What is Fleecehold?

Inspired by people with leasehold new build homes trying to buy their freehold who then discovered they were out of the frying pan into the fire:

Fleecehold is a shorthand description for covenants in freehold deeds which create an income stream for a third party. The covenants relating to estate land management maintenance, usually with an embedded (can’t change it) company are now the norm with new build houses. Often there are also restrictive covenants where permission for even quite minor alterations has to be requested from the builder or management company who then charge exorbitant fees to even consider the matter.

These are a freehold rip off – hence the catchy term!