Insurance and real estate brokerages, law and paralegal practices, accountants, financial planners, engineers, marketing agencies and several other licensed and unlicensed practices make up Ontario's professional-services resale family. What's actually being sold in most of these deals isn't equipment or inventory — it's a client book, a licence, or both — which shifts the legal work toward consent, continuity and regulator approval rather than a conventional asset purchase.
The asset is a book of business, not a pile of equipment — Across this family, value sits largely in client relationships and recurring revenue — commission books, retainers, assets under management, billings — rather than physical assets. That changes what diligence actually looks like: client concentration, contract terms and retention matter more than anything you could put a serial number on.
A professional licence often restricts who can own the business — Where the practice is licensed — law, paralegal work, insurance brokerage, mortgage brokerage, accounting — the regulator's own rules on who may hold an ownership interest or act as the licensed principal typically shape the deal structure before price is even discussed. In several of these practices, only another licensee can buy in the first place.
Client consent is the deal's defining mechanic — Moving a client relationship, an account, or a file to new ownership generally requires the client's own consent rather than an automatic transfer, and non-solicitation terms for the departing owner are standard. This consent-gathering process is often the practical critical path of the transaction, more than financing or negotiation.
Trust accounts get reconciled before anything else closes — Practices that hold client money in trust — law and paralegal firms, real estate and mortgage brokerages, travel agencies — need that trust account reconciled to zero, or properly accounted for, as a standard closing condition. It's a distinct workstream from the rest of the deal and tends to run on its own timeline.
Browse the specific professional practice types below for the licensing and client-consent details particular to each.
Property & casualty and life/A&S brokerages; typically $200K–$5M+, priced on a multiple of commission revenue (the 'book'); frequently share sales to preserve carrier contracts and RIBO licensing continuity.
Independent and boutique real estate brokerages; typically $150K–$3M, valued on agent count/production and brand rather than hard assets; usually asset or agent-roster-driven transactions.
Independent financial planning and wealth-management practices; typically $200K–$4M, priced on assets-under-management or recurring-fee revenue; client consent to transfer accounts is the deal's defining mechanic.
Small and mid-size engineering and architecture practices; typically $250K–$5M, often share sales to preserve the firm's Certificate of Authorization and project backlog.
Independent marketing, advertising and creative agencies; typically $150K–$3M, priced on recurring retainer revenue; almost always asset sales given the lack of sector-specific licensing.
Sole-practitioner and small law firms; typically $100K–$2M, priced on client billings and file inventory; usually structured as an asset/goodwill sale of the practice given restrictions on lay ownership of a law firm.
What's sold is the management-contract book, not tangible assets — contract assignability and owner-consent clauses drive the entire deal, spanning both residential and non-residential portfolios; typically $150K–$3M.
WSIB/employer-of-record liability and client non-solicit terms are the deal-specific risk layered on top of an ordinary share/asset sale; typically $200K–$3M.
FSRA licence and trailer-fee book transfer are the core mechanics — closer to an insurance book-of-business sale than a typical SME deal; typically $150K–$3M; an active, underserved M&A market in the GTA.
LSO succession/licence-transfer rules for a P1 practice differ materially from a lawyer's practice sale; typically $75K–$750K, structured as an asset/goodwill sale of the practice.
TICO registration, security-deposit requirements, and trust-account handling of client prepayments are the specific legal issues on a sale; typically $75K–$1M.
Goodwill sits in the RCIC's personal licence, so a sale functions more like a professional-practice succession than an asset sale; typically $75K–$750K.
Alarm-monitoring accounts sell on a recurring-revenue book multiple, while guard/patrol firms sell more like a labour-heavy services business — the two sub-species price differently even under one licence; typically $150K–$2M.
CPA firms offering audit, assurance and tax services; typically $200K–$3M, priced on a multiple of recurring billings; often a share or asset sale depending on whether the buyer is an individual CPA or a firm.
Bookkeeping and seasonal tax-prep practices; typically $50K–$500K, priced on a multiple of the recurring client list rather than EBITDA; almost always asset/client-list sales.
†Typical patterns across Canadian deals — not a quote or advice; every deal is confirmed on its own facts.
No open-ended hourly surprises — the cost is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
| Type of work | Fee | How it's confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| Straightforward purchase or sale | Starting from $3,388.87 Our charges · taxes included | Confirmed in writing once we see the agreement. |
| Larger or more complex deal | Quoted to scope | Short call → fixed written quote before any work begins. |
| Searches, filings & third-party fees | At cost | Itemized on your invoice, not marked up. |
A sole-practitioner accountant, bookkeeper or insurance broker selling their book of business to another licensed professional.
Start my file →A multi-partner law, engineering or brokerage firm sale involving regulator approval, trust account reconciliation, or several associates' non-solicitation terms.
Book a consultation →Not sure which you are? That's our job to figure out, not yours. As a rough guide, most deals under a couple of million dollars are the first kind — above that, you're usually in Mergers & Acquisitions territory.
Not always. Several practices in this family — law firms in particular — restrict ownership to licensees of the relevant regulator, which rules out most outside buyers. Others, like insurance and mortgage brokerages, allow broader ownership but still require the regulator's notice or approval and continuity of a qualifying licensed principal.
Because what's being sold is usually a relationship, not an object, moving a client's file, account or policy to a new owner typically requires that client's own consent rather than happening automatically as part of the sale. Gathering that consent, and protecting it with non-solicitation terms, is usually as important as the price itself.
It depends on the practice, and often on tax and licensing considerations specific to that profession. Some, like law and paralegal practices, lean toward an asset or goodwill sale of the practice, while others structure as a share sale to preserve contracts and access tax advantages. There's no single default across the family.
Several practices in this family — law, paralegal, real estate, mortgage, travel — hold client money in trust as part of normal operations, and that account typically needs to be reconciled and accounted for before the sale closes. It's treated as its own step, separate from the broader purchase agreement.
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