Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Licence definition

What does Licence mean? A licence is permission, granted by contract or law, to do something that would otherwise be unlawful, without creating a proprietary interest. In practice, lawyers most often see: licences over land (a personal, usually non‑assignable permission—often a contractual licence—to occupy or use property, distinguished in case law from a lease and generally revocable subject to contract and proprietary estoppel); intellectual property licences (permission to use copyright, trade marks or patents on agreed terms); and regulatory licences. Regulatory use varies across the UK and Ireland. In England and Wales, the Legal Services Act 2007 requires an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) to hold...

Hotel purchases: licensing due diligence and transactional issues (alcohol, entertainment, late-night refreshment, gambling, weddings, PHV, pavement seating) in England and Wales

Published by a LexisNexis Property expert

Practice notes

Licence Due diligence

When advising the purchaser of a hotel, there are a range of potential licensing matters connected to food, drink and entertainment that may arise, which will depend on the activities undertaken at the property. These can include:

supplying alcohol to guests in a bar, dining room, lounge, via room-service or through in-room mini-bars
playing music in shared hotel areas, the restaurant, dining room and bar
providing food throughout the night, whether by vending machines or room service
installing gaming machines or offering gambling facilities on site
dancing performed to guests or opportunities for guests to take part
showing films other than within a community premises
hosting weddings

It will be necessary to assess whether the trading activities of the target hotel require licences and, if so, whether those licences can be transferred to the buyer. This Practice Note addresses licences under the Licensing Act 2003 (LA 2003), Live Music Act 2012 (LMA 2012), Gambling Act 2005 (GA 2005), Marriage Act 1949, Civil Partnership Act 2004, Highways Act 1980 (HiA 1980) and Part II of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (LG(MP)A 1976)...

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Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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