[Mrs Nicholls]

hi everyone

hope you are all keeping busy, august is proving to be a very busy time for us! its all good (i think)

Anyway, i was wondereing if anyine had any advise on this.
my biz partner who never takes any responsibility for the business (thats my job apparently) is thinking of backing out and becoming an employee, which is basically what she is anyway. harsh i know, but its true.
is there a legal way that this can be done?

Thanks
Lisa

[Ian Rochester]

If you are not limited then it should be quite straight forward, just take her on as an employee, change any details to show you as the owner of the business.

[Mrs Nicholls]

honestly? is that it?
we are just a general partnership, not even got an agreement yet. we have verbal agreements etc but nothing via solicitor.

do i need to inform the inland revenue that we are no longer a partnership and just carry on as a sole trader? i thought i had to dissolve the vusiness if a partner left

[trudi]

Hi Lisa I was originally in partnership with my sister and it soon became very obvious that I was running the show and she just turned up for the cleans. We parted company 3 months into our venture and it was easy, like the previous comment you can just go your seperate ways, just change details with the inland revenue, banks and insurances. Inland revenue will send you everything you need to do.
Good Luck
Trudi

[Mrs Nicholls]

Hi Trudi

I have been doing some research about business partnerships and how to get out etc, we have been trading since 2005, and should have done an agreeement back then. but as you know, you get into business with a relative or a close friends in my case and because you already know everything about them, you trust them, and then they take advantage of the situation and get a free ride.

After 2 years i dont think i can just get rid, i mean what happens to her 25% she introduced at the start? and moneys owed for work carried out, and any profit share coming to her whe i carry out this years self assessment? i still dont fully understand the ins and outs, but have come up with a partnership agreement that will hopefully resolve any disputes, and if she dosnt pull her weight, i can dismiss her on grounds of breach of contract.
I have tried to be fair because we have known each other a long time and we are really good friends.
6 months to improve or shes out the door basically.

i think i need to see a solictitor

[trudi]

Your situation sounds a lot more complicated than mine was! i just paid my sister back what she had put in and that was that! Your partner is obviously going to want something back for the work she has put in, my advice would be go to citizens advice bureau, at least you'll get half hour of free legal advice and they can point you in the right direction.  Invariably its going to be based on what your partner thinks is a fair enough deal in order for her to leave. 
Good luck, it will all be worth it, its nice having no one to answer to, except the vat man, tax man, grumpy customers....................!!!!!
    Trudi

[EasycleanWindows]

Right ok then this is it.......

If there is no legal document then your business partner can just leave however the inland revenue will still send them a tax return for upto 4 years after they are no longer a partner.All they need to do is fill it in as zero and after that time they will no longer need to fill one out.

You should get 3 tax returns each year one for each of you and one for the business ?

Banking you will need to close the account and start a new one in just your own name as its only a partnership not limited etc.

When you go into business as a partnership the initial investment  you both put into it to start it up is irrelevant as most business don't make a profit until its 3-4 year so if they want back what they put in then let them take you to court for it...then you can argue the toss that they haven't given the business the commitment to make the money back that you both invested and as a business you could state that until the business makes a profit then no monies will be paid back but you may need to get a solicitor to look into this depends how friendly you know are and how brave you are remember friends and family's don't normally mix in business

[Robert Parry]

Had a look for the agreement . on the site Lisa, cant work it out sorry, everthing that EasyClean said and a bit more, you have to ensure that your partner has the cash to square away the tax man and VAT man if applicable, because as a partner you are also responsible for each others debts!

Yes you should have got a legally binding agreement before you started, best advice is to explain to your partner what you intend to do, and explain, that in order to protect both of you, that you should jointly employ a solicitor to sort out the mess for you both, so that everthing is above board and you both are reasonably happy with the outcome, any business should not be started lightly, there are numerous pitfalls and problems that need to be addressed, good luck on this one!

Regards,

Rob

[Mrs Nicholls]

thanks for your reply

we have our 2nd trading year self assessment sitting waiting to be completed. so have already done one, we have become much more profitable in our 2nd year than our first. We had about 4 regular customers and an office contract by the end of march 06 from sept 05, and had carried out a few one off cleans. april 06-march 07, we have around 50 contracts, of which about 30 are regulars, 10 are offices and theres another contract with the NHS that we clean up to 15 properties per month for students, this doesnt include one offs that we average about 3 a month.
we have boomed i think, and its getting busier and busier.

It just seems the busier we get the less she wants to be involved for finds excuses to not bother.

I have now drawn up an agreement, of which i am asking her to sign this coming week, which basically outlines our responsibilities etc, if she falls short then i can dismiss her.

Thanks
Lisa

[Bertie Boo]

Hi lisa

Sorry to drift off the point, but those cleans you do for NHS for students...can you tell us more about this and how you got the jobs?

Cheers

Stephen

[Mrs Nicholls]

Hi Stephen

Hows it going?

i just think we were lucky with the student properties. The management was changing, and the old cleaner wasnt up to parr, just someone who wanted extra money, not a business, and we were initially asked to quote for their offices to be cleaned, but decided that our services would better suit the student properties, it landed on our lap really. that was june 06, been cleaning them ever since. basicall have to manage the properties, do all the laundry, replace bulbs, toilet rolls etc and completely blitz the houses, which are just ordinary residential houses, 4-5 bedroomed. but by god! after 5 students living in there for a month, you would think they had been there all year, can walkinto a right state, where as others are ok. I think i turn into a project manager when these properties come up.

hope this helps
Lisa

[Bertie Boo]

Hi Lisa

Going well thanks, next week i have a full week (thank god) havent had that since about mid-july as a lot of clients have gone on holiday  I know i should put money aside for this, but i can never afford to - that said i am quite shrewd with money so i manage to get through the summer weeks somehow.

Unfourtunatly last year i was spolit rotten as i had four old ladies who only needed occasionaly help (they all wanted a visit every 4 weeks) and i went to them as/when people cancelled. However, one died last year and the other 3 have somehow blended into my usual working weeks as time went on, so this year i had to take time-off when folk cancelled. I try hard to make sure that -if i have got gaps in my week- they are all on the same day so i can have a day off as opposed to starting late and knocking off early on the days where folk would have cancelled.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I'd quite like some light-medium occasional one-off work (if only for the money it can bring in  ) but as i never advertise its not surprising...i am wary of any 'long term' work, other than in peoples house of course, its really just not for me (i think).

Thanks again

Stephen