Buying house and business

[herbi]

Hello to everyone

 

Having been an avid reader of the forum for a long time & now at long last hopefully being able to actually follow through our long standing plans, I'm hoping for some good advice!

Basically we are hoping to buy an existing French business and a house (separately) and would be very interested in anybody elses experiences and/or recommendations re. using UK or French lawyers & accountants to deal with either or both transactions.  Finding information on buying residential property is fairly easy but I'm having trouble finding anythign relating to buying a separate business.  My general experience of lawyers is not good & if we have to use one would appreciate a good recommendation if possible.[:)]

 

Many thanks

Herbi

[Kitty]

Which region of France are you interested in?

[tetley]

what type of business are you after?

[herbi]

We are buying (planning to) a small horticultural nursery in the north of Haute Vienne.  We've visited it a few times at different times of year and got to know the owners quite well, it is the same as we have run in the UK but lots of scope for development, so to us it seems just right for us, but now we're not sure how much more we need to check/do & whether we need someone i.e.lawyer to check everything out for us too.

Thanks for any help![:D]

[Nick Trollope]

[quote user="herbi"]

We are buying (planning to) a small horticultural nursery in the north of Haute Vienne.  We've visited it a few times at different times of year and got to know the owners quite well, it is the same as we have run in the UK but lots of scope for development, so to us it seems just right for us, but now we're not sure how much more we need to check/do & whether we need someone i.e.lawyer to check everything out for us too.

Thanks for any help![:D]

[/quote]

The house buying process I'm sure you're already aware of. For the purpose of buying the business, I would recommend that you employ a good (local) accountant - don't use the Vendors accountant, but you could get a recommendation from them. Your choice of Notaire is also important.

You will also need to talk to the local Chambre de Agriculture (I assume - horticulture ain't my field of expertise). This is essential because you will need to be registered with them and by talking to them before you buy the business yoiu will know how much you will need to pay in charges, to enable you to put it into your business plan. They should also be able to give you vast amounts of information on the availablity of grants, too!

Broadly speaking, buying a business in France is much like buying a business in the UK. It will typically be divided into 2 parts - the "walls" - the buildings, land, fixtures, etc. And the "fonds du commerce" - essentially the goodwill.

Just as in the UK, you must have the authorities (of which there are plenty, covering health, employment, retirement, etc etc), your bank and your accountant on your side. I reckon it is impossible to run a business here without a good accountant.

[herbi]

Many thanks Nick

 

In principle it seems pretty similar to how we have to operate in UK, our accountant here is invaluable, but it is finding the right one that is difficult!  The business has been established for approx 15 years and we have lots of useful info from current owners re. running costs etc, we wouldn't even have dreamt of buying it if figures didn't stack up etc.

In terms of the business we feel as confident as we can be at this stage, as it is an established French business with lots of loyal French customers and as far as we can tell a good reputation - what they produce certainly is good quality.

What I am mainly concerned about is the technicalities of the purchase & the structure of  both purchase & business & making sure we don't miss anything vital.  Are you saying you don't think it's worth using one of the UK based lawyers or accountants that say they specialise in French purchases?  I am very sceptical but obviously this has to be done absolutely correctly we need to cover everything we possibly can, so we will use all the expert advice we can get, but have too much experience of being ripped off & over-charged so don't want to do anything unnecessary.  Is it not sensible to use the same notaire as the vendor? The estate agent keeps saying not to worry, it's all very simple, but I want to make sure for myself but without over-complicating everything!

If anyone in the north Haute Vienne can recommend a good accountant I'd be very grateful, doesn't have to be English-speaking, as I really want to use French, except when absolutely necessary, although trying to deal with the technical issues is rather scary, it's hard enough learning horticultural names & terms again!

 

Many thanks

 

Jo

 

[Viv]

Have sent you a pm;

[Benjamin]

Hi herbi.

I don't know anything about horticultural nurseries but in one of your posts you say that the business you are looking at has lots of scope for development.

Just a word of caution if you haven't already considered it, is that what works in UK will not necessarily work in France. As an example I am always amazed at finding garden centres and car showrooms closed on a Sunday. I often feel that the French have a different mindset with regard to maximising the assts in their businesses.

Just a thought.

Benjamin

[herbi]

Thanks Benjamin for your thoughts!

To be honest the closing hours are one of the things we like about France, here in the UK we are forced to be open all hours & days just because everyone else is & we can't lose customers.  We really appreciate the way that people still prefer to have time to be with their families & enjoy food, life etc. which is exactly the kind of life we try to have here, but is very unconventional here, although there are a few other 'rebels' around like us who think that enjoying life to the full, and appreciating what we have is more important than having expensive cars, fashionable interiors & living on credit!

When we talk of 'development' we mean more increasing the varieties etc.available as well as organic growing as we do now, orders, deliveries, contracts & maybe some aspects of landscaping & planting design services, but we will see what the 'real' demand is when we get going!  What we do not want to do is bring the UK to France, we like most of it the way it is!

 

Herbi