Client spotlight: The Hunnypot Corner Day Nursery

Pinney Talfourd’s corporate team has advised the owner of a successful children’s nursery on the sale of her business and lease of property to the new owners.

When Karen Johnson decided to sell her highly acclaimed children’s nursery, one of her first calls was to the commercial department at Pinney Talfourd Solicitors.

“I have used Pinney Talfourd a number of times and it seemed only right to ask for their assistance for the Nursery sale. I had never sold a business before, but I knew that they handled all types of commercial work”, said Karen.

Teamwork

During our discussions with Karen, it became clear that there were two distinct aspects to address if we were going to allow Karen to sell her business and start a new commercial venture.

Hunnypot nursery was run from a purpose built building owned by Karen and she wanted to keep ownership of it, even though she was selling the business. This part was handled by our specialist commercial property team who put a premises lease in place to take effect at the same time as the business sale concluded. This would allow her to keep ownership of the building while collecting a market rent from the purchaser of the business, who became her commercial tenant.

Meanwhile, our commercial team, led by Partner Edward Garston, oversaw the transfer of the business to the new buyer.

“Business owners are so busy running their businesses, that they often don’t realise how many small parts need to be dealt with to enable a smooth transfer”, said Edward. “So our experience in this area really helped Karen just when she needed it most, which was when she was juggling running the nursery, selling her business, and starting up her new business.”

Here for every step

We guided Karen through all the legal documentation and explained to her how the sale would take place. Importantly, we explained that although she was selling her business, she had to provide a number of assurances to the buyer about its past activities, as well as the need to disclose any potential issues before the sale concluded.

Business sales can be stressful at the best of times, and starting a new venture added to Karen’s pressure. But she remained upbeat throughout keeping the bigger picture in mind.

“I was really impressed with the way Pinney Talfourd helped me. As the deadline approached they kept me up to date with all the main developments, telling me what I needed to know, and advising me what to do. I cannot recommend them enough!”

We were only too pleased to help Karen, as we are with all our other clients that we help sell, and purchase businesses in this sector any across many others.

More information

A close working relationship with your solicitor is crucial in the sale of any business. Pinney Talfourd have an outstanding corporate team and are recommended by Legal 500 UK for its scope of ‘key commercial specialisms whilst still having the personal touch of a smaller firm’

If you would like to find out more about how the team can help you, contact our Company Commercial Team to arrange a free legal review.This article was written by Edward Garston, Partner in the Company Commercial Team at Pinney Talfourd LLP Solicitors. The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. Specific legal advice should be taken on each individual matter. This article is based on the law as of February 2020.