as well. A few years ago people were losing their houses over $30/yr bills from someone who found their great-great-grandpa had the ground rent title on whatever property.

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"Baltimore's arcane system of ground rents, widely viewed as a harmless vestige of colonial law, is increasingly being used by some investors to seize homes or extract large fees from people who often are ignorant of the loosely regulated process, an investigation by The Sun has found."

In Hawaii it's pretty rare to be able to buy a property fee simple. Mostly it's long term leases.

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