We recognise that lawyers’ fees can sometimes be seen as unpredictable and expensive, so we offer a number of options to suit your needs.
Much of our work is undertaken on a ‘fixed fee‘ basis whereby you pay a specific amount in advance for work that we agree with you. We can often give you a fixed fee arrangement to evaluate your case once we have a set of papers from you. This type of arrangement means that you can be certain of the costs involved for the work described from the outset.
We try our best to avoid a hearing if that is possible, but if we have to attend one then this is charged on our hourly rate of £200+VAT. The same rate is charged for meetings or negotiating any objections that are made. Most hearings that we attend are around 2 hours, but can be more or less : The shortest one we have attended was 15 minutes and the longest one 2 days.
Where it is not possible to determine a precise cost, for example you want us to attend a meeting of an undefined length or we have not seen a full set of papers from you, we will operate on a hourly rate. You can also ask for an hourly rate if you think it is likely that we will complete the work quicker than we anticipate. This can be ‘capped‘ so that you have a maximum level set for our fees: When we reach the capped level, we will stop work so that you do not incur any additional cost unless you have agreed it.
Providing that it is agreed in advance, we can normally agree that our fees are paid over a period of time, to help you spread the cost. We do not charge interest on this type of arrangement.
All of our fees are subject to VAT and any disbursements. Broadly speaking, ‘disbursements’ are expenses such as application fees, newspaper notices, plan drawing fees or travelling costs.
Most licence applications carry an application fee that is payable to the Council. These vary widely from Council to Council and depend on the type of licence. Some application fees are set by law.
Licensing Act 2003
Fees payable to the Council depend on the rateable value :
Non-domestic rateable value Application fee Annual Fee £0-£4300 £100 £70 £4,301-£33,000 £190 £180 £33,001-£87,000 £315 £295 £87,001-£125,000 £450 £320 £125,001 and over £635 £350 If the premises are in the last two bands and used daily for selling alcohol, a multiplier is added :
Band Application fee Annual charge £87,001-£125,000 £900 £640 £125,001 and over £1905 £1050 If you are planning to have 5,000 or more people at the venue, there is a further fee to pay.
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Some other applications carry different fees that are payable to the Council :
Application of copy of licence/notice on theft, loss etc. £10.50 Application for a provisional statement where premises being built £315.00 Application for minor variation of premises licence/club certificate £89.00 Application to vary licence to specify individual as DPS £23.00 Application to disapply the need for a DPS on a premises licence £23.00 Application for transfer of premises licence £23.00 Interim authority notice £23.00 Notification of change of name or alteration of club rules £10.50 Change of relevant registered address of club £10.50 Temporary Event Notice £21.00 Notification of change of the name or address £10.50 Notice of interest in a premises £21.00 Our fixed fee for preparing and submitting a basic application starts at £650+VAT and disbursements, depending on the type of application.
This fee includes drafting the paperwork, initial consultations with the key authorities where needed, preparing any newspaper advertisement and submitting the paperwork to the Council.
For complex applications, such as those within a Special Policy Area or for a large event, we will provide you with a quote upon request. Typically, these applications start at £950+VAT for a Special Policy Area application and £1750+VAT for an event with less than 2,500 people attending.
We try hard to avoid the need for a hearing but if one is required, or if there are negotiations needed after the application is lodged, then this is charged at an hourly rate of £200+VAT.
We know that this can appear complicated, so please do contact us to discuss if you need us to clarify for your particular circumstances.
