If you intend to breed dogs for sale, you need a licence regardless of the type of property you are operating from, even if it is your home.
You will need a licence if you want to breed dogs and are breeding:
- three or more litters of puppies per year (unless you can show that none of the puppies has been sold)
- puppies and advertising a business of selling puppies, irrespective of the number bred each year (subject to a few exemptions).
If you are unsure if you fit into these categories, please email your query to licensing@bromley.gov.uk.
Animal welfare
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, we are responsible for licensing all establishments involved in animal activities. These licenses changed on 1 October 2018 under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animal England) Regulations 2018. The legislation is accompanied by new nationally set licence conditions.
Inspections
All premises will be inspected before the licence is granted. The inspector will be looking to make sure the applicant has the following:
- A specialist knowledge in the species they are caring for and a clear understanding of its needs and welfare - i.e. mental and physical health, feeding, and knowledge of environmental enrichment.
- Comprehensive records that contain all the information required by the conditions that apply to their activities.
- An understanding of risks involved in caring for the animal, including an extensive risk assessment and written policies and procedures that are reviewed regularly. These documents should be available for the Inspector to examine.
- Training procedures in place to make sure staff know what is expected of them and clear evidence of good supervision of staff.
- Inspections are carried out by the City of London and can take up to 20 days from receiving a valid application to arrange a visit to your premises.
- Before we can send your application to the inspection team, we need a copy of your procedures and associated documents.
- We will also need a plan of the premises; accurate measurements of rooms are not required.
- The duration of your licence will depend on the level of compliance that is achieved at inspection and a 'star rating' system is used to show your level of compliance. Therefore, the fee is split into 2 parts, A and B.
- The part B fee cannot be determined until the inspection has taken place and the level of compliance has been ascertained.
- Part A is payable before the veterinary inspection takes place and is made up of the following:
- Admin fee (see fee list) - This covers the cost of the authority processing your application and the associated documents that must be provided).
- Plus, the inspection fee. (The inspection covers all the points listed under 'General conditions' and 'Specific Conditions' of the minimum standards as detailed in the guidance notes)
- The remainder of the fee, part B, will be determined after the inspection takes place and depends on the risk rating that the premises is given at inspection, and is made up as follows:
- Council admin charge for a 1,2- or 3-year licence (see fee list) plus the fee for a midterm inspection (see fee list). The midterm will be carried out before the expiry of your licence.
- We will inform you of the star rating and duration of the licence once the inspection has taken place.
Cost
Schedule of animal activity licensing fees
Guidance notes
FAQs for new animal activity licensing regulations (PDF - 335.75 KB)
Guidance: dog breeders (PDF - 605.54 KB)
Pre-inspection: Dog breeding (PDF - 177.39 KB)
Apply
Download and complete the dog breeders application/renewal form and return to the licensing team, by email with the required written procedures
Please contact us by email if you wish to be provided with a pre- inspection information sheet.
Only the Part A fee is payable when you submit your application.
Payment can be made through our licensing payments form.