A friend of mine wants to sell his small business. He works from home with only his wife and the odd part time person helping out. He paid ?30,000 ten years ago and wants to offer for ?35,000. It is a business where there is no freehold or leasehold interests as he works from home so just the goodwill and a very small inventory of equipment.  When he bought there was no contract just a simple exchange of letters confirming the key points. His dilemma is whether he needs to spend money with a solicitor on getting a contract drawn up or whether he can do, as he did when he bought the business, just a simple exchange of letters covering the key points. His solicitor has said it could be a ?1500 to ?2000 bill if they were involved which seems so unnecessary or is it? Ken

A friend of mine wants to sell his small business. He works from home with only his wife and the odd part time person helping out. He paid ?30,000 ten years ago and wants to offer for ?35,000. It is a business where there is no freehold or leasehold interests as he works from home so just the goodwill and a very small inventory of equipment.  When he bought there was no contract just a simple exchange of letters confirming the key points. His dilemma is whether he needs to spend money with a solicitor on getting a contract drawn up or whether he can do, as he did when he bought the business, just a simple exchange of letters covering the key points. His solicitor has said it could be a ?1500 to ?2000 bill if they were involved which seems so unnecessary or is it? Ken It really depends whether he wants to take a risk or not. If he is sure that everything will go ok, then he shouldn't instruct a lawyer. If he can anticipate that there is a possibility that there might be a problem (perhaps that there is a later dispute as to what was included in the sale) then ?2,000 will be money well spent. Realistically, he can't have any idea whether there will be any problems. Does he feel lucky? Let's put it this way. If he instructs a lawyer, and there's a problem later, he might have some recourse to that lawyer; after all, that's what he'd be paying for. If he doesn't then he'll regret not instructing a lawyer and won't get a lot of sympathy if he later has cause to complain. It sounds like he's been told what it will cost if he wants that protection. The decision about whether he wants that insurance must be left to him. LS

A friend of mine wants to sell his small business. He works from home with only his wife and the odd part time person helping out. He paid ?30,000 ten years ago and wants to offer for ?35,000. It is a business where there is no freehold or leasehold interests as he works from home so just the goodwill and a very small inventory of equipment.  When he bought there was no contract just a simple exchange of letters confirming the key points. His dilemma is whether he needs to spend money with a solicitor on getting a contract drawn up or whether he can do, as he did when he bought the business, just a simple exchange of letters covering the key points. His solicitor has said it could be a ?1500 to ?2000 bill if they were involved which seems so unnecessary or is it? He would be foolish not to use a solicitor. Think of it as insurance.

A friend of mine wants to sell his small business. He works from home with only his wife and the odd part time person helping out. He paid ?30,000 ten years ago and wants to offer for ?35,000. It is a business where there is no freehold or leasehold interests as he works from home so just the goodwill and a very small inventory of equipment.  When he bought there was no contract just a simple exchange of letters confirming the key points. His dilemma is whether he needs to spend money with a solicitor on getting a contract drawn up or whether he can do, as he did when he bought the business, just a simple exchange of letters covering the key points. His solicitor has said it could be a ?1500 to ?2000 bill if they were involved which seems so unnecessary or is it? It depends on the nature of the transaction. Is there to be any earn-out agreement, or is the whole purchase price paid at the time of sale? If so, that can hardly be simpler for the seller - just receive the cash and hand over the items being sold. On the other hand, there may be warranties etc. I guess that the seller would want a non-disclosure agreement before letting any prospective buyers sniff around. He might want help drafting that, although various examples can be found on the www. 1.5-2k is not a huge fee for this sort of work, and the advantage is that a good solicitor with experience in this area will not just help deal with the contract, but will also have a better idea of what it is reasonable for a buyer to demand in a case such as this. For example, the buyer will probably want some sort of non-compete clause. A solicitor could advise on how long that should be for and what it should cover.

A friend of mine wants to sell his small business. He works from home with only his wife and the odd part time person helping out. He paid ?30,000 ten years ago and wants to offer for ?35,000. It is a business where there is no freehold or leasehold interests as he works from home so just the goodwill and a very small inventory of equipment.  When he bought there was no contract just a simple exchange of letters confirming the key points. His dilemma is whether he needs to spend money with a solicitor on getting a contract drawn up or whether he can do, as he did when he bought the business, just a simple exchange of letters covering the key points. His solicitor has said it could be a ?1500 to ?2000 bill if they were involved which seems so unnecessary or is it? He would be foolish not to use a solicitor. Think of it as insurance. And yet nobody ever instructs a solicitor when they buy a new car, which could easily cost ?30,000. Could you explain exactly *what* problems the OP would be protecting himself against if he used a solicitor to sell his business?

Bystander < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it posted Ken <Reply to NG only wrote in message A friend of mine wants to sell his small business. He works from home with only his wife and the odd part time person helping out. He paid ?30,000 ten years ago and wants to offer for ?35,000. It is a business where there is no freehold or leasehold interests as he works from home so just the goodwill and a very small inventory of equipment.  When he bought there was no contract just a simple exchange of letters confirming the key points. His dilemma is whether he needs to spend money with a solicitor on getting a contract drawn up or whether he can do, as he did when he bought the business, just a simple exchange of letters covering the key points. His solicitor has said it could be a ?1500 to ?2000 bill if they were involved which seems so unnecessary or is it? He would be foolish not to use a solicitor. Think of it as insurance. And yet nobody ever instructs a solicitor when they buy a new car, which could easily cost ?30,000. Could you explain exactly *what* problems the OP would be protecting himself against if he used a solicitor to sell his business? I rather think that question would be better put to the solicitor - the amount quoted seems to indicate that the solicitor considers that he has *something* to do. Car sales do indeed go wrong - which is why most car deals for 35K cars aren't done privately.