Buying a business with staff: what transfers and what does not

In most small business sales the staff are the business. The equipment can be replaced and the sign repainted; the technician who knows every regular customer's car cannot.

Ask who knows

Many sales are confidential precisely because staff have not been told. That is normal, but it means you may not meet the people you are buying until very late. Make the meeting a condition rather than a courtesy.

Contracts and continuity

Whether employment transfers automatically depends on where you are and how the deal is structured — an asset purchase and a share purchase behave differently. This is the point to take advice rather than assume.

The handover is part of the price

A seller who will stay three months is worth more than one who hands over the keys on Friday. Write the handover into the agreement with hours and duties, not goodwill.