premises-move

---
name: premises-move
description: Turns relocating a hospitality business into an ordered sequence of legal gates instead of a guessed timeline: the new premises licence application and its real representation period, the planning use class of the new unit against the trade run, food business registration at the new address and closure of the old one, Companies House and HMRC notification, insurance continuity, and the old lease's own exit route, cross-referenced rather than repeated. Use the day a new site is found, before any trading date is promised to staff, suppliers or a landlord.
---

# A move sequenced by the gates that open it, not the order it feels natural to do them

You give this the new premises' intended use and trading date, the draft licence application, the planning use of both units, the food registration, and the old lease's position. You get back a dated sequence of every legal gate between signing and trading, each tied to its document. It will not draft the licence, decide a change of use or choose surrender over assignment.

## What it does

1. **Start from what is already decided, cross-referenced not repeated.** This pack's break-clause, dilapidations and under-insurance skills cover the old lease's exit timing, repair cap and sums insured. Record which exit route applies, surrender, assignment or running to term, and confirm cover starts from the new premises' first trading day.
2. **Read what a new premises licence requires, and when trading can start.** An application needs an operating schedule, a plan, and, where alcohol is supplied, a DPS consent, advertised "for a period of no less than 28 consecutive days." No representations means grant as applied for; representations mean a hearing unless everyone agrees otherwise. Record the submission date, the 28 day end date, and any representations received.
3. **Classify the new premises' planning use against the trade run.** Class E covers food and drink sale "where consumption of that food and drink is mostly undertaken on the premises": a cafe or restaurant. Pubs, bars and hot food takeaways sit outside it as sui generis uses, and moving between the two needs planning permission before trading.
4. **Register the food business at the new address and close the old one.** The notification duty runs "of each establishment," so a move is a fresh registration, not a transfer. The official service says to register "at least 28 days before trading" and warns not to register too early. Record the new registration and the old closure separately.
5. **Update Companies House, then HMRC.** A registered office change is filed online within 14 days, staying in the same part of the UK. Corporation Tax changes reach Companies House first; VAT changes reach HMRC within 30 days.
6. **Sequence it as a diary, starting with the longest clock.** The licence's representation period usually runs longest; planning runs alongside it but must finish first; food registration and the Companies House and HMRC updates follow once a trading date is fixed.
7. **Hand the mechanical work to Codex.** Run:

   ```
   codex exec --sandbox danger-full-access --skip-git-repo-check -C "<working folder>" - < CODEX.md
   ```

   Claude hands over the exit route, the licence facts and dates, the planning classification, the registration dates, the Companies House and HMRC dates, and the insurance position. Codex returns the move sequence, the licence timeline, the planning position, the registration record and a gaps file, deciding nothing.

## Then it checks

1. The exit route is recorded as a decision already made, not re-derived here.
2. The licence timeline shows the submission date, the 28 day end date, and whether representations arrived, sourced from a real document.
3. Planning states the use class or sui generis status against the trade intended, and whether they match.
4. The food record shows both the new registration and the old closure, and Companies House and HMRC dates sit against their own deadlines of 14 and 30 days.
5. No file states a trading date, planning outcome or licence grant as certain before its document exists.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only. Never invent a fact, a number or a quote. Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- England and Wales only; Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate regimes.
- Never draft a licence application, decide a change of use, or choose surrender over assignment; cross-reference this pack's own skills rather than repeat their judgement.
- Never assume a trading date before the representation period has run and any hearing concluded, and never state the 28 day food registration figure as a statutory deadline rather than official guidance.
- A working document for the owner's own solicitor, licensing consultant and accountant to check. Not legal advice, not a licence application, not a guarantee of any date.

## Built from
- Licensing Act 2003, section 17, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/section/17, read 14 October 2026: the operating schedule, plan and DPS consent, step 2.
- Licensing Act 2003, section 18, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/section/18, read 14 October 2026: grant without a hearing, and when one is required, step 2.
- The Licensing Act 2003 (Premises Licences and Club Premises Certificates) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/42, regulation 25, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/42/regulation/25, read 14 October 2026: the 28 consecutive day notice period, step 2.
- Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 55, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/8/section/55, read 14 October 2026: material change of use as development, step 3.
- The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, Schedule 2, Class E, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/764/schedule/2/2020-09-01, read 14 October 2026, as amended by SI 2020/757: the Class E wording and the sui generis consequence for drinking establishments, step 3.
- Food Safety Act 1990, section 19, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/16/section/19, read 14 October 2026: the registration and licensing power for food premises, step 4.
- The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, SI 2013/2996, Schedule 2, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2996/made, read 14 October 2026: the per-establishment notification duty, step 4.
- Food Standards Agency, official registration service, https://register.food.gov.uk/, read 14 October 2026: the 28 day registration guidance, step 4.
- GOV.UK, "Change a registered office address (AD01)", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/change-a-registered-office-address-ad01, read 14 October 2026: the 14 day Companies House deadline, step 5.
- GOV.UK, "Tell HMRC about a change to your business", https://www.gov.uk/tell-hmrc-changed-business-details, read 14 October 2026: the VAT 30 day deadline and the Companies House-before-HMRC order, step 5.
- This pack's own break-clause and dilapidations skills, and the insurance-skills pack's under-insurance skill, cross-referenced rather than repeated, step 1.

# premises-move

## You are given
The relocation facts for one UK hospitality business moving premises in England or Wales. The old lease's exit route, already decided with its date, from this pack's break-clause and dilapidations skills. The new licence application: submission date, whether it covers alcohol, the DPS, the 28 day advertising dates, and any representations with their dates. The new premises' planning use class as classified, the use class the trade needs, and any change of use application with date and status. The food registration date for the new premises and closure date for the old. The Companies House AD01 filing date if moving. The HMRC notification dates by tax head. The insurance continuity date. All judgement, including the exit route and whether a change of use is needed, belongs to the owner and their advisers.

## Produce
Write into `./premises-move-output/`:

1. `move-sequence.csv`: `gate`, `status`, `date_submitted`, `date_required_by`, `responsible_person`, `source_document`. `gate` is one of: old lease exit route, premises licence application, planning use class, food registration new premises, food registration closure old premises, companies house address change, hmrc notification, insurance continuity. `status` is not started, in progress or complete. `date_required_by` is calculated only where a date and a deadline are both supplied.
2. `licence-timeline.md`: submission date; the 28 day advertising start and end dates; representations and their dates; whether a hearing is required; the decision date if known.
3. `planning-position.md`: the new premises' use class or sui generis status; the use class the trade needs; whether they match; the change of use status and date.
4. `food-registration.csv`: `premises`, `action` (register or close), `date_submitted`, `date_confirmed`. One row for the new premises, one for the old.
5. `company-hmrc-updates.csv`: `register_or_tax`, `date_notified`, `deadline_days`, `within_deadline`. `deadline_days` is 14 for Companies House and 30 for VAT. `within_deadline` is calculated only where both dates are supplied.
6. `gaps.md`: any gate with no source document; any licence date not confirmed from a document; no stated planning match; either food registration or closure missing; any Companies House or HMRC date missing; no insurance continuity date.

## Rules
- Transcribe, calculate deadlines and sort only from supplied facts. Never decide an exit route, a change of use, or invent a trading date.
- Never calculate a deadline or match without both facts supplied; leave the cell empty and flag it in `gaps.md` instead.
- British English, GBP as `GBP` or £, DD Month YYYY dates, no em dashes; supplied text with one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every file ends with: a working document for the owner's own solicitor, licensing consultant and accountant to check. Not legal advice, not a licence application, not a guarantee of any date.

## Return
Every file's path and row count, the earliest `date_required_by` with its gate name, the licence timeline summary, the planning match conclusion, both food registration dates, the Companies House and HMRC compliance count, and the `gaps.md` count.