While a home held by traditional tenure and not recognized by more recent legal systems might be considered "dead capital" it still provides shelter and the likelihood that it will continue to do so is higher if it remains "dead" than if the owner is granted a legal title AND THEN obtains a mortgage.  Granting everyone titles to a former commons interspersed with cottages has usually been a prelude to the great majority of those titles falling into the hands of a few individuals who then enclose that commons to the detriment of the previous occupants.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."