Whether you are planning to buy a business or take over vacant premises, speak to the other traders around and see if you can get a feel for what business is like in that area. Some may view you as competition and not tell the truth but if you speak to enough people you will be able to build up a reasonably accurate picture of the situation. If you are planning to take on premises in a communal development where you will share the same landlord, find out if there are any particular issues you would want to know about.
I enquired about the landlord with one group of tenants and found that for some time not all tenants had been paying their service charges. As a result there were a number of serious maintenance issues with the property and existing tenants were being asked to contribute large lump sums of money to effect the repairs. I found out more information than the landlord had volunteered to me and was able to make a more informed decision on whether or not to take on the lease – I did.
