SB: Major help needed pls!!!!

kazbabe

I need some advice as soon as possible please.

My partner owns a small newsagents, he also works full time and half of his earned wages goes into paying for the shop.
His ex partner walked out nearly 5 years ago and left alot of debt with the shop, I came along and helped him for quite awhile.But gave up work as I had our son just over 15 months ago.
The shop has been up for sale for over a year, and just before xmas we thought we had a sale but it fell through at the last minute. It is still on the market,but no one is really interest at the moment.
Unfortunately, the shop isn't doing very well, and im really scared and worried as we have bills to pay but can only just about pay for the staff and the paper bill that comes in and a few bits of stock.I do the accounts for him and can see that things aren't good at all. Im not in great health at present and feel this is making me worse.
He is unable to give up his night job because this pays for everything as when his partner was on the seen there was no money coming out of it all, really it was a disaster waiting to happen.
I cant see a way out as the lease has at least another year to go, but there is also a dilapidation clause in the lease aswell.
I dont know which way to turn or where to go, I cant cope like this worrying all the time.
Please please can someone tell me where I could go or what I could do.
Thank you_pale_

Bismarck

kazbabe wrote: »

I need some advice as soon as possible please.

My partner owns a small newsagents, he also works full time and half of his earned wages goes into paying for the shop.
His ex partner walked out nearly 5 years ago and left alot of debt with the shop,
Sorry, I don't understand....was the shop a partnership - if so it's their debt too.
I came along and helped him for quite awhile.But gave up work as I had our son just over 15 months ago.
The shop has been up for sale for over a year, and just before xmas we thought we had a sale but it fell through at the last minute. It is still on the market,but no one is really interest at the moment.
Unfortunately, the shop isn't doing very well, and im really scared and worried as we have bills to pay but can only just about pay for the staff and the paper bill that comes in and a few bits of stock.I do the accounts for him and can see that things aren't good at all.
Have you talked about this properly? Does he know how bad things are?
Im not in great health at present and feel this is making me worse. Have you seen a doctor?
He is unable to give up his night job because this pays for everything as when his partner was on the seen there was no money coming out of it all, really it was a disaster waiting to happen.
I cant see a way out as the lease has at least another year to go, but there is also a dilapidation clause in the lease aswell. Re the clause, is there a lot of expense involved in complying with the clause?
I dont know which way to turn or where to go, I cant cope like this worrying all the time.
Please please can someone tell me where I could go or what I could do.
Thank you_pale_

Hi, well done for posting. My thoughts are in purple but I do think you should perhaps contact business debtline and a good local accountant to get a full overall and some sound advance based on all the figures. The actual legal entity of the business is important for several reasons as it can provide/restrict your options on what to do next. I also wonder if you and your partner have talked about this as much as you could because you are taking a view from the accounts that you see rather than him telling you. Does he know how things really are and how you feel?

I hope you can get the help you need and maybe some other opinions from the forum.

take care

kazbabe

Hi Bismarck

The shop was a partnership but we changed that with the vat and paye, she made herself bankrupt last year aswell. My partner basically took on all the debt that went with it when she left. She hadnt done any of the paye or the vat, although she was supposed to for awhile after they split up.
Sorry my partner moved her in to his house (long story) and so there was a charge from the shop that hung over the house, we cleared that by remortgaging the house. I moved in 2 years ago.

He knows things aren't good as I have told him and we talk but haven't had a lot of time together as he is working nights at his full time job and mornings and late evenings in the shop and most weekends.

I have been to the doctors for the last few months as I have an underactive thyroid and was doing really well last year, but unfortunately this year not and I do know that I realised i had got this condition when i was going through a very stressful time quite a few years ago (i was getting divorced and had 2 small children to look after aswell.)

I havent really looked at the clauses but my partner has said that we would probably need to find at least £15k to get out of it if not more.

We cant afford an accountant, or would they do a free overall picture?money is very tight.

november

I agree with Bismark. If you haven't got an accountant, although to be honest I don't see how you are running a newsagent without one, then your first call should be to Business Debtline who are a registered charity providing free confidential advice. http://www.bdl.org.uk/index.asp

Take care and good luck with sorting it out with your partner

kazbabe

Thanks for your replies. im a qualified book keeper but my other half got done by an accountant and wont touch them any more. i keep everything up to date now and can keep on top of all records etc to keep, its just the money side of things. and the newsagents is a small shop, and we cannot afford an accountant. there is not enough money to cover that and everything else to do with the shop. half my others wages is going on the shop!!!

Pennywise

Let's get back to basics:-

1. From what you say the business is making a loss - have you claimed loss relief on his tax return and claimed a refund on some of the tax paid under PAYE on his job?

2. How much is the business losing on a weekly basis?

3. If he shut down the shop, what would be the ongoing expenses that he'd have to cover, i.e. rent - other expenses, such as wages, power, utilities, telephone, repairs, etc would either be nil or very small if the shop was shut.

4. Looking forward, compare how much it is currently costing him to subsidise the shop when it is open, compared to how much it would cost him if it closed - if it costs less when closed, then close it down now - nothing else matters if there is no realistic chance of him selling it, which by the sounds of it, is the case.

5. Look at what cost savings can be made - could it reduce its opening times to save on staff wages?

6. If it has newsrounds, can he sell the rounds to the next nearest newsagent? Can he sell the remaining stock to another similar shop?

7. He needs to forget the past and concentrate on the future. Work on damage limitation - liquidate what he can by selling off what he can and then put a cap on future spending by shutting it down, if the figures work that way.

Bismarck

A fine summary by Pennywise....no padding but very necessary....this shop is expensive and that can't be right!