Bed & Breakfast News Christmas 2016 (#43) | Page 20

20 | Bed & Breakfast News | Christmas 2016 Are there any exemptions to the revised tariff? There are indeed. In order to retain a fair approach to licensing, PPL will not charge premises where all of the following criteria can be met: The premises have up to three guest bedrooms; So what changes are being implemented? If you own or manage a small residential hotel or guesthouse, you will be able to purchase a single licence from PPL to cover the use of background music (which will cost £66.56 plus VAT) and/or the supply of recorded music to hotel bedrooms (£50.33 plus VAT). The combined fee for both uses will be approximately £117 plus VAT. What’s more, if you only need a licence for one or the other, you will only be charged for the use you need. If you want to find out more about the types and costs of tariffs, you can find full information on PPL’s website. How many rooms are covered by the Small Residential Hotels and Guesthouses tariff? The number of bedrooms included under the revised tariff has been reduced from 25 to 15 to ensure the benefit is limited to smaller premises. Hotels, B&Bs or guesthouses with up to 15 bedrooms are required to secure a Small Residential Hotels and Guesthouses licence for playing recorded music within their premises. Hotels with more than 15 bedrooms should contact PPL’s licensing support team or check out PPL’s website for more details. The premises are the sole holiday accommodation business operated/ owned by the proprietors; The premises are otherwise the domestic residence of the proprietors; and The facilities are only available to resident guests. But I already have a licence? Do I need to get a new one? By now, if you are an existing PPL licensee who will be affected, you should have been contacted by the team at PPL. If not, or if you have any additional queries about the transitional arrangements that have been put in place for the first year of the tariff, you can call PPL on 020 7534 1450 from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday to talk to a member of staff, or email [email protected].