If you are new to the whole or an area of animal activities licensing and require advice and guidance on applying for an animal boarding licence, we offer a pre-application advice service. The fee for this service is £100 plus VAT.
Please note: we cannot offer pre-application advice to any person who is subject to compliance/intervention or enforcement action by the Licensing Team.
If you would like to book a pre-application advice meeting please email: licensing@eastriding.gov.uk.
From 1 October 2018, the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities involving animals) (England) Regulations 2018 took effect for all new applications made.
Any application made will need to fully comply with the new regulations as below, we advise anyone looking to start a business in this area to fully read and ensure they could meet all aspects of the regulations and guidance.
Animal welfare (licensing of activities involving animals) 2018 regulations (pdf 5mb)
GOV.UK - Guidance for boarding dogs in kennels (external website)
GOV.UK - Guidance for boarding cats (external website)
GOV.UK - Guidance for day care boarding for dogs (external website)
Fees
Animal Licensing Fees April 2022 (pdf 194kb)
Application and processing
You can now apply online for an animal activities licence, payment will be required at the end of the form for the form to be submitted to the licensing team for consideration.
Apply for an animal activities licence
alternatively you can apply for an animal boarding establishment by completing the below application form and submitting it by email to:
Email: licensing@eastriding.gov.uk
Application for an animal boarding establishment licence (word 185kb)
The application form must be accompanied by all the supporting documents listed in the declaration on the application form, an application will not be accepted without all required documents.
Once you have submitted a valid and complete application you will be contacted by a licensing officer, who will arrange to visit and inspect your boarding accommodation. In order to have your licence issued, you will need to meet the regulations shown above for each activity applied for.
If you meet all requirements, your licence will be granted following inspection within 10 weeks of a complete application.
If you are unable to meet the requirements for a licence, the officer discusses your application further with you at that time.
A tacit consent does not apply to this application, meaning your application will not be automatically granted after a specified period of time. Each application must be assessed on its own merits as every premise requires inspecting to ensure the standards required are fully met.