Buying a business in the UK: match three names before you pay
By Grig Kochedykov · . Legal points and registry pages reviewed against the official sources listed below on 29 October 2026.
Before you pay for a business in the UK, match three names. The first is the name in the listing. The second is the company on Companies House. The third is the holder of each licence and registration the council has for the address. When all three fit, you know who is selling and who holds each licence. When they do not, the gap is your first question to the seller.
General information, not legal advice. Registers and laws as published on 29 October 2026. The licensing rules below are for England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own.
One business, three names
| Where | Which name you see | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| The listing | the trading name, the one over the door | what the business calls itself |
| Companies House | the company that may own the business | who can sell it, and its record |
| The council | the holder of each licence and registration at the address | who is allowed to run it there |
A trading name that differs from the company name is common. A licence in the name of somebody who is not selling is the kind of gap that costs money after completion, the day the sale becomes final.
Step 1. Company or sole trader?
Ask the seller in writing: who owns the business? A company, a partnership or one person? One person trading in their own name is called a sole trader. If a company, ask for its name and company number.
The answer decides what you can check yourself. Most UK businesses are sole traders, and a sole trader has no record on Companies House. If the business has staff, it is most likely a company: at the start of 2025, 1.2 million companies employed people, against 180,000 sole traders and 81,000 partnerships, says the government's business population estimates.
For a sole trader, your evidence is the papers the seller shows you: accounts, tax returns, bank statements. Ask for them early.
Step 2. Read the company page
Companies House shows company information online at no cost, and you do not need an account (GOV.UK). Search the company on Find and update company information and compare the page with the listing:
| On the company page | Compare with | A question if they differ |
|---|---|---|
| Company status, for example live or dissolved | the listing says the business is trading | "Which company runs the business today?" |
| Incorporated on | "established in" in the listing | "Who ran the business before this company, and since when has this company run it?" |
| Nature of business (SIC), the activity code the company gave | what the listing sells | "Is this the company that runs this business?" |
| Accounts and confirmation statement (the filing, at least once a year, that confirms the company's details are up to date): last filed and next due | a listing that says the books are in order | "Why is a filing overdue?" |
| Previous company names | the trading name | "Which of these names did customers know?" |
| Registered office, the company's official address | the shop's address | Often an accountant's office, which is normal. Note it. |
The same page shows officers (the directors), filed documents, charges (loans secured on the company's assets) and insolvency information. We have separate notes on charges, disqualified directors, phoenix companies and short-form accounts.
Two limits, in Companies House's own words. Its information "is not intended to be comprehensive". And when it examines accounts, "it only makes basic checks on them" (GOV.UK). A filing shows what the company told the register, not that it is true.
Step 3. Ask the council what is in force at the address
A premises licence or a food registration is held by a person or a company, for one address. The council knows which ones exist there and in whose name.
- Premises licence (alcohol, late-night hot food, some entertainment). Each council must keep a register of the licences it issues. Anyone can inspect it during office hours "without payment"; the council may charge "such reasonable fee as it may determine" for a copy (Licensing Act 2003, s. 8).
- Food business registration. It is the operator's, not the shop's. "When you start a new food business, or take over an existing business, you must register with your local authority", at least 28 days before you start trading. Registration costs nothing and "can't be refused" (FSA).
- Hygiene rating. The ratings search shows a rating and its date for a business name and address, in all four UK nations. Scotland shows a hygiene status instead of a number.
- Other permits depend on the trade: tables on the pavement, a late-night café, a taxi firm, a garage. Ask the same question for each one.
The council call is one paragraph. This script comes from Buying a Small Business in Britain, a book by Grig Lien: ring the licensing team and the environmental health team (the officers who inspect food businesses) for the address and ask, "Can you tell me what licences and registrations are in force there, in whose name, what conditions apply, and what is required when the business changes hands?" Write down the answer, the date and the officer's name. Then ask the seller the same questions. The book's rule: "The comparison is the check."
Step 4. Put the three names side by side
| What you find | Why it matters | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| The licence holder is the selling company | the simple case | "If I buy the business and not the company, who applies for the transfer, and when?" The person who will run the business "may apply" to the council for it (s. 42). |
| The licence holder is another company or a person | the seller may not control it | "Who is this, and will they agree to the transfer in writing?" |
| The licence holder is a company in liquidation (being closed down), in administration (run by an insolvency practitioner, a licensed specialist) or dissolved (no longer exists) | in England and Wales a premises licence lapses, that is, stops being valid, if its holder "is dissolved" or "becomes insolvent" (s. 27) | Ask the council before anything else. Our note on buying a pub covers what happens next. |
| No company at all | a sole trader or an ordinary partnership; nothing on Companies House | ask for the papers from Step 1 |
| The company is older or younger than "established in" | the business may have moved between owners | ask for the history in writing |
One more choice changes what passes to you. If you buy the company itself (its shares), the licence holder's name stays the same: it is the company you now own. If you buy the business from the company (its assets), each permit needs its own step: a premises licence needs a transfer, and the food business is registered again in your name. Ask your solicitor (your lawyer) which kind of deal it is before you count on any permit.
What to save and compare in your list
For each listing you keep, write down:
- the trading name, the company name and number, and the company status, with the date you looked;
- each licence and registration the council named, and in whose name;
- the hygiene rating and its date, for a food business;
- the seller's answer to each gap, in writing.
The PDF report from our free extension has a line for licences and permits. "The extension does not guess: when the page is not clear, the line says “not stated”." If that line says "not stated", your first question is in whose name each licence is held. The full list of what to look at is in our due diligence guide.
Your next three steps
- The extension. On a computer: Add to Chrome — free or Add to Edge — free. Reading on your phone? Open this page on your computer. "Open a business-for-sale listing and press “Download PDF”. You get a report on the 12 things a check of the business needs: what the listing says about each, and which ones it does not say."
- Your account. "Saving a listing takes a My list account. In it, the listings you save from different sites sit in one place." Create my account.
- The check. The €550 report tells you "What exactly you are buying: the company itself, or only the assets (equipment, stock, the lease). That decides which old debts can come with the purchase." It also tells you "Whether the permit to run the business must be applied for again. Sometimes it is issued to one person and does not pass to a new owner." Start for €550. The €950 report is "everything in the €550 report, plus the seller's figures checked against the seller's own papers — tax returns or the accounts the company filed." For a sole trader, those papers are your main evidence. Start for €950. Both are on our pricing page. We do not contact the seller. "You pay only if we take it on."
Sources
- GOV.UK, Searching the Companies House register (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Companies House, Find and update company information (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Companies House, Confirmation statement guidance (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Department for Business and Trade, Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2025: statistical release (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Licensing Act 2003, section 8, Requirement to keep a register (legislation.gov.uk) (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Licensing Act 2003, section 27, Death, incapacity, insolvency etc. of licence holder (legislation.gov.uk) (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Licensing Act 2003, section 42, Application for transfer of premises licence (legislation.gov.uk) (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Food Standards Agency, Starting a food business (updated 19 August 2026) (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Food Standards Agency, Food hygiene ratings search (retrieved 29 October 2026)
- Buying a Small Business in Britain, a book by Grig Lien, chapters 12 and 13 (retrieved 29 October 2026)