Massage and special treatment premises licensing

What this covers

Contact your council if you run an establishment for massage or other special treatments and need a premises licence

It applies in England and Wales — but not uniformly within them, because no single national statute governs it. Other UK nations run their own regimes — check the equivalent for the nation you trade in.

Why you need it

Where this licence exists, the power to require it sits in London Local Authorities Act 1991 — but that instrument does not reach the whole of the area this licence is tagged for. Elsewhere the requirement, if there is one, comes from council byelaws or a local Act rather than a national statute. See the note above for where the line falls.

What the instrument carries

These are the duties, penalties and exemptions our graph holds for London Local Authorities Act 1991 as a whole — the instrument behind this licence, not the licence conditions themselves. They show what sort of instrument you are dealing with.

Duties on businesses

6

Penalties

4

Exemptions

1

Duties on businesses under the instrument

• Send licence application copies to police and fire authority s.7
• Pay a fee when applying to vary your licence s.12
• Use or permit special treatment premises without licence or outside licence terms s.14
• Obstruct authorised officers entering special treatment premises s.15
• Obstruct an authorised officer inspecting entertainment premises s.20
• Fail to comply with audible intruder alarm requirements s.23

What happens if you get it wrong

• Fail to comply with audible intruder alarm requirements Unlimited fine
• Use or permit special treatment premises without licence or outside licence terms Fine up to £2,500
• Obstruct authorised officers entering special treatment premises Fine up to £1,000
• Obstruct an authorised officer inspecting entertainment premises Fine up to £200

Exemptions that may take you outside it

• Existing special treatment premises exempt from new licensing until licence expiry — Premises already licensed or registered under a specified enactment (see Schedule to the Act) when Part II comes into force …

Who issues it

Your local council runs this, and outside the area the instrument above reaches it runs it under its own byelaws or a local Act rather than a national statute. That means requirements vary more between authorities than they do for a licence Parliament defined for the whole country — what one council requires, its neighbour may not, and some may not license it at all.

Where to apply

Our guidance on this

Everything below is written out in full elsewhere on Guvnor — this page points at it rather than repeating it.

Licences that often go with this one

Businesses in the same activities usually need one or more of these too.

Duty, penalty and exemption labels are Guvnor’s analysis of the enabling instrument, not the instrument itself. Fees, forms and conditions are set by the issuing authority — always check the linked source.

← All licences