Commercial Agreements, Property Conveyancing, Mergers & Acquisitions
We offer a comprehensive service to companies of all sizes and take a practical and pragmatic approach to all aspects of business and corporate legal services. Our expertise in this area is not simply limited to the extensive range of business premises property conveyancing but encompasses company formation, commercial and contractual agreements, business sale / purchase and asset dispersal and company formation including Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs). We ensure that all areas of your legal requirements are covered regardless of your market sector or specific corporate requirement.
Business M&A is fraught with risk. We assist our clients to minimize this risk and exposure thorough years of experience in business purchase and asset acquisition. At the earliest stage we are involved in the due diligence process confirming that the prospective company’s assets and balance sheet are viable and verifiable. Beyond this we act for both the vendor and the prospective buyer of a business at all stages of the process. A selection of the aspects we cover include:
- TUPE (Transfer of Undertaking Pertaining to Employment)
- Property title investigation, assessment & review
- Property lease transfer or review
- Management of restrictive covenants on either party
- Cancellation or imposition of guarantees and warranties
- Restructuring of banking arrangements
- Tax implications
Formation of well structured commercial agreements at the outset of a business relationship ensures harmony in a business relationship from the earliest stage. Provision of a structure by which parties in the future may readily understand and refer to the terms of an agreement ensure the avoidance of unnecessary disputes and stressful litigation.
Years of experience combined with unrivalled understanding of contemporary business issues, markets and legislation ensure that your commercial agreements will not only support and enhance your business activities but safeguard your business from harm should a disagreement occur further down the line. A selection of the contractual agreements we can provide include:
- Corporate Terms & Conditions
- Supplier onboarding and compliance agreements
- Commercial property leases
- Regulatory affairs management
- Licensing agreements
- Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
- Restrictive covenants
As a full service Law Firm we offer and end-to-end service which also deals with the administrative duties of company formation. Regulatory corporate secretarial duties, completed accurately from the outset ensures clarity in the registration of a business names at Companies House at the formation stage.
We maintain a range of memorandum and articles of incorporation for specific forms of company from standard Ltd companies and the appointment of Directors and allocation of share capital to companies limited by guarantee and those relating to the acquisition of freehold buildings on behalf of flat owners (which normally provide that only flat owners are entitled to be members).
Specific memoranda and articles can be tailored by our team in particular circumstances whether or not in conjunction with an appropriate shareholder agreement, resolutions and/or minutes as required by an individual situation.
LLPs were previously the mainstay of professional services firms but have, in recent years, become more widely utilised as vehicles by entities wishing to enable a number of different objectives. The objectives range from enablement of individual, professional consultative practice within a group of consultants through to supporting a genuine sense of ownership from a company’s workforce as well as a compliance with a range of legislative and regulatory factors. Our team of experts can advise you as to whether this type of company formation is appropriate for your business and your partners.
The merits and demerits of establishing an LLP need to be addressed in order to ensure both compliance and understanding for both partners and their clients. The absence of issued share capital combined with the liability for tax based upon profit share, as opposed to net profit subject to corporation tax, will need to considered by all parties within an LLP.
Provision of robust partnership agreements at the outset is the cornerstone for success of the working relationship and as the company matures: departure of partners or even dissolution of the partnership in full may need to be considered and managed by your legal practitioner. Ashley Wilson Solicitors can assist in all of these areas.
This article looks at the status of the reforms announced so far around the sale of houses of a leasehold basis, ground rents in new leases, the fees payable by leaseholders for essential information needed on sale and the potential changes to the premium payable for a lease extension or freehold.
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which had its first reading in the House of Commons on 10 July 2025, contains an unexpected ban on upward-only rent review clauses in new commercial leases. The Government has stated that the policy behind this ban is supporting smaller businesses who are struggling to keep up with open market rent reviews that only allow rent to rise, not fall.
The measure has generated concern among landlords and investors, particularly given the surprising lack of prior consultation on such a major reform in a sector that has historically operated with minimal statutory intervention. For now, the Bill remains in its early parliamentary stages and is highly susceptible to changes following lobbying, with its Second Reading due in September.
This article sets out the scope of the proposed ban and its implications for the commercial rental sector if passed as it currently stands.
The Building Safety Act 2022 (the Act) came into force on 28 June 2022. It created new financial protections around the cost of remediation of historical safety defects for leaseholders of buildings at or above 11 metres or five storeys with historical safety defects.
While flat owners who benefit from this protection will welcome this unfortunately there are problems around the conveyancing process as it adjusts to the effect of the complex new rules which may adversely affect the sales process and the Government overlooked the effect of the legislation on flat owners extending their leases.
