Overview

The Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2023 came into force on 6 April 2026. The legislation brings in a licensing scheme, setting strict rules to ensure that only private keepers who can provide zoo-level welfare standards will be able to keep the following primates, including: 

  • Apes
  • Lemurs
  • Spider monkeys
  • Night (owl) monkeys
  • Marmosets
  • Tamarins
  • Squirrel monkeys
  • Lorisids including bush babies

You will need to apply to us for a licence if you keep, or intend to keep, a primate in the Havant Borough

Private primate keepers will be subject to a strict inspection regime to ensure welfare and licencing standards are upheld. It is an offence for anyone to keep a primate without a relevant licence. Failure to comply with licence conditions could result in an unlimited fine, removal of the primate or imprisonment for a term of up to 6 months. 

Government guidance accompanying the standards has been published. 

Applications

Apply via post or email:

You can email your application and supplementary documents to EHealth@havant.gov.uk, or post them to Animal Welfare, Havant Borough Council, Public Service Plaza, Civic Centre Road, Havant, PO9 2AX. Once the team has confirmed receipt of your application, you will be contacted directly for payment of the application fee. 

Conditions

Government guidance sets out the licence conditions that must be attached to a primate licence granted under the Regulations.

Inspections 

The Council must arrange to inspect an applicant’s premises before making a decision to grant a licence. The function of the inspection is to assess whether the licence conditions are likely to be met by the applicant. However, it will not be possible to assess the applicant’s likely compliance with all of the licence conditions just by visually assessing the premises where the primates are, or are to be, kept. The Council will therefore ask additional questions of applicants to assess their understanding of the licence conditions, and the welfare needs of the animals being kept. 

Fees

The fees due for animal licences are reviewed every financial year, and vary depending on the type of licence. See a schedule of fees. 

You may also be subject to variable vet fees.