Advice for completing a liquor licence application

To complete this section you must provide:

• The premises address. For a remote seller’s licence, this is the address where you fulfill your orders for liquor to deliver to customers. For all other licence categories, the premises address is the street address where your venue or shop is located.
• The postal address where we can contact you, if it is different from the premises address.
• Your best contact email for the business so that we can contact you in the future.
• The trading or business name the premises will be known as. This may be different from your company or business name.

If you do not provide the above details, your application will not be processed.

The applicant is the entity that will hold the liquor licence. It will receive the money from the supply of liquor.

There are four common types of applicants. You must pick the right one.

Person

An individual or sole trader who will be running the business.

Partnership

A partnership can only be made up of individual people. If you are a partnership, you must tell us of all partners, even if they will not be involved in the supply of liquor.

Company

Companies are body corporates registered by Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). They can be identified by having either PTY LTD or LTD on the end of the company name. They have directors and a company secretary.

You must provide an ASIC current and historical company extract that is less than 90 days old. You can buy one directly from ASIC.

Club or incorporated association

An incorporated association is a body corporate registered with Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) They are often local sporting clubs, theatres or charities. They can be identified by the incorporated or INC on the end of the name.

An incorporated association must apply in the name that matches their registration with CAV. If your name is incorrect, or we cannot find you on CAV’s database, we will ask you to give us a copy of your incorporation certificate.

Other entity

Councils, TAFEs and co-operatives may also apply for a liquor licence. As these types of applicants often have unique set ups, you may want to email us for assistance before beginning your application.

You cannot apply as a trust. If your business is held in a trust, you must apply in the name of the trustee. If you are unsure who or what the trustee is, please seek legal or external advice to assist you in your application.

Once you have identified which applicant type is correct, you must tell us:

• the name of the entity
• the Australian Business Number (ABN)
• the Australian Company Number (ACN) if you are applying as a company
• the name, phone number and email address of the best contact person.

Please note: if you are applying as an incorporated association, you must check that the name is the same as your registered name on Consumer Affairs Victoria.

You must also tell us about each person, partner, director or executive committee member who is a part of the application. You must provide the full name, home address and position held for each person declared.

• Each person or partner is each individual person involved as the sole trader or people in the partnership.
• A director is an individual listed as a director with ASIC under the company details of the ASIC extract.
• Incorporated associations have executive committee members. These are more commonly known as the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer for clubs or a Chairperson. These executive committee members carry all the decision making power within your association and must be declared in the application.

If you have more people to declare than you can fit on the application form you must still tell us about them. You can do this by writing the details of each extra person on another piece of paper and including it in your application.

If you are applying as a company or incorporated association, you are applying as a ‘body corporate’. As a body corporate, you can request to add a nominee to your licence.

A nominee is an individual person, whose name will be printed on the licence and is considered liable for offences as though they were the licensee. It is mandatory to have a nominee if all the directors or executive committee members live outside of Victoria.

A nominee must complete a questionnaire and either New entrant training or Responsible Service of Alcohol training.

If you are applying as a company or incorporated association, you are applying as a ‘body corporate’. Body corporates, such as companies and incorporated associations, must tell LCV who the person in day-to-day management will be.

This person can be a director, executive committee member, venue manager or employee at the venue. They may be the same person as the nominee, if applicable.

The person in day to day management must complete Responsible Service of Alcohol training. They may also choose to do New entrant training.

In this part of the application, we want to know how you intend to supply liquor as part of your business. LCV needs to assess whether we need to ask more questions and any risks your business may or may not pose.

You should include why you need a liquor licence, and details like the type of liquor, how you intend to supply it and what the general business of the premises will be.

For example, you may want to operate as a wine bar with specifically Australian wines where people can have a quiet drink after work. You may also want to allow people to come in and buy their favourite bottle of wine on their way home and take it away with them. You may also have a live band or tasting sessions once a month.

Each licence or permit has trading hours which says when you can and cannot supply or consume liquor at your shop or venue.

We want to know what time you want to be open and closed on each day of the week. This helps us consider any risks to amenity or harm due to your trading hours.

Some things to consider when thinking about your trading hours:

• The later your trading hours, the higher risk your venue will be considered
• Trading after 1am will increase your annual renewal fee, see how your renewal fee is calculated
• If you’re applying for a general, on-premises or restaurant and cafe licences, you will automatically be allowed to trade to 1am. You must adhere to the hours of your planning permit if they are lesser than your liquor licence.
• If you’re applying for a packaged liquor or remote seller’s licence, you cannot trade past 11pm
• Restrictions apply to trade on Good Friday and ANZAC Day.

Your trading hours will either be the lesser of when you can trade under your planning permit or what you have asked for in the application.

For more information on what the licence you are specifically applying for allows, please view apply for a liquor licence for that category.

As a part of your application, we want to be sure that you understand what risks your venue may pose for alcohol-related harm. And more importantly, we want to know what you'll do to manage those risks.

For more information, visit understanding the risks and harms associated with liquor.

Some businesses provide patrons with entertainment. This may be a solo singer or guitar player at a restaurant, through to karaoke or live-music events. We want to know what kinds of entertainment you may be providing at your venue to assess risk.

We will ask you if you are providing any entertainment, such as amplified or live music or karaoke entertainment. If you answer yes to this question, please tell us. If you are providing any entertainment, please tell us what you’re planning and the days and hours in which you will provide the entertainment.

If LCV consider the nature of your entertainment to pose risks, we will likely as you for a venue management plan.

Based on your answers to the questions about your business activities, entertainment and trading hours, LCV may consider your application to be of a higher risk for alcohol related harm.

For venues that are open late into the night, providing live or amplified music and/or karaoke, you must provide us with a venue management plan.

If you sell packaged liquor for delivery or offer bulk discounts, you must provide us with an alcohol management plan.

There may be other reasons that we ask you for a management plan as part of your application. We will let you know in writing.

Management plans help us see what strategies you have in place to address the risks of supplying alcohol. Some examples of risks are:

• loud noise
• intoxicated or drunk patrons
• minors
• rapid delivery of alcohol.

If you need some help to create a plan, we have further general guidance available to you.

Management plans for supplying liquor

If you are applying for a restaurant and cafe, restricted club, full club, general or on-premises licence (including late-night licences), you must tell us the number of patrons you want at your venue.

A maximum patron capacity is the total number of patrons you can have within your licensed area. The number of patrons will help inform LCV’s risk assessment of your application and inform your Liquor licence renewal fees.

You must tell us your total number of patrons for your venue in your application. But you must also provide a copy of your most recently issued planning permit that has a patron capacity on it.

In some cases, your planning permit may not have a capacity on it or you may be applying for a planning permit. Instead, you can tell us the number of patrons that will fit in your licensed area based on the measurements in your red line plan. You must use our standard limit of 1 person per 0.75 square metres.

LCV has specific requirements on what you must include in your Red line plan for licensed premises.

Your application will not progress if you do not provide either a copy of your planning permit that has a patron capacity or the red line plan.

This question will come up if you are applying for:

• a general licence (including late night)
• an on-premises licence (including late night)
• a restaurant and cafe licence
• a full club or
• a restricted club licence.

We will ask you about the supply of liquor and if it is your main business activity or if it is secondary to your main business activity.

For example, the main activity of a bowling alley would be for a person to go bowling. But the business may also supply liquor to patrons whilst they bowl. This would be a secondary activity as people attend the premises to bowl, not to buy liquor.

There is a list of these business types, called prescribed venue types. This information is used to help us calculate your annual liquor licence renewal fee.

If your business does not meet any of the venue types, or you are not sure, please answer ‘none of the above’ or ‘not applicable’ on your application form.

If your business changes in the future, you can email us at contact@liquor.vic.gov.au to change it.

If you are applying for an on-premises or restaurant and cafe licence, you may seek approval to have a footpath or kerbside area.

To support your request for this approval, you will need to have this area included in your red line plan, and tell us the hours you want to trade in that area.

You will also be required to provide a footpath trading permit from your local council. This is in addition to any other planning permissions.

It is an offence for persons under the age of 18, minors, to be on a licensed premises without a responsible adult or having a meal at the premises. For more information view Under-18 patrons on licensed premises.

As part of your application, you can also apply for approval to allow unaccompanied minors on the premises.

If minors will always be accompanied by a responsible adult, you do not require any approval.

To apply for approval to have unaccompanied minors, you must complete the permanent underage application form. You must state the reasons why you require an approval by providing detail such as business activities, and the trading hours that you want to have unaccompanied minors on site.

If you are applying for permanent underage approval, the form must be provided with your application. If you do not, your application will not be processed.

Certain persons in the application will be required to complete New Entrant Liquor (NET) and Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training.

If these courses have not been completed yet, you can provide a copy of your enrollment notice with your application.

Who must complete these courses?

• The person identified as a nominee must complete either NET or RSA.
• Applying as an individual, you must complete both NET and RSA.
• Applying as a partnership, all partners must complete both NET and RSA.
• Applying as a company or incorporated association:
  • One director, executive committee member or person in day-to-day management must complete NET.
  • The person in day-to-day management must complete RSA.

You must tell LCV that you have the right to occupy the premises. Being the landlord or tenant of a premises is the most common way people can obtain the right to occupy a premises.

However, there can be other legal agreements. If this is the case you should specify this in your right to occupy declaration.

We can be notified using the declaration right to occupy form.

Applications to transfer an existing licence are not required to have right to occupy up front. See I haven’t officially taken over the premises yet below.

Suitability is an assessment of you and whether you are a fit and proper person to hold a liquor licence. In your application, there are two forms you are required to complete for a suitability check.

These documents must be less than 90 days old when you lodge your application.

If these documents are too old, incomplete or not provided, your application will not be processed.

Who must complete these forms?

All relevant persons declared under the ‘Applicant details’ section must complete both questionnaires and declaration of associates forms.

The people who are required to complete this form will change depending on the type of applicant:

• If you are applying as an individual, you must complete a questionnaire and declaration of associates Part B.
• If you are applying as a partnership, all individual partners must complete their own questionnaire and declaration of associates form Part B.
• If you are applying as a company or incorporated association:
  • a director or executive committee member must complete a declaration of associates form Part A for that company or incorporated association.
  • Each director or executive committee member must complete their own individual questionnaire and declaration of associates form Part B.
• If you have nominated a person to be the nominee, they must complete a questionnaire only.

Questionnaire

The personal history questionnaire asks you about your personal details such as current and prior names, your date of birth and contact details. It also asks questions about any prior or current criminal history, as well as your professional and liquor licensing history.

A copy of your questionnaire will be forwarded to Victoria Police as part of the application. They may also contact you separately as part of their review of your application.

The first page of the questionnaire asks you for your:

• personal details
• contact details
• one ID document
• current and prior criminal history (5 questions).

The second page of the questionnaire asks you about your:

• professional history (4 questions)
• liquor licence history (6 questions)
• personal bankruptcy (2 questions)

You must answer all of the questions asked by selecting the relevant box.

If you tick yes to any of the questions, you must provide as much detail as possible. There is a box on the second page for you to add information. If you run out of room, you can add the rest of the information on a piece of paper and attach it to your application.

Declaration of associates

A declaration of associates form requires that you tell us about your associates, people of financial interest and relatives. This information is used to check that the people who might have influence over your business or you are also fit and proper people.

The first question asks about the name of the entity that the information is about. This may be the name of the company, incorporated association or individual.

You must declare any other businesses you are involved in that supply liquor, on this form. This includes declaring the business that you are currently seeking a liquor licence for.

You must declare any people with financial interest, significant influence or relatives who may or may not be involved in the business. These are your associates. We have defined these terms for you at the bottom of this page if you need more information

Example scenario

ABC Pty Ltd is making an application for a liquor licence. Jane and John Smith are directors of ABC Pty Ltd.

In this example the applicants have listed Gary Batman in both Part A and each Part B as someone with a financial interest. Gary is not a director of the company, but he has invested money into the business to help them get started. They have also listed Sally Smith as a relative associate. Sally is John's sister, she has experience in the hospitality industry and is going to provide help and advice as they establish their new restaurant.

Each licence requires a red line plan. If you lodge your application without a red line plan, your application will not be processed.

The red line plan shows and defines the area where you can supply liquor. The plan must:

• be on at least A4 size paper
• be drawn in a neat and legible manner (either by hand or electronically)
• include the premises address
• include the name of the surrounding streets or roads
• define the boundaries of the property
• show the outline of the licensed area in a continuous red line
• show the measurements of the licensed area
• include the total area of the licensed areas in square metres
• show basic functions and/or fixtures of the premises. For example, the bar, dining area, kitchen area, etc.

Where you are supplying liquor at your premises, your red line plan is required to include any areas you supply liquor and where patrons will consume liquor. It must also include kitchens and toilets but does not need to include any storage areas.

Where you are supplying liquor online, such as a remote seller’s, you must red line the area in which you pick and pack liquor for delivery to customers.

You are required to provide supporting planning permission from your local council with your application. If you do not provide this document, you application will not be processed.

Prior to lodging your application, you should contact your relevant local council about their planning requirements for your business.

Your council will be able to guide you in what they need and the suitability of your business for the local area and location.

To support your application, you must submit one of the following from your local council:

• a copy of the most recently issued planning permit for the premises
• a copy of an application made to council for a planning permit
• written confirmation from council that a planning permit is not required to supply liquor. This can be a formal letter or email from council.

The planning permit or application for a planning permit, must match your proposed activities in your application. A copy of this document will be sent to Council as part of the application process.

You can submit your application for a new licence or changes to an existing licence without an approved planning permit.

A copy of your planning permit application to your local council is enough for us to start processing your application.

If we decide to grant your application, the new licence and/or changes will only take effect once you receive local council’s permission and provide confirmation to us using the Notice of right to use the premises form.

You have 12 months from the date we grant your application to provide us with a copy of the planning permit and plans.

You can submit your application even while building or renovating your premises. This means that we should have decided on your application before you have completed building works. This is called a conditional grant of a licence.

If you tell us in your application that you are not ready to commence operating yet, tell us the date your building works will be complete. We can then consider conditionally granting your application so that the changes or licence is not effective until you finish building. We will put the date you advise us on the licence.

Once you have completed building, you must advise us as soon as possible, with written confirmation from your building or surveyor that works are complete.

If you experience delays in completing your building works, you can apply to extend the building works date. You must tell us before the date on your licence, or the licence will expire.

If you are applying to transfer an existing liquor licence, you do not need a lease or property settlement before submitting your application.

You cannot supply liquor until the transfer application is granted and you have the legal right to occupy the premises.

You risk fines of more than $11,000 if you are caught trading while your application is still being processed.

You might have signed a lease already or settled. But you cannot supply liquor until the transfer application is granted as well.

We might grant your transfer application before you settle. If your transfer application has been granted, you can start supplying liquor straight away after you have the legal right to occupy the premises. Some examples of settlement are signing a lease agreement or completing a property sale.

You must tell us within 24 hours of you gaining the legal right to occupy the premises. You must do this with the notice of right to occupy the premises below:

When submitting your application, you must provide evidence of your course booking if you have not completed the course yet. This can be an enrollment or booking email.

If you are unsure as to who must complete the training courses, please see our information on mandatory training.

This is the physical location of your venue or shop.

This is the area within your venue or shop that you are licensed to supply liquor. It is the area outlined in red on your red line plan.

Used to describe public and private companies, as well as incorporated associations and clubs.

A person who has control of a public or private company.

A group of people who have control of an incorporated association, such as a club. This usually includes a president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary.

Alternatively, it may have a chairperson and a small committee that make decisions for the larger the group.

The individuals who make up a partnership. There will be a minimum of 2 people.

A person who the licensee asks to be approved on their licence. They are usually a store or venue manager, or someone in control of the venue. They do not have to be a director or executive committee member. A nominee is liable for any offences that happen at the premises.

The person who is regularly in control of the supply of liquor and day-to-day running of the venue. It can be a director, venue or shop manager or an employee who is regularly managing the bar.

An associate is anyone that has relevant interest in the business such as financial interest or can exercise significant influence or power over the running of the business itself or relevant people within the business. This can include people who lend you money, are involved in the running of the business or are related to you.

Financial interest is usually defined as a person who has contributed as significant amount of money or equity into the business. They may also have an interest or power within the business. They may help to pay for items, good or services or be shareholders who receive payments, such as dividends.

Relatives include spouses or partners and people who are related to you, such as parents, siblings and children and their spouses or partners.

The document you must display at your premises with the details of your liquor licence application.

Written submissions stating why someone does not agree that your application should be granted.