System like that would be convenient for you but what about a different situtation where for example: the founder quit playing a year ago, remaining members stayed active and after passing leadership made the FC their own place, helped it grow, pitched in for house and workshop, nurtured newbies and helped each other, etc. you get the gist. And all this while, the founder who had been gone for a year suddenly decides to log in and would be given power over everything rest of them had worked so hard to achieve. On the rare occasion he might be a nice guy and pass leadership back to whoever has been filling his shoes for the past year. Or he might not and they could end up with one of the many scenarios where he gets to reap all the rewards.

FC leadership passes on to the 2nd highest ranking member (that you, as a leader, had the power to appoint) after 35 days. This system has been in place for a good while and it was added because community requested it frequently and not without reason. You snooze, you lose - it's though but fair for everyone and yes, in your case it sucks, especially to have a house/plot go to waste like that but that situation is very common in many servers until SE implements similar timer for housing.