Sell a business

The minimum governs below £250,000, because 1.2% of £250,000 is £3,000. On a £400,000 sale the agency fee is £4,800. Every figure is confirmed in writing before marketing begins.

A business sale advertised like a house sale damages the thing being sold. Staff leave, suppliers tighten terms and competitors talk to your customers. We market confidentially: the public particulars describe the business without naming it, enquirers sign a confidentiality undertaking and prove funding before they learn which business it is, and viewings happen outside trading hours or as customers. You decide who gets the name, every time.

Most sales we handle are of the business as a going concern: the goodwill, fixtures and fittings, stock at valuation, and the benefit of the lease, assigned to the buyer with the landlord's consent, or the freehold if you own it. Trent Law Solicitors deals with the assignment or the transfer as part of the legal work.

If what you are selling is the company itself, its shares, that is corporate work with its own due diligence and its own risks, and it belongs with Trent Law's business and commercial team rather than with an agency listing. We will tell you which sale you actually have at the appraisal, because sellers are often advised the wrong one and the tax consequences differ. Trent Law and your accountant can advise on which route serves you better; we will not guess at it in a brochure.

Appraisal first, priced from your accounts and the market rather than hope. Then the pack: three years' figures presented properly, the lease terms, staff position and what a buyer takes on. Marketing to our register and the business transfer platforms follows, anonymised. Offers are qualified for funding, negotiated, and then progressed weekly through solicitors to completion, with the landlord's licence to assign chased as hard as the contract, because the landlord is usually the slowest party in the room.