Misrepresentation by seller that the property is "fee simple"!

[Jacob Beg]

Hi All! I made a cash purchase of a property. I was represented by a realtor and the seller's relator had advertised the property as Fee Simple in MLS. The property is located in Baltimore City, MD.

Typically, if you have a lender involved, the issue of ground rent is likely to come up as it has something to do with lending requirement and the length of time left on the ground rent leasehold. 

As I purchased in case, there was no lender involved and there was disclosures about property having a ground rent leasehold, as required by local laws. 

I have title insurance on the property, and redemption amount for fee simple is 2K. Had it not been for this misrepresentation or negligence, I would have not purchased a ground rent leasehold property. I think this might be more of a case of negligence, as the executor sold it on behalf of a deceased relative but the requirement for disclosure does not go away and it was listed as fee simple. 

What are some of the options here or recourse against the listing agent or the executor?

[Tom Gimer]

Unless the ground rent is unregistered (in which case the property may as well be fee simple -- nobody is going to register it now and attempt to collect on it, and you can eventually extinguish it as a matter of law), I don't see how it is possible to go through the closing process and not once be alerted to the existence of the ground rent. From title commitment stating LEASEHOLD, to the settlement statement (ground rent escrow/prorations), to notice of ground rent in the closing docs, to the instrument of conveyance been a Deed of Assignment... the issue just has to come up.

What we do see happen is if the contract states that the property is to be conveyed in fee simple, the seller can be forced to pay for the redemption... but that is almost always discovered prior to closing.