leasehold

In the UK you don't have property tax, and this gives rise to the concept of leasehold land.

Same goes for companies happily building on top of leasehold properties whenever it makes financial sense for them.

There are about 25 million residential properties overall, so leasehold is only about 12% of the market.

Having a quick google around and it looks like in rural areas leasehold is more common.

It's not such a big deal; in Hong Kong, for instance, all property (with very very few exceptions) is leasehold land.

Even some people who own their own leasehold in the uk don't have rental rights.

This is not false but the majority of people and properties are freehold, not leasehold.

Around 3 million properties are leasehold, the majority are flats, with 1 million being houses.

That is the reason houses are primarily sold freehold as opposed to leasehold.

Yes, it's a system called leasehold which has its roots in medieval feudalism.

It maybe that if response isn't received then a crime has been committed by the leasehold company no matter if it was sent.

At the end of the leasehold ownership rights revert to the freeholder.

Ah OK - personally that would move it from an "annoying app with adverts" charge (that I'd resist) to a "leasehold bullshit" charge (that I'd pay).

Not really relevant to the main discussion, but directly counter to your comment "Nobody rents a house and then go around using the word "own" and "buy" when describing their access to the house.": In the UK, we have a situation which appears strange to most people when they first come across it: the vast majority of flats (apartments) are 'sold' on a leasehold basis.