Buying a business but not the staff

questionbuddy66

Hi
Im buying a business and relocating it, But due to the distance will not be keeping the 3 staff, the owners are going to give them 3 months notice but is that enough i want to make sure it all goes okay and no issues ?

Thanks

Hoenir

Tread carefully. Not always as straightforward as it seems. 

DullGreyGuy

So you are buying a company? Any particular reason to buy the company itself rather than all the assets? Or are you buying from a sole trader?

If they have any staff with over 2 years service then they will have to go through redundancy, assuming you are buying a company in its entirety. The company would remain liable if due process for redundancy arent followed properly. 

questionbuddy66

DullGreyGuy said:

So you are buying a company? Any particular reason to buy the company itself rather than all the assets? Or are you buying from a sole trader?

If they have any staff with over 2 years service then they will have to go through redundancy, assuming you are buying a company in its entirety. The company would remain liable if due process for redundancy arent followed properly. 

The owners did say it might be better if i just buy the assets rather than the company it self, its a e commerce site and i was just worried if i dont buy the complete business that it would cause a issue with ranking ect ?

la531983

questionbuddy66 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

So you are buying a company? Any particular reason to buy the company itself rather than all the assets? Or are you buying from a sole trader?

If they have any staff with over 2 years service then they will have to go through redundancy, assuming you are buying a company in its entirety. The company would remain liable if due process for redundancy arent followed properly. 

The owners did say it might be better if i just buy the assets rather than the company it self, its a e commerce site and i was just worried if i dont buy the complete business that it would cause a issue with ranking ect ?

I would say your greater worries are going to be with employment law first.

Speak to a solicitor.

Penguin_

So your will be making everyone redundant?

DullGreyGuy

questionbuddy66 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

So you are buying a company? Any particular reason to buy the company itself rather than all the assets? Or are you buying from a sole trader?

If they have any staff with over 2 years service then they will have to go through redundancy, assuming you are buying a company in its entirety. The company would remain liable if due process for redundancy arent followed properly. 

The owners did say it might be better if i just buy the assets rather than the company it self, its a e commerce site and i was just worried if i dont buy the complete business that it would cause a issue with ranking ect ?

If you buy everything other than the company itself, including transferring hosting into your/your company name etc then all you need to do to the website is update the footer and policies to identify the new legal entity. That is highly unlikely to impact any SEO. Assets are not just physical! 

By buying the company itself you effectively take on the liabilities that go with it, if it turns out they under paid their VAT for the last 3 years by £150,000 then it'd be for you to find that money to pay HMRC and so its much more risky to buy the company itself. 

You should still get proper advice re the staff due to the TUPE even if you are just buying the assets

J_B

DullGreyGuy said:
You should still get proper advice re the staff due to the TUPE even if you are just buying the assets

Speak to a legal expert who is knowledgeable about TUPE