Kennels, catteries, home boarding of dogs, home boarding arrangers and day care for dogs are all regulated under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) England Regulations 2018.
A licence is required for any premises where a person charges for providing temporary accommodation to other people's cats or dogs. Businesses that arrange for the provision of animal boarding, even if they do not board animals themselves, also require a licence, e.g. franchise holders. There are five categories of licence for animal boarding:
Each premises will be risk rated at inspection and will be given a star rating from 1 to 5, which will also determine whether the premises is granted a licence for 1, 2 or 3 years.
Your business may include more than one of the above 4 categories. At the application stage, you may apply for a licence to cover multiple activities at a reduced rate, for example if your premises has both a commercial boarding kennels and a cattery. However, remember that home boarders that also take dogs for day care require a single licence for home boarding only.
Planning permission may be required for any of the above activities, even a home boarder if they wish to be licensed to board more than 4 dogs at a time. Please consult the Planning Department for further information.
A Boarding licence is not required for the boarding of other types of animals, only cats and dogs.
Apply via post or email:
Commercial kennels and catteries
Dog day care
Home boarding
Franchisee (arrangers)
You can email your application and supplementary documents to EHealth@havant.gov.uk, or post them to Animal Welfare, Havant Borough Council, Public Service Plaza, Civic Centre Road, Havant, PO9 2AX. Once the team has confirmed receipt of your application, you will be contacted directly for payment of the application fee.
Please note that an application for a licence renewal must be received more than 12 weeks before the current licence expires. Failure to do so may result in the licence not being renewed in time and, thus a period where the business can not operate.
The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 came into force on 1st October 2018. You must comply with all of the minimum standards in the guidance below to achieve a licence. There will be a physical inspection of the premises, and evidence of all relevant paperwork and qualifications will need to be seen at your inspection.
You must read and understand the Government's for the relevant activities:
The Animal Welfare Team has produced a collection of sample documents for home boarders which may assist with complying with licence conditions. These documents can be used as a starting point, but must be amended to reflect your specific premises and practices. Please email EHealth@havant.gov.uk to request these documents.
Appointed veterinary surgeons and practitioners, appropriately qualified local authority officers, or other competent persons authorised by the local authority may inspect licensed premises and any animals at such premises at any reasonable time. There will normally only be one inspection for each licence granted, but further inspections may be made to check that licence conditions have been complied with, if a complaint is received about the premises, or if there is any concern about the condition of the premises, or the welfare of an animal at the premises.
Unlicensed premises may also be inspected in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
You may decide that you would like to have your premises re-inspected, if you have undertaken improvements since the licence was issued and you feel that you could achieve a higher star rating. If you would like your premises to be inspected again and consideration given to changing the star rating, please contact the Animal Welfare Team via email to EHealth@havant.gov.uk. The correspondence should include your licence number, confirmation that you are requesting a re-inspection, and the actions that have been taken by the business to improve the level of compliance or welfare since the inspection. Where appropriate, you may also attach supporting evidence.
There is a fee for re-inspection. Once your request is made, there will be confirmation it has been received and we will contact you to take payment of the fee. If re-inspection is appropriate it will be carried out within three months of receipt of the request. There is no limit to the number of re-inspection visits a business can request, however, there will be a fee for each visit charged. Please be aware that your star rating could go up or down following a re-inspection.
You may be dissatisfied with the star rating awarded on your licence and choose to appeal this. To appeal the star rating given, you must submit your appeal in writing to the Animal Welfare Team via email to EHealth@havant.gov.uk. Your appeal must be received within 21 days (including weekends and bank holidays) of your licence being issued. The correspondence should include your licence number, confirmation that you are appealing the star rating given, and the reasons for the appeal.
The appeal will be determined by the Environmental Health Manager, after considering paperwork associated with the inspection and the past record of the business. This officer will not have been associated with the inspection and the associated scoring of the site.
A licence will be refused;
The applicant may appeal to a First tier Tribunal if the Council refuses to grant or renew a licence
A licence may be varied, suspended or revoked by the Council for the following reasons;
Any significant change to the premises may require a variation to your licence. The licensee may request a variation or the Council can impose one. This will involve a small charge. Please contact us on EHealth@havant.gov.uk if you think a variation may be needed.
The licensee may appeal to a First Tier Tribunal if the Council has varied, suspended or revoked a licence.
The fees due for animal licences are reviewed every financial year, and vary depending on the type of licence. Please click here for a schedule of fees.
After submitting your application, you will be contacted to take the application fee, this will be prior to the inspection. After your inspection, and in order to issue your licence, you will need to pay the compliance fee. You may be subject to variable vet fees, depending on the licence.