How to Sell a Water Hygiene Business in the UK

Short answer

Most owners of UK water hygiene and Legionella control businesses sell in one of four ways: to their management team, to a competitor or larger group, through a broker-run sale, or to a buyer that keeps the business running as it is. Whichever route you choose, the steps are broadly the same: prepare the business, understand how buyers will value it, talk to buyers in confidence, agree the main terms, go through due diligence and complete. A sale usually takes several months, and the best results come from preparing a year or more ahead.

1. Decide what matters most to you

Before talking to anyone, be clear about your own priorities. Owners usually weigh up:

Timing: when you want to step back, and whether that date is fixed.
Your role after the sale: most buyers will ask you to stay involved for a period to hand over customers and knowledge.
Your team: whether keeping your engineers and office staff in their jobs matters to you.
Price and certainty: a higher headline price paid over several years is not the same as a lower price paid mostly at completion.
Your name and reputation: whether the business keeps trading under its own name.

Writing these down early makes it much easier to compare offers that are structured differently.

2. Understand your options

Management buyout: your existing managers buy the business. It offers continuity, but managers often need outside funding, and more of the price may be paid over time.
Trade buyer: a competitor or larger compliance group buys you, usually to add your contracts to theirs. This can bring a strong price, but the business may be merged into the buyer's operation and name.
Broker-run sale: a business broker or corporate finance adviser markets the business to several buyers. This tests the market but adds fees and time, and the more people who see your details, the harder confidentiality becomes.
A buyer that keeps the business running: some buyers, including Richmonds, buy owner-managed firms to keep and grow, keeping the team, customers and name in place.

These routes are not exclusive. Many owners take advice from their accountant first and then speak to more than one type of buyer.

3. Get the business ready

Buyers of compliance businesses look closely at a few things that are specific to this sector:

Contracts on paper. Planned maintenance agreements should be written down, in date and in the company's name. Check whether any include a change of control clause that needs the customer's consent.
LCA registration in good order. Legionella Control Association membership is renewed every year with an external audit, and members must register every Legionella control service they offer. Make sure the services you deliver match the services you are registered for.
Records someone else can follow. The LCA Code of Conduct expects members to keep site records for at least five years after the work is done. Risk assessments, written schemes and monitoring records should be complete and easy to find.
Competence and training records. Keep up-to-date training and competence records for every engineer. They are part of what a buyer is paying for.
Less reliance on you. If every key customer relationship runs through you, buyers will see more risk. Introduce customers to your senior engineers and office team well before a sale.
A spread of customers. If one customer makes up a large share of turnover, losing it would hurt the business, and buyers will reflect that in their offer.
Clear accounts. Three years of accounts that show steady profit, with personal costs kept separate from business costs.

4. Understand how buyers value the business

Most buyers start from the business's sustainable profit, adjusted for one-off costs and the owner's own pay, and apply a multiple. What moves that multiple up or down in this sector is usually:

how much income is recurring, from planned maintenance contracts, rather than one-off remedial work;
how long customers typically stay, and how often contracts renew;
the spread of customers;
accreditations, and the competence and stability of the team;
how much the business depends on the owner.

Ask any buyer to explain in writing how they reached their figure and how it will be paid.

5. Share sale or asset sale

In a share sale, the buyer buys the shares of your company. The company itself does not change: it keeps its contracts, its employees and its registrations. Because the employer stays the same, GOV.UK's guidance on business transfers and TUPE notes that TUPE protection depends on the identity of the employer changing, which a share sale does not do.

In an asset sale, the buyer's company buys the business and its assets from your company. Employees usually transfer under TUPE, contracts may need to be transferred one by one, and registrations held by your company do not automatically pass to the buyer.

For most owner-managed compliance firms, a share sale is simpler for staff and customers. Your solicitor and accountant will advise on which suits you.

Tax: if you qualify, Business Asset Disposal Relief reduces the Capital Gains Tax on your gain. GOV.UK sets the rate at 18% for qualifying disposals from 6 April 2026. In the Budget on 28 October 2026, the government announced that the lifetime limit on gains qualifying for the relief will fall from £1 million to £500,000 for disposals on or after 6 April 2027, with special rules for contracts entered into before that date. The 18% rate is unchanged. These changes still have to be passed into law, so ask your accountant how they affect your timing. Get advice well before you sell.

6. The sale process, step by step

First conversations with buyers, without figures.
A confidentiality agreement, then sharing accounts and key information.
An indicative offer in writing, followed by agreed heads of terms.
Due diligence, where the buyer's advisers check finances, contracts, employment, accreditations and legal matters.
Contracts and completion, followed by an agreed handover period.

Richmonds sets out how this works with us, including typical timescales.

7. Telling your team and customers

Keep the sale confidential until you are confident it will complete. Most owners tell their senior team first, then everyone else close to completion, and customers shortly after. A good buyer will plan these conversations with you rather than for you.

Questions owners ask

How long does it take to sell a water hygiene business?

Usually several months from first conversations to completion. Preparation before that, such as tidying contracts, records and accounts, can take a year or more and tends to improve both price and certainty.

Does my LCA registration transfer to the buyer?

LCA membership is held by the company named in the LCA directory. In a share sale that company stays the same, so the registration normally continues; in an asset sale the buyer's company needs its own. Confirm the position with the LCA before you sign.

Do I need a broker to sell my business?

No. Some owners use a broker to approach several buyers; others speak to buyers directly with their accountant and solicitor. Either way, take independent advice before agreeing terms.

Will my engineers keep their jobs?

That depends on the buyer. In a share sale the employer does not change. Ask every buyer, in writing, what they plan for your team.

Sanjeev Desour is the founder of Richmonds, which buys UK water hygiene, water treatment and fire safety businesses from owners who want to retire. He founded IGNITE Academy in 2014 and runs the IGNITE Group of companies. LinkedIn

Sources

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, and it is not an offer to buy any business. It reflects the rules and announcements known on the "last reviewed" date above. Tax rules and rates change, and announced changes may be altered before they become law, so take advice from your own accountant and solicitor before you act. Richmonds accepts no liability for decisions made on the basis of this guide. See our website terms.

How to sell a water hygiene or Legionella control business in the UK