Three of my children have rented apartments in Burlington, Vermont. Since they were still in college or just starting out after college, my wife and I have paid their rent. I shudder to think how much rent I have paid over the years. While the apartments have changed, one thing seems the same: the cost of renting in Burlington Vermont keeps rising.
I sometimes idly wonder how much the rent for a one or two bedroom apartment in Burlington will be in the future. While I really have no idea if the concept of leasing will still be around, I am pretty sure that the price for renting an apartment in the year 2816 is unlikely to be the same as it is now. However, that is not the case for some rental agreements in England.
As reported in Atlas Obscura, each year the English crown receives rent from the City of London for two pieces of land. The rent for these two pieces of land is the same as it was in the 13th century: a knife, an axe, six oversized horseshoes, and 61 nails. Each year, in a ceremony known as “The Ceremony of Quit Rents”, the City of London pays the rent due on the properties to the Queen’s “Remembrancer”. The job of the Remembrancer, which is the oldest English judicial position in continual existence, is to keep records of the paid and unpaid taxes and rents. Amazingly, the Remembrancer has been collecting rent on one property since 1235 and at least 1211 for the other. The exact location of either of the properties is not known.
The property leased since 1211 is known as “The Moors” and is thought to be in the county of Shropshire-which is a long way from London. The second property is in the area of London close to the Royal Courts of Justice. Evidently in the 13th century a man volunteered to repair the armor of men competing in a tournament hosted by the king. In return he was given a lease for land on which to build a forge. The forge, of course, is long gone and rents in this areas are astronomical. It is a bit funny how some customs persist.
The City of London continues to pay the rent simply because it always has. I doubt the Queen of England has much use for six oversized horseshoes. Regardless, I certainly wish that I only had to pay the equivalent of six oversized horseshoes and a bag of nails to rent an apartment in Burlington, Vermont.
