Leaseholders = captive tenants

Leaseholders bought their homes and some even built large family homes when economic times were different. They paid a lot of money for their houses, and agreed to also pay to lease the land on which their house sits. Now the interest rates have dropped so much that it would be cheaper to borrow the money to buy an entire equivalent property, and own it outright than it is to pay the very high new level of leasehold asked just for the land on which the house sits. So for some years the leaseholders have had two choices, to pay huge leasehold rents no-one else would pay who was not captive, or to walk away, leaving their home and equity, bankrupting some families.