Alcohol licence fees

How are fees determined

• Regulations set most fees. However, any fees set by Council may be subject to annual review, and any changes take effect on 1 July each year. Fee information can be viewed under alcohol licensing fees.
• The fees vary depending on the cost plus risk rating of each premise based on the style of licence, hours and enforcements in the last 18 months.
• We can only process your applications once we have both the Proof of Payment of fees and the required paperwork (application form and required documents).
• Fees for premises and managers include an Alcohol Regulatory Licensing Authority (RALA) Levy. This is displayed on the invoice.

The fees consist of:

1. An application fee:- paid by licensees when they apply for a new, renewed or varied licence; and

2. An annual fee:- which must be paid by licensees each year.

Risk rating fee regime:

The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 brought in a risk-based fee regime. The risk weighting you are given is determined by the territorial authority and has been designed to:

• Recover all costs of the licensing system.
• Allocate costs more fairly across the industry.
• Provide territorial authorities with flexibility to respond to local conditions.
• Establish fair and pragmatic transitional arrangements.
• Minimise alcohol-related harm to the extent that is possible and reasonable through a cost recovery fees regime.
• Please see the March 2021 Tri-Agency Newsletter which has updates on changes in payment options (including phasing out of cheques) and new options on how to submit your application documents online. 

See tables below for calculations on how territorial authority calculates weighting of your premises. Restaurants and clubs will be rated according to the “class” they fit within.

Fee categories

Restaurant and club class definitions

Enforcements

Any enforcement action taken against your premises by the agencies will now affect the fees you pay for a licence. We will take into account any enforcement action taken in the previous 18 months of any application or annual fee falling due.

Enforcement action is classed as a “holding”. This is dealt with under section 288 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.

Sections 289 and 290 apply to a finding (holding) of the licensing authority that a person who is a licensee or a manager of any licensed premises has:

• Encouraged excessive consumption
• Promoted/advertised discounting of more than 25% (unless on the premises, or in remote sales off-licence catalogue)
• Held/had on the premises promotion/advertising of discounts of more than 25% and could be seen/heard from outside premises
• Promoted/advertised alcohol-free of charge, other than complimentary samples or by promotion/advertisement within licensed premises that could not be seen.
• Offered goods/services/opportunity to win a prize on condition alcohol was bought (other than offer only on licensed premises and only in relation to buying alcohol on those premises)
• Promoted competition that required/enabled entry by alcohol purchase, other than offering (on licensed premises) goods/services/opportunity to obtain/win prize or by stocking/displaying/selling alcohol concerned
• Promoted/advertised in manner had/likely to have special appeal to minors
• Sold/supplied to a minor
• Allowed alcohol to be sold/supplied to minor
• Unauthorised sale/supply
• Sale to an intoxicated person

Public notice of application

All alcohol licence application public notices (for premises new, renewal, and variation applications) are published on the alcohol license public notice register. Applications are no longer published in the newspaper.

We will take care of the publication of your public notice when you make your application to us. 

• There is a small administration charge for our assistance in loading the content onto the licensing notification webpage. 
• The fee will need to be paid in advance of publication.
• Your notice will be published within a week of your application being received and the public notice fee being paid.
• We will send you a copy of the published notice for your records at the same time we send you the front entrance notice for display on your premises. You will need to display the notice on your main entrance for at least 15 working days.

Information and instructions for applicants about this transition to web public notification can be found in a special edition Tri-Agency newsletter.

Existing licences must pay fees each year on the anniversary date of the issue of the last licence. Two months before they are due, we send invoices to the postal address on our records. It is your responsibility to ensure all annual fees are paid on time. 

The amount of the annual fee you pay will be determined by the fee category and risk rating on the day the annual fee is due. This is important, as the annual fee could change throughout the year, particularly where the licensee has had a compliance issue affecting their fees category over the past 18 months.

Please note that failure to pay the annual fee within 30 days after the due date will result in the licence being automatically suspended. 

If your licence is suspended you may not sell and supply alcohol until the fee and any penalty charges are paid.

For new licences, the relevant annual fee must be paid by the applicant before the licence is issued.

We no longer accept cheques for payment.

The fee for a Premises Certificate of Compliance (Alcohol) application (required under section 100(f) of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act) is set by Council and may be subject to review annually. Refer to alcohol licensing fees. 

Fee types A and B listed below:

Special licences can cover one-off or short-duration events but can also cover larger events such as wine and food festivals. Fees for special licences have been set via a national three-tier framework:

The flexibility for the territorial authority to adjust a fee category will also apply to special licences. For example, a territorial authority could decide to charge a special licence applicant the fee for a small-sized event, instead of the fee for a medium-sized event, if it decided that was appropriate in the circumstances.

Invoices must be paid immediately for filing to be completed and your application progressed for assessment. Regardless of when your paperwork was filed for your special licence, failure to make the payment (on the invoice issued to you) of the fee due for your application 20 working days before the event date will mean that your application is treated as a short-notice application. You will need to provide a letter explaining the reason for the late payment before your application can proceed any further.

Note: all application fees for processing your applications are non-refundable, and must be paid when you apply for your licence.

The table below provides information about fees for applications other than new licences, renewals of licences and variations of licences.

Variations can be caused by a variation application for on, off, or club licence from you, an inspector assessment of your renewal application and District Licensing Committees (DLC) decisions and further information.

All applications must be accompanied by the relevant fee. Your application will not be complete and will be put on hold for processing until all fees due are paid in full. 

Territorial authorities will make a determination of the application fee based on the information provided by the applicant and any other relevant information available (including from the DLC) to the territorial authority at the time.

If the fee category of an application changes due to further information becoming available during the process of considering the application, the provision will be made for the fee to be adjusted accordingly once the assessment is completed and the new fee category confirmed.