The partnership as a business structure is one of the simplest to implement but messiest to unpick.
The default legislation, in absence of an agreement, is the Partnership Act 1908, which gives you some indication to the length of time they've been around.
There are some valid reasons for forming partnerships and sometimes they are the default structure.
For example, a jointly owned house that's rented often becomes a rental property partnership.
For rental properties a partnership is probably fine. However, if you're operating a business in a partnership and have done so in some way by default then you need to consider other choices.