The selling animals as pets licence in England: a plain-English guide

If you sell animals as pets in England as a business, you need a licence from your local council under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. This guide explains who the rules apply to, what the licence conditions actually ask of you, how inspections and star ratings work, and what records you need. It’s written for shop owners and managers, not lawyers, and every section links to the legislation or Defra guidance it comes from.

The short version

• The 2018 regulations replaced the old Pet Animals Act 1951 licence in England on 1 October 2018. Selling animals as pets is one of five licensable activities.
• Your local authority issues the licence, inspects you and sets the fee.
• Every licence carries the general conditions (Schedule 2) and the specific conditions for selling animals as pets (Schedule 3). These are legal requirements, not advice.
• The inspector gives you a star rating from 1 to 5, which decides whether your licence lasts one, two or three years.
• Records must be kept for at least three years and be available for inspection.
• Trading without a licence is a criminal offence.

Who needs a licence

The regulations apply to anyone selling animals as pets, or keeping animals with a view to selling them as pets, in the course of a business. The activity is what’s licensed, not the premises, so it covers pet shops, garden centres with a pet department, aquatic and reptile specialists, home-based sellers and online sellers alike.

Whether you’re “in the course of a business” is for the local authority to judge. The statutory guidance points them to signs such as making a profit, earning commission or fees, how often you sell, how many animals you keep for sale, and whether you’re registered with Companies House or open to the public. Infrequent sales of a few surplus animals by a hobbyist, or non-commercial rehoming, are generally outside the rules. Low volume on its own doesn’t put you outside them, particularly where prices or margins are high.

Dogs and cats have extra rules. Breeding dogs is a separate licensable activity, and since 6 April 2020 licensed pet sellers may only sell puppies and kittens they have bred themselves (the change usually called Lucy’s Law).

How to apply

1. Apply to the local authority for the area where the activity takes place. Most councils have an online form; all of them charge an application fee that covers the inspection.
2. An inspector visits. For selling animals as pets the inspection is carried out by a suitably qualified council inspector, who may be accompanied by a vet. They work through the general and specific conditions using Defra’s statutory guidance and score your business for welfare standards and risk.
3. You receive a licence with a star rating. The rating sets the licence length (see below) and the licence lists the activities and the animals you’re allowed to sell.
4. Display the licence at the premises and put your licence number and the licensing authority on any website or advert you use for the business.
5. Expect at least one unannounced visit during the licence period. How often depends on your rating.

Fees are set locally and must be “fair and reasonable”. They vary considerably between councils; expect separate charges for the application and inspection, and sometimes for the licence itself.

Star ratings and licence length

The inspector assesses two things: whether you meet the minimum standards or the higher standards, and whether your business is low or high risk (a scored assessment that includes your history and how well you’ve met conditions before). The two combine into a star rating:

A new business is normally treated as higher risk because it has no track record, so the best a brand-new shop can usually get is four stars. Our guide to how star ratings work goes through the scoring in detail, including how to request a re-inspection.

The general conditions (Schedule 2)

These ten conditions apply to every licensed activity. In summary, you must:

1. Display the licence at the premises and show the licence holder’s name and licence number on any website used for the business.
2. Keep records in a readable form, available for inspection, for at least three years.
3. Only keep the animals, and the number of animals, your licence allows, reasonable for your facilities and staffing.
4. Have enough competent staff, who can recognise normal behaviour and signs of pain, illness or distress, and keep a written staff training policy.
5. Provide a suitable environment: safe and well-maintained housing, appropriate space, temperature, light, ventilation and cleanliness, with cleaning procedures and safe handling and transport.
6. Provide a suitable diet: appropriate food and clean water, intake monitored and problems recorded and acted on.
7. Monitor behaviour, provide enrichment and exercise where needed, and seek veterinary advice promptly if behaviour changes.
8. Handle animals competently and house them in compatible groups, with daily human interaction where it benefits welfare.
9. Protect animals from pain, suffering, injury and disease, with written procedures for feeding, cleaning, transport, disease control, health monitoring, death or escape, and what happens if the licence is suspended. Isolation facilities, veterinary registration, secure medicine storage and daily checks are all part of this condition.
10. Have a written emergency plan covering fire and the failure of heating, ventilation or filtration, with evacuation measures, an emergency contact list and a key holder who can attend quickly.

Several of these conditions require written documents. The ones most often missing at inspection are the training policy, the disease-control and health-monitoring procedures, and the emergency plan. See the written procedures a pet shop needs.

The specific conditions for selling animals as pets (Schedule 3)

On top of the general conditions, pet sellers must meet these:

Records and adverts. Keep a register of every animal (or group of fish) on the premises recording the supplier, sex, age, veterinary treatment, the dates it arrived or was born, was sold, and died if applicable. Animals under treatment must be clearly marked and not sold. Adverts must include the licence number, the issuing authority, a recognisable photo, the animal’s age (fish excepted) and its country of residence and origin.

Care and advice. Any equipment sold with an animal must be suitable for it. Buyers must be given information on feeding, housing, handling, husbandry, life expectancy, accessories and veterinary care, and care sheets must be displayed for every animal on sale. Staff must be trained to give that advice, and buyers must be told the animal’s species, country of origin and, where known, its age, sex and veterinary record.

Accommodation. Housing must minimise stress, including from other animals and the public. Where customers can see or handle animals, signs must discourage disturbance. Dangerous wild animals need secure, lockable enclosures.

Sale restrictions. You can’t sell unweaned mammals, mammals weaned too early, or non-mammals that can’t feed themselves. Puppies, kittens, ferrets and rabbits must be at least eight weeks old. Puppies and kittens must have been bred by you. Dog sales must be completed in the buyer’s presence at the premises.

Health and transport. Animals on sale must be in good health. An animal with a condition likely to affect its quality of life can’t be moved or sold and should go into isolation or veterinary care. Animals must arrive, and leave with buyers, in containers suitable for the species and the length of the journey.

What the inspector will ask to see

Inspectors work from the statutory guidance, which turns each condition into “minimum” and “higher” standards. In practice they’ll want to see:

• The animal register, up to date, with arrivals, sales and deaths.
• Daily check records for every enclosure, tank and pen, including any temperature, humidity or water quality readings you rely on.
• Cleaning schedules and evidence they’re followed.
• Your written procedures: training policy, disease control, health monitoring, emergencies, and what you do when an animal dies or escapes.
• Staff training records showing who has been trained in what.
• Care sheets on display and the information given to buyers.
• Evidence of veterinary registration and how you handle sick animals.
• The licence on display and your licence number on your website and adverts.

Our inspection preparation checklist walks through each of these.

Offences and enforcement

The council can suspend, vary or revoke a licence if conditions aren’t met, and must give you the chance to put things right unless there’s a welfare emergency. Operating without a licence, or breaching conditions, is a criminal offence. You can appeal licence decisions to the First-tier Tribunal.

Keeping it all together

Most of the licence conditions come down to doing the right things every day and being able to prove it three years later. A folder of paper sheets works until a page goes missing or a manager leaves. PetCompli keeps the animal register, daily checks, cleaning schedules, policies and training records in one place, mapped to every condition in Schedules 2 and 3, so the evidence is already organised when the inspector arrives. Book a demo to see it with your own sites.

This guide explains the law and statutory guidance in plain English for licensed pet businesses. It isn't legal advice: check the current legislation and your own licence conditions, and ask your local authority's licensing team if you're unsure. Last reviewed 14 October 2026.