Coming up roses

My client opted to tax a property for VAT purposes. This is rented out to a florist and VAT is correctly charged on the rent. The florist is selling his business to a third party (Mr A) who also wants to buy the freehold of the property from my client for £200 000 a proposal my client agrees to.

However Mr A is keen to avoid the cash flow issues of paying VAT on the purchase of the building from my client and taking three months to get it back on his VAT return from HMRC.

He has therefore asked if the property can be sold with the tenant still in place at the time of the sale (a transfer of a going concern i.e. outside the scope of VAT). The tenant will vacate the premises the day after the...