Acquisitions And Disposals

There may be regulatory or legal requirements following a commercial sale or purchase. This includes providing documentation to Companies House, registering the change with the Land Registry and submitting the Stamp Duty Tax Return.

Financial penalties may be levied if any of these regulatory requirements are not completed correctly so you may want to seek legal advice to ensure your business is compliant in all aspects.

When you are purchasing commercial property, it’s not simply a matter of choosing a building that you like. The following are useful factors to take into consideration:

• What are the monthly costs?
• How much would it take to fit out the building as required?
• When will the space be available?
• Is it convenient for staff: eg parking or close to public transport?
• What services are available in the area – eg/fibre broadband?

These are just a few points which could make a very significant difference to how your business operates in the new premises.

Whether your company was occupying the building or there is another tenant will determine the precise needs and process for disposing of property. Some factors that you’ll need to prepare include:

• Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are compulsory on commercial properties before sale
• Unless the property is a new build, you will have to supply an asbestos survey to potential buyers (as described by the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006)
• VAT status on the purchase price. Buyers will need to know if VAT will be added to the cost.
• Existing tenants – whether there are any arrears and what their status is.

For the sale of commercial properties, it’s useful to compile a standard enquiries pack which can be issued to anyone who expresses an interest.

Many ask us ‘what’s different about you?’ and we like to reply, ‘because we go the extra mile’. We see our work as building and maintaining good business relationships rather than just earning fees. How we do this is by keeping in constant contact with our clients and intermediaries. From pre to post instruction we ensure that our clients are informed of all legal issues that may impact their business and therefore lives. That is why we provide daily or weekly updates to ALL of our clients whether there is anything to tell them or not (we don’t charge for this we just see it as part of our service). We like our clients to rest peacefully knowing that when we are instructed, and we say ‘we will take it from here’ they know we mean it.

The world is changing, and many individuals are realising that lifestyle is as vital to them as is income. We are the lucky ones who can hand pick lawyers who can provide the best quality advice but at outer city costs. Our offices are in North West London which may not be the most salubrious in the market but at the same time this allows us to charge our clients for what they pay for, our advice NOT our office space.

ALL our lawyers have previously worked in large city-based law firms and continue to practise and offer  the same high level service  they provided to clients in the City but without the pressure and demands often dictated by City law firm. This allows us to be competitive on our fees without compromising our service.

All in all, our clients win, which is the way we like it.

All our clients benefit from the same high level of care and attention whether the instruction is big or small. At the outset of each matter, we discuss the entire process with our clients, including the costs, potential outcomes and issues associated. This is to ensure clients are fully aware, knowledgeable and are in control always. Supporting and ensuring we provide the highest level of services, we offer our constant contact process with the partner or barrister leading  your file, a document log in for matters which are for larger and more complicated instructions and on-going support post transaction should our clients require it. Our aim is not just to get the work done, but to make our clients’ lives easier as we do it, which is why we ensure that our clients have regular access to the resources they need from us.