Selling and buying

Whether you are buying or selling, you need to prepare for the transaction and enter into it with your eyes wide open. The best preparation is to have the support of knowledgeable advisors.

Selling

Before you select a specialist dental practice sales agent, you should start collecting the information that the purchaser will request. This will be part of their due diligence exercise. In most cases, you will need to put together a ring binder full of information about the practice, the staff and its equipment and any insurance or other certificates. For instance: practice leases, staffing expenses, PAYE records, rateable value, energy performance certificates, asbestos audits, X-ray test certificates, building regulations, staff inoculations.

A second key point that requires early preparation is to ensure that if your property is leasehold, you are offering a sufficient term to the purchaser. Banks will not assist the purchaser if the remaining leasehold term is less than 10 years and ideally it should be considerably more. If only a few years remain, at the earliest stage, possibly well before going to a sales agent, you need to be talking to your landlord about agreeing an extension to the lease.