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Buying Licensed Premises.
Why
Mair Matheson? Because
of our commitment to quality of service we are as flexible as required.
You can also be assured of dealing with a principal of the
business. We have
experience in dealing with the acquisition and sale of businesses,
licensed and otherwise, for many years throughout Scotland.
Because of our relatively low overheads we are able to provide
excellent value for money to our clients.
We are contactable by telephone, fax and e-mail and so are
available when required. What
Can You Do For Me? We
are able to advise on as broad or as narrow a basis as you require.
If you already have experience of purchasing a hotel or a pub and
do not require to discuss “first principles” we are happy to
restrict our involvement to just the “legal areas” such as preparing
and submitting the formal offer, corresponding with the seller’s
solicitors and reporting to you on matters of title, licence, etc. Alternatively
it may be that you are in need of advice in relation to rather wider
business and strategy matters and if this is the case we are happy to do
this in co-operation with other members of your “team” such as your
surveyors, financial advisers, bankers etc. What
Matters Are Addressed In The Offer Which Is Sent To the Seller? We
will be happy to let you have a pro
forma offer to let you see in detail the matters which are
ordinarily covered, but briefly to summarise the offer covers inter
alia the exact identification of the heritable subjects and the
equipment etc. which is being purchased,
regulates the transfer of the licence,
deals with the obtaining of good title,
covers obligations which are undertaken in relation to existing
staff, requires the seller
to provide evidence as appropriate in relation to planning,
environmental health, provision
of the business papers, and
usually also provides a restriction on the seller being involved in a
competitive business for a period of time after the transaction has
settled. Can
You Deal With My Bank If They Need to Take a Security? Generally
speaking your Bank will wish to instruct their own solicitors to deal
with the security although in some cases where the amount which you are
borrowing is a small proportion of the purchase price we are able to
assist. What
Will All This Cost? Because
of the different requirements that each client has it is difficult to
give a useful guideline in relation to costs without knowing the
specifics of any particular transaction.
However it is probably true to say that the major costs that you
will have will be the outlays such as stamp duty, registration dues,
surveyors fees, etc. rather than our own fee. By
way of illustration, if you are buying a business at say £70,000 our
fee will probably lie in the range £700 to £1200 depending on the
amount of work which is required. These
figures are ex VAT. The
Stamp Duty will be £700 and the registration dues £176.
The survey fee is likely to be in the range £250 - £400
depending on its extent. If
you are purchasing a business at, say, £300,000 the Stamp Duty will be
£9,000 and the registration dues will be £522. Our
fee in contrast will lie in the range £2,250 to £3,750 ex VAT. What
Happens About The Transfer of the Licence? We
will be happy to deal with this on your behalf but we often find that it
is much more cost effective for us just to give advice and for the
application to be lodged by you as the process is generally very simple
and consists more or less of lodging the correct form with the
appropriate fee. What
Happens About The Stock? You
will need to pay for the stock of the business in addition to the agreed
price. Generally the stock
is valued on the date of takeover by a professional stocktaker (who will
exclude from the valuation all items of stock which are past their sell
by date or which are so old as to be unsaleable).
It is also possible in the contract to make specific provisions
as to the amount of stock that is to be included in the transaction
either saying that there will be a cap on the amount to be bought or
insisting that the seller provides an adequate amount of stock. Do
I Have To Be Responsible For The Employees Of The Business? The law requires you to assume the responsibilities of the seller in relation to employees to provide continuity for the employees’ rights. It is not possible as it once was to require the seller to terminate the contracts of the employees of the business and for you to re-hire them. However it may be the case that there are no employees or existing employees are employed on a casual basis etc. This is an area which requires to be carefully examined in each case and it is therefore necessary to ensure that the seller provides very clear information as to the position in relation to employees. It is also the case that if the seller attempts to sack employees prior to the sale that you as his successor as owner of the business will be liable at the option of the employee for any compensation which is found to be due at an employment tribunal.
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