When extending a lease, you'll find that your ground rent will be 'reduced to a peppercorn' among many other benefits. This phrase you'll likely see in many documents means that your ground rent will be reduced to zero.  The term peppercorn is used instead of zero because for a contract to be legally binding, there needs to be a consideration, but it doesn't need to be an actual value. Historically a peppercorn has been used to illustrate a meagre, nominal amount to satisfy this requirement so that a legally binding lease contract could be created.