Leasehold really only ever existed as a way of preventing people misusing the land from it's intended purpose like a covenant would. It's only really recently where people have started exploiting it at every opportunity and this has essentially ruined it for everyone.
Pretty much this with ours. It was a way to keep property values up by ensuring people didn't have the land around their houses become a dumping ground or caravan park. It also required that gardens and houses are visibly maintained. The ground rent annually was a pittance.
It’s more the regularity or ground rent increases, diminishing lease terms, marriage value issues and literally paying money for old rope. A leasehold house is worth less than a freehold house and is a scandalous method by developers to squeeze money out of land. Good luck selling a house that is A: leasehold and B: leasehold with a low lease.
Before leasehold houses were a thing, the country got on just fine on Estates where a charge was payable per year for certain things - road upkeep etc without the need to make a house ‘leasehold’. I see hundreds of houses a year on Estates where people happily pay £100 a year or similar to keep everything looking good.
You only need to google news storeys recently with families who bought leasehold houses and now can’t sell them.
Disgusting practice and house builders should be ashamed - fortunately the government are banning it soon I believe (or that is the intention).
I thought they already did ban it.
If they didn't, mortgage lenders, at least the current and last one I worked for have got wise to it, normally conditions around ground rent and service charge increases.
Solicitors also generally check for that now.
As you say though, those developers that were doing it, should be made to recoup the losses people have made or get banned, even face fines, put in prison.