Death and your Premises Licence
You probably haven't, but if you did, you would probably guess correctly that your Personal Licence dies with you.
But did you realise that if you are the only person named as a Premises Licence holder your Premises Licence dies with you too?
With no licence in place your business cannot carry on as usual. Someone has to do something, and fast
The Premises Licence can be saved, but only if an application is made within 7 days of your death.
Miss that 7 day deadline and there is no lee-way, the Premises Licence has gone for good, Before the business can get up and running again someone will have to make a fresh application for a Premises Licence. It is going to take at least 28 days before the licence can be granted and there can be no certainty of its terms, or even if it will be granted
So, what can you do?
The best thing is to be aware of the deadline, and make sure others in the business know of it too. Distraught family members may not be the best people to deal with the licence so why not ask someone else to make the calls and sort the forms out, someone who is likely to hear about your death quickly and is prepared to take charge.
An application made within the 7 days can preserve the licence for up to 2 months to give your family time to sort some things out and arrange a proper transfer of the Premises Licence, saving a lot of time expense and lost profits as well as worry.
For advice on this or other licensing matters please contact Gillian Jones
