I purchased a property in Haywards Heath west Sussex in 2004, I recently came across an article in the daily mail online regarding leaseholds and and how family's when they purchased there properties were not informed, they don't own the ground,this started me to think about my own property (flat) I looked at the paperwork and realised I had 69 years left on my lease, I done some research on the subject, through links provided by the Daily mail.
When a lease has 80 years left (mine had 80 years left at time of purchase),this is called the magic number ie, you should consider extending at this time, when the lease goes under 80 years it gets more expensive as the years go on, if it reaches 60 years the property becomes unsaleable.
During my research I came across that if your Solicitor ( waugh and co) has your best interest at heart, they will advice to incorporate the price of a lease extension with the current owner before you purchase,as you will have to own the property for two years before you can apply for an extension .
Regarding the lease ect this was never brought too my attention by waugh and co, now in 2016 I am faced with a bill for £15.000 plus to extend my lease, because of there incompintance to carry out there duties correctly?
And what is annoying is they came with recommendation from mansell mctaggart estate agent