Buying and Selling a Business
Whilst possibly involving less time and cost than a “Disposal, Merger or Acquisition”, the purchase or sale of a business is just as important a transaction to the individual or SME which may be considering the same for the first time.
Gowen & Stevens has experience of advising the Buyers and Sellers of many types of small business and can confidently guide you as to the decisions which will need to be made.
We can advise on the quickest route to achieve success. Our experienced lawyers will also be prepared to advise you to proceed no further if the transaction appears to be fundamentally flawed, saving you both time and money.
We will coordinate the business purchase or sale with the associated property and employment aspects of the transaction and ensure that the use to which the premises will be placed satisfies both the Lease (if applicable) and/or planning legislation.
Gowen & Stevens can offer introductions to the other professionals whom you may also need to instruct, including accountants, bankers, surveyors or valuers.
- On the frequency of rent reviews
- On the nature and extent of service charges which you may wish or indeed need to raise
- On the level of repairing obligations which you may wish to impose (or if a tenant reduce)
Where acting for a tenant on the grant of a new lease, instructing us early can ensure that we can advise upon the Heads of Terms and whether these are reasonable and fair and in line with current trends.
Often, by careful amendment, it may be possible to lessen a tenant’s obligations and thus ensure that the lease is more attractive as and when the time comes for it to be assigned/transferred to a third party.
Licences are, in effect, the consent of a landlord to a tenant to do a number of different things. It may be, at its most common, to assign a lease to a third party or to permit the sharing of occupation with another person or company. If you wish to undertake work to the premises of which you are a tenant, the landlord’s licence to Permit Alterations will often be required. Our commercial property department can assist both landlords and tenants in determining when such a licence may be required and in the drafting or amending of such documents.
