Leaseholds on new build properties will be banned under plans to protect homeowners from unscrupulous terms and conditions.
The new rules will mean all new houses in England will be sold on freehold basis unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire announced the plans on Wednesday - which will see the practice abolished.
It follows a spate of concerns over the way in which contracts are handled - including spiralling costs and buyers not being clear about what fees they are responsible for.
Brokenshire has also instructed Homes England to renegotiate Help to Buy contracts to explicitly rule out the selling of new leasehold houses, other than in exceptional circumstances, to protect new home buyers from punishing charges.
The Government said the measures demonstrate its commitment to ensure decent and fair housing, as it strives to deliver 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.
"We have long recognised that we have a responsibility to confront unfairness in the leasehold market," Brokenshire said in a speech at the Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Manchester.
"Last year we consulted on proposals including the leasehold house ban and ground rent reduction.
"Today I can confirm we will go ahead with our original plan to reduce ground rents on future leases to zero, as opposed to a cap of £10 per year.
"We are committed to taking bold action to reform the sector and will be pressing ahead as soon as parliamentary time allows, helping us delivery our promise to make the home buying and selling process quicker, cheaper and easier."
As part of the plans to create a fairer housing market, ministers are also inviting proposals to make it easier for renters to transfer deposits directly between landlords when moving from one property to the next.
It will mean tenants in the private rental sector will be able to "passport" their existing deposit between landlords when moving from one property to the next - rather than needing to raise a second sum of cash.
Dan Wilson Craw, director of Generation Rent, said the practice could make a "huge difference" to hard-pressed renters.
"When starting a new private tenancy, you'll normally need to pay a security deposit worth around £1,000 on average, before you get the keys," he said.
"If you're already renting, you have that money already, but the catch is it's tied up in a protection scheme until after you move, meaning you have to raid your savings.
"Instead, you should be able to transfer some of your existing deposit to your new tenancy, once you've paid your final month's rent."
“Two in three private renters have no savings, so even with the new fees ban they could still have to borrow money in order to move, or find themselves stuck in an unsuitable home.
"Deposit passporting has the potential to reduce the cost of moving by even more than the letting fees ban, and by bringing it in the government would make a huge difference for some of the hardest-pressed renters."
