Field notes
Readings of court rulings, guides for buyers and red flags, taken from the work of screening small-business purchases. Free to read.
In plain words. Here we work through court rulings and registers and write down what follows from them for a buyer. Reading is free and you need order nothing.
The market index
Our own count of business-for-sale listings. The numbers are published as a file and free to take.
All the notes
Notes: 40.
- 29 September 2026Due diligence when buying a small business
- 6 October 2026Spain: the certificate that caps the tax debts you inherit
- 6 October 2026How to buy a small business in Spain (2026): the steps
- 5 October 2026How to buy a small business in the US (2026): the steps
- 4 October 2026Buying a Florida business: the seller's tax certificate
- 14 September 2026Sources behind "Does the seller's tax debt follow the business?"
- 14 September 2026"Buy the assets, not the company" doesn't stop the tax office in four of the seven countries I checked
- 8 September 2026UCC lien search: how to check whether the equipment comes with the business
- 8 September 2026Premises licence transfer: why the licence may not come with the pub
- 8 September 2026Filleted, abridged and micro-entity accounts: why there is no profit in them
- 8 September 2026Companies House charges: how to see who already has a claim on the business
- 8 September 2026Phoenix companies: how to spot a seller who has closed businesses before
- 8 September 2026Disqualified directors register: is the seller allowed to run a company at all?
- 19 August 2026Portugal’s public records: enforcement, insolvency and where to look
- 19 August 2026Buying a services business in Portugal: the staff-transfer deep dive
- 19 August 2026The 30-minute registry pass, Spain edition
- 18 August 2026Who are you actually buying from? NIF, entity and the chain of title
- 18 August 2026Buying a retail shop in Spain: the lease, the stock, and the landlord’s rights
- 15 August 2026What a pre-purchase screen costs — and when you should not pay for one
- 15 August 2026One gym, three listings, three prices — and none of them was the same gym
- 9 August 2026The name over the door returns nothing in the register
- 9 August 2026The tax number was revoked in 2022. The listing was still live in 2026
- 9 August 2026The certidão permanente: what Portugal's company registry shows, and what it does not
- 4 August 2026The Spanish Business-Transfer Index — Issue 1, August 2026
- 3 August 2026The market layer: what the other listings tell you about the one you are looking at
- 3 August 2026Which tier do you need? The answer is decided by what you already have
- 3 August 2026The €950 Reality Check, explained: what happens when the documents finally arrive
- 3 August 2026The €550 Deal Screen, explained: what a person reads and what no price can reach
- 3 August 2026The debt you buy with the bar
- 2 August 2026The listing sold a working business. The map said it had closed permanently
- 25 July 2026Trespasse or cessão de quotas? The first question that decides your Portuguese deal
- 22 July 2026Buying a bar in Spain: the terrace permit and the licences that don't transfer
- 12 July 2026Buying a clinic in Spain: the licence code in the listing may not mean what you think
- 10 July 2026How to check a business-for-sale listing yourself — any country
- 10 July 2026You take over the premises, the licence and the name. Do you take over the staff?
- 10 July 2026Whose unpaid tax can follow a Spanish business sale?
- 9 July 2026Do the employees come with the business?
- 9 July 2026Does the short-let licence come with the guesthouse? Portugal's AL rules
- 9 July 2026Do the seller's debts become yours? Spain vs Portugal
- 5 July 2026The "debt-free" restaurant that came with a court seizure
- 5 July 2026Buy a Spanish business, inherit its debts? What the law actually says