getting the whole course completed in around 24 months
You can take as long as you like. The limit is that all the flying tests and exams must be completed within certain times of each other, but you can train for as long as you like before you take a test or exam and start the clock ticking. And if an exam expires, so what? - you just take it again.
do those of you who have your PPL have your own plane/share in an aircraft or do you rent per hour from a flying school
Some of each.