Section 42 Notice

GDB2222

I need to extend the lease on my flat, as there's 87 years left, and I have hired a surveyor to do the calculations. Once I have his figures,  I need to serve a section 42 notice on the freeholder, and the surveyor said that I will need to instruct a solicitor to do that. 

However, looking at the notice, it seems a straightforward thing to produce, and I could fill it in in a few minutes. There's a template produced by Islington council here, for example:  https://www.islington.gov.uk/~/media/sharepoint-lists/public-records/housing/information/forms/20182019/20181009section42noticetemplate1.pdf

Is there any reason to hire a solicitor? Will I need legal advice during the negotiations, or can I expect that the surveyor will be sufficient?

I have estimated the cost of the lease extension to be £3000, so there's scope for the legal fees to be significant in comparison.  

eddddy

FWIW, here's some info about what happens if you make a mistake on the s42 notice that makes it invalid: https://naylorllp.co.uk/2016/07/19/when-is-a-section-42-notice-invalid/


In my experience, a lot depends on whether the freeholder is happy to give you a lease extension, or whether they want to block it.

I've dealt with a freeholder who tried lots of "nasty tricks" to derail a lease extension process - and my solicitor advised me which "tricks" were allowed by the law and which weren't. It was a very dirty fight.

I also know a number of leaseholders who fell for freeholders' "nasty tricks" - they trusted the freeholder, so didn't double-check things with their solicitor. They ended up with no lease extension, but still had to pay the freeholder's legal costs.


But on the other hand, I know an 'amateur' who submitted a s42 form - the freeholder said it contained errors which technically made it invalid - but the freeholder agreed to 'overlook' the errors and proceed anyway.