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I did it myself first as I was within the two years and wanted to try the informal route first. I knew the solicitors as they are who the ground rent goes to. I got lucky and got an offer with agreeable terms (same as the existing lease and we don't have a service charge anyway).
There's no harm in asking first as even if you do go the statutory route, they cannot refuse or give you a bum deal. Also, with statutory, the clock on the lease stops as soon as the s.42 is issued to prevent them deliberately delaying it to run into the next year and bumping up the premium.
I did some research first so when I spoke to the Freeholders' solicitor it sounded like I knew what I was doing and agreed with them that if they didn't come back with a favourable informal offer, I would be going statutory which would be more of a pain for everyone.
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stevo_com
Yeah I was gonna begin proceedings in the new year, figuring it'd take up to 6 months.
What I don't want to do is sort it all out too early and sit for too long paying the extra ££ (assuming the cost can be added to my mortgage) because I will want to sell before the end of next year.
Did you open communications yourself or instruct solicitors from the outset?