Leigh on sea is open for Business!

September 2, 2018 by Melinda @ Giles Wilson Solicitors

This week is back to school, and for many people that is also back to work. Leigh on sea has appeared busy all summer and that means that those running small businesses in Leigh will have had to work all through ensuring that they have sufficient staff and supplies to meet the needs of their customers.

Nothing worse than setting up a fabulous looking new outlet and then not meeting expectations.  Successful businesses make it look so easy, but what sort of legal advice is necessary when you decide to go it alone and open up a new business?

Premises – taking a unit is probably the biggest commitment and usually involves entering into a lease for a certain term with various conditions.  Negotiating terms that suit your needs and allow for break clauses and rent reviews that will work for a new venture is an essential part of setting up.  Ensuring that the lease work is completed in time for your business to open is also key – not great to plan to open a Christmas decoration shop and find that the lease is delayed until January. 

Acquiring a business can involve buying the whole lot from someone selling an existing business – with stock, premises and goodwill.  It is crucial to get good legal advice to make sure that you are made fully aware of any liability that comes with the business, the position with employees for example.  Are you liable for employees that you thought were self-employed, or are not up to the job that you would want them to do.  You will want to know that due diligence has been carried out so that you know that the accounts are portraying a true picture and not one that is enticing to buy but covering up a multitude of problems. 

Trademark – if you set up a success story protect it!  Your brand is crucial to your success and you want to own that.  But at the same time, to check that the wonderful brand that you think is original is not already being used elsewhere and that you are likely to run into trouble with in due course.

Partnership Agreements – there is nothing more exciting that setting up with a colleague or friend who is like minded and who you admire.  But you need to get the terms of your relationship written into an agreement – if things go wrong, all that trust and all those promises are meaningless if they are not formalised.  What happens if one of you gets too sick to work, or has personal financial problems – what if when it comes to it the creativity that you so admired comes with a touch of lazy bones and you just cannot cope with them in the business whilst you put in all the hard work.

Contracts – the number of different types of contracts that can be involved in running a business are too many to name but they range from employment contracts to contracts with suppliers and with clients.  What are your terms of business?  Off the shelf agreements are not tailored to suit every business – you will want your own needs met.

So often when a business that appeared to be doing well shuts down unexpectedly it is because there is a problem with the business structure and operation that could have been avoided had the right advice been taken at the time.  

In the meantime, here’s to all the fabulous independent businesses that we have in Leigh Road and in Leigh Broadway all the way around to Elm Road and Rectory Grove – long may they thrive – but if you are thinking of opening one, or wish to ensure that you are running your existing business with strong foundations, get some good commercial legal advice.


This article is by Melinda Giles at Giles Wilson Solicitors.  
For legal advice please call 01702 477 106 or visit one of Giles Wilson's offices: 1711 London Road Leigh, 54 Leigh Broadway, 5 Roche Close Rochford  
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