Sole Trader - Worst case scenario planning!

[Kath y]

How about that for a cheerful Friday night title! :-D

The current situation whereby anyone could end up very poorly out of the blue, has forced me to face the fact that I'm quite unprepared business wise should the worst happen, ie, I pop my clogs without forewarning!

I already have a document in place for my closest family with contacts for premises, services etc & instructions for the most immediate 'damage limitation' type jobs, so my website stops taking money for orders that couldn't be fulfilled etc, but they'd still be stuck with a sizeable stock or an entire business to sell, and i'd be stuck having to lumber someone with being my 'executor' or whatever.

So I think my question at this point is, can anyone suggest companies that flog off entire businesses, in a 'house clearance' type way, so the poor grieving relative can just unlock the door and let them empty it out for a pre-agreed price? Like a business version of a house clearance! I guess they'd be the same companies that do bankruptcy clearances?

Any ideas would be much appreciated. i'm hoping to live a long and healthy life, long enough to actually retire and enjoy my hard work haha! But should I not, I don't want to leave a whole shower of **** for my loved ones to sort!

Thanks for reading

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

This is not the sort of thing that you can google .
There will be local people that do this type of thing as they would have landlords and councils as regular customers .
I would contact your local council or social housing association and ask them who they use for house clearances The house clearance girls and boys will be the same people that would clear out a small business

 

[Kath y]

This is not the sort of thing that you can google .
There will be local people that do this type of thing as they would have landlords and councils as regular customers .
I would contact your local council or social housing association and ask them who they use for house clearances The house clearance girls and boys will be the same people that would clear out a small business

Thanks very much Jeremy, but I'm looking specifically for a business liquidation type company, the type that runs large auctions to clear bankrupt type stock etc, rather than a man with a transit van that sells off nan's armchairs at a boot sale. Perhaps my analogy was misleading.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

One of the main problems with small business is its often very hard for someone else to take over a business without a hand over period and many small businesses have little real value

Auction houses may do a clearance, but the prices are often very low for some items, clothing for example you may be lucky to get 10% or the trade price

When we went bust the company appointed by the IP to auction the stock did not want some items like computers printers, Clothing racks and odd items as they would just fill the van and have no value, and just looking for stock that other retailers may buy say 20 shirts in different size range not one's and two's

Unless your goods are highly desirable then i doubt you would get a offer to buy outright

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

The sales that I go to are MOD HMRC , court orders and liquidation
The liquidation sales are the result of proper company liquidations managed by IPS.

Some of it is really good but all the IT equipment is normally 10 years old plus and fit for the skip nobody ever buys it
They get a lot of nice office furniture