Been running cafe with A1 licence

Heisenberg01

Relative of mine took on a lease early last year, was previously operating as a cafe, and he's carried this on for the last year or so 
Someone from the council visited today to inform him that the property only has A1 licence, it had a temporary use A3 licence for 3 years which ran out the month before he took the lease. The landlord is clueless, said he didn't realise etc.
Council said he needs to apply for planning permission to change from A1 to A3 licence.
No alterations or building works have been made in building.

1. Who is responsible for application, the landlord or the relative?
2. Will he have to cease trading whilst this is sorted?
Relative freaking out,  it's his sole income, hewill ring council in morning.

Thanks

H

molerat

1,  the relative, the landlord won't care.

2, he needs to speak to the council about that.

It was up to him to research the necessary licensing requirements as part of hi due diligence before taking on the premises.  Hopefully it will be straightforward as the council were happy with a temp licence.

James_Londoner

It's important to be clear on terminology about this sort of thing.

It sounds like this is an issue with planning permission, rather than licensing.  Planning and licensing are different regimes dealing with different bits of law, and administered by different parts of the local authority.

Is the business in Wales by any chance?  The use classes differ in the various UK nations.

tightauldgit

1. The tenant/business owner will be responsible for making sure that the business they operate from the premises is running legally and in line with all relevant legislation. There may well be some comeback to the landlord though if they can show that the property was marketed incorrectly and as a result the business has incurred costs. Does the lease specify anything about the unit being A3? if so he may be able to terminate the lease and leave.

2. You should be able to run a cafe with A1 permission - although you may be limited in terms of what hot food you can serve. I believe coffee, sandwiches etc can all be done with an A1 permission. Probably won't be able to serve cooked breakfasts or roast dinners though. Council will advise.

Hopefully there won't be too many issues with getting the permissions changed but I don't think it's a fast process necessarily so he should expect to be at best trading on a limited basis for a month or three.