Ground rents will be outlawed on all newly built flats as the government went further than expected yesterday in a crackdown on unfair leasehold practices.

Ministers will also make it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders to buy out their freeholds and promised better information on redress for those who face the most onerous terms. In July Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, promised action on the leasehold system following outrage that builders were selling houses under leases where the ground rent doubled every ten years, making many properties effectively unsellable.

In many cases these leases were bought by anonymous offshore investors who demanded large sums from homeowners to buy out the contracts. At the time, the government launched a consultation saying it wanted to ban