Do trade licences transfer when I sell my business?

A trade certification — an electrician’s, plumber’s, gas technician’s or similar licence — belongs to the person who wrote the exams and completed the required supervised experience, not to the company that person happens to operate through. That single fact drives almost everything about what happens to licensing in a trades sale, and it holds true whether the deal is structured as an asset sale or a share sale.

Why the corporate structure doesn’t change the answer

In a share sale, the corporation that holds any business-level registrations continues to exist under new ownership, so those specific registrations generally stay valid. But the individual trade certification the business actually depends on to do the work legally still belongs to whoever holds it personally, and if that person is the selling owner, the buyer does not inherit it just by buying the shares. An asset sale raises the same question even more directly, since the buyer is acquiring equipment, contracts and goodwill, not a licensed person.

What a seller actually needs to arrange

Before closing, a seller needs a credible answer to who will hold the required certification once the sale completes — a buyer who is already certified in the trade, an existing employee who qualifies and is staying on, or a transition period where the seller remains involved long enough for the buyer to get properly licensed or hire someone who is. Selling without settling this leaves the buyer unable to legally operate the day after closing, which is a common way an otherwise strong deal stalls in its final weeks.

The seller’s own exposure doesn’t necessarily end at closing

A departing owner should also confirm what happens to their own registration once they are no longer running the business, and should not assume that simply signing a purchase agreement quietly resolves their standing with the licensing body. If a buyer continues operating informally under the seller’s name or number without becoming properly licensed themselves, that can create liability for the seller personally, not just a compliance problem for the buyer, which is one more reason to formally notify the relevant licensing body once the sale closes rather than leaving the paperwork to catch up later.