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  <title>Provenance Diligence — Field Notes</title>
  <link>https://provenancediligence.com/field-notes.html</link>
  <description>Court-record breakdowns, buyer guides and risk flags from screening small-business purchases in Spain and Portugal: what kills deals, what to demand from sellers, and what a screen actually looks like.</description>
  <language>en</language>
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  <lastBuildDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2026 08:00:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>

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    <title>Trespasse or cessão de quotas? The first question that decides your Portuguese deal</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/trespasse-vs-cessao-de-quotas.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2026 08:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[The same Portuguese business at the same price can be sold two ways: a trespasse — the business itself — or a cessão de quotas, the shares of the company that runs it. What the Supreme Court (processo 088194) said about the seller's private debts on a trespasse, why Social Security debts pass jointly and severally under Art. 209.º(2) of Lei 110/2009 with any contrary clause void, why the employees follow the business under Art. 285 of the Código do Trabalho, and why buying the shares means buying the debtor. Plus the document list to request before any deposit.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>Buying a bar in Spain: the terrace permit and the licences that don't transfer</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/spain-bar-terrace-permit.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Tue, 22 Jul 2026 08:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[A bar's terrace sits on public pavement — legally an ocupación de dominio público — and Spanish public-property law makes that kind of authorisation personal to its holder, not something that automatically comes with a traspaso. What Art. 92.2 Ley 33/2003 says, how the lease's own assignment rules under the LAU add their own tripwire, and the checklist to run before any deposit on a bar with a terrace.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>Buying a clinic in Spain: the licence code in the listing may not mean what you think</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/spain-clinic-licence-u900-vs-u48.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 12 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[Spanish health centres, services and establishments are authorised unit by unit under Real Decreto 1277/2003: U.48 is the defined unit for medicina estética, U.47 the surgical unit, U.900 the residual "other units" category. The authorisation names a holder, a change of holder is a modification-authorisation matter, and the national register REGCESS is public and searchable — so what a listing claims about a licence can be read next to what the register lists. Also: why a patient base is special-category health data under art. 9 GDPR, not an ordinary asset. Spain, clinics and health-adjacent businesses.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>How to check a business-for-sale listing yourself — Spain &amp; Portugal</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/how-to-check-a-business-listing.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[The checks a buyer can run alone, before contacting the seller of a small business in Spain or Portugal: reverse image search on the photos, Street View and the Catastro on the address, the BORME bulletins and public insolvency register in Spain, publicacoes.mj.pt and the certidão permanente in Portugal, and the contact-and-payment pattern. For every check: what the result does and does not mean. The article does not determine whether any listing, seller, broker, company or payment request is genuine or fraudulent. Spain & Portugal, any sector.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>You take over the premises, the licence and the name. Do you take over the staff?</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/spain-salon-takeover-staff-succession.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[Under Art. 44 ET a change of ownership does not by itself end an employment relationship — staff transfer only where the transmission affects an economic entity that keeps its identity. In a Madrid case (TSJ Madrid, Sala de lo Social, sentencia 136/2025, rec. 1121/2024, ECLI:ES:TSJM:2025:2179) a retiring salon owner lawfully dismissed both hairdressers on retirement; one of them then took the same premises, had the same municipal activity licence transferred into her name, kept the trade name for a time and re-hired the other — and the court still found no business succession, because the assets that moved were insignificant and the business was already closed. Spain, any sector.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>Whose unpaid tax can follow a Spanish business sale?</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/spain-tax-debt-previous-owners.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[Spain's General Tax Law makes a business buyer jointly liable for the previous owner's unpaid tax (Art. 42.1.c LGT), limited by the buyer's Art. 175.2 certificate. On 29 May 2026 the Supreme Court admitted a cassation appeal (ATS 5353/2026) asking whether "previous holder" reaches only the immediate seller or extends to earlier, non-immediate owners — and how the certificate delimits liability in that case. A Granada judgment (STSJ AND 6735/2026) shows succession turns on facts, not labels. Statute quoted, three judgments cited. Spain, any sector.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>Do the employees come with the business? Spain and Portugal</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/do-employees-transfer-spain-portugal.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[Buying a small business in Spain or Portugal, staff don't transfer because you "bought the business" — they transfer because an economic unit that keeps its identity changed hands (Art. 44 ET; Art. 285 CT). Two Portuguese Supreme Court judgments (STJ proc. 1150/20.2T8EVR.E1.S1; proc. 357/13.3TTPDL.L1.S1) show exactly where the line falls, and what follows the staff: unpaid wages, and in Portugal the previous owner's labour fines.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>Does the short-let licence come with the guesthouse? Portugal's AL rules</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/alojamento-local-licence-transfer.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[Buying a short-let or guesthouse in Portugal: does the Alojamento Local registration transfer with it? The rule most guides quote — caducidade (lapse) on transfer, from the 2023 Mais Habitação — was rolled back by Decreto-Lei 76/2024 (Oct 2024): a change of owner is not a ground to cancel the registration (Art. 9). What still kills these deals is the containment areas (áreas de contenção, Art. 15-A/15-B). What to demand before you sign.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>Do the seller's debts become yours? Spain vs Portugal</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/seller-debts-spain-vs-portugal.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[Buy a small business in Spain or Portugal and do the previous owner's debts follow you? A going-concern buyer inherits real exposure in both. Spain: broad successor liability for tax (Art. 42.1.c LGT) and Social Security (Art. 142.1 LGSS). Portugal: the seller's private trade debts don't automatically follow (STJ proc. 088194), but Social Security debts do (Art. 209 Código Contributivo) and employees transfer (Art. 285 CT). What to demand before you sign.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>Buying a business in Spain? One Hacienda certificate can cap whether you inherit the seller's tax debt</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/certificado-sucesion-actividad.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[Buying a business in Spain? Learn how the certificado de sucesión de actividad can limit — or remove — your liability for the seller's unpaid taxes.]]></description>
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  <item>
    <title>The "debt-free" restaurant that came with a court seizure</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/hidden-seizure-porto.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[A Portuguese court annulled a restaurant sale after creditors surfaced the day after closing: a judicial seizure and supplier debts that had not been disclosed. What a buyer should check in Portuguese court records before signing a trespasse.]]></description>
  </item>

  <item>
    <title>Buy a Spanish business, inherit its debts? What the law actually says</title>
    <link>https://provenancediligence.com/notes/social-security-succession-leon.html</link>
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    <pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    <description><![CDATA[In Spain, whoever continues a business can be jointly liable by statute for the previous owner's unpaid tax (Art. 42.1.c LGT) and Social Security (Art. 142.1/168 LGSS) — routine machinery, not fraud. What to demand before you take over.]]></description>
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