"peppercorn", i.e. close to zero, but developers have thwarted this with costly leases of more than 150 years that make the valuation – based on the ground rent and term – beyond the reach of leaseholders, and sell the freehold – often before the development is finished – to exploitative offshore companies. The English and Welsh "ground rent scandal" has been widely reported in the press. In 2016 MP Peter Bottomley described excessive ground rents as "legalised extortion". In response to questions raised by the MP, communities secretary Sajid Javid said: "We must make sure the kind of abuses he mentioned are stamped out and we will continue to do everything [we can]. We do work with a number of stakeholders and we can certainly see how we can do more." In June 2018 the UK government announced that leasehold tenure would be reformed, with new long leases having zero ground rent. This promise was fulfilled with the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which mostly prohibited ground rent greater than one peppercorn per year on new leases. Scotland In Scots law, the term 'ground rent' is not employed, but its place is taken, for practical purposes, by the ground annual, which bears a double meaning: At the time of the Reformation in Scotland, the lands of the Church were parcelled out by the Crown into various lordships, the grantees being called "Lords of Erection". In the 17th century these Lords of Erection resigned their superiorities to the Crown, with the exception of the feu-duties, which were to be retained till a price agreed upon for their redemption had been paid. This reserved power of redemption was, however, resigned by the crown on the eve of the Union and the feu-duties became payable in perpetuity to the Lords of Erection as a ground annual. Speculators in building ground usually granted sub-feus to builders at a high feu-duty. But where sub-feus were prohibited – they might have been prior to the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1874 – and there is much demand for building ground, the feuars frequently stipulated that the builder pay an annual rent rather than purchase the land outright. This annual rent is called a ground annual. Interest is not due on arrears of ground annuals and, like other real burdens, ground annuals could be freely assigned and conveyed. Feu duty in Scotland was ended by the Abolition of