Adult Entertainment · 7 min read · Last updated
If you own an adult services entertainment establishment in Hamilton, the business itself has to be licensed under Schedule 1 of By-law 07-170. This is the licence attached to the premises and to the person or corporation behind them, and it sits on top of the separate personal licences your managers and attendants hold. It is also one of the few licences in the by-law that Council, not counter staff, decides on.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “By-law 07-170, Schedule 1. Please see By-law for DEFINITION, REQUIREMENTS and RESTRICTIONS. COUNCIL APPROVAL REQUIRED FOR ANY NEW LICENCE (if available). Applicant must attend in person with government issued photo identification.”
Who needs this licence?
This licence belongs to the owner of the establishment: the person or corporation that holds the business. It does not cover the people who work there. Anyone who operates, manages, supervises or controls the business needs an adult entertainment establishment operator/manager licence, and anyone who provides adult services at the establishment needs an attendant licence. Those are separate applications with their own fees, and holding one never substitutes for another.
Council approval is required for any new licence, and only where one is available. That is the single most important thing to understand before you spend money on a lease or a fit-out. This is not a licence you can assume you will receive because your paperwork is in order; the decision sits with Council, and the by-law limits when a new licence can be issued at all.
You must attend in person with government-issued photo identification. You also need a Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check from the police service board in the city where you live, dated within 36 days of your application. Third party clearances, meaning the instant reports sold by private screening companies, will not be accepted.
Three licences cover an adult services entertainment establishment, and it helps to know from the start which one applies to whom:
- Owner licence covers the business and the premises, which is what this page is about.
- Operator/manager licence covers anyone who operates, manages, supervises, controls or is responsible for the business.
- Attendant licence covers anyone who provides adult services at the establishment.
What documents do you need?
The checklist starts with the completed business licence application form and a valid business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year of your application. The date limit matters: the City is confirming that the entity applying is currently registered, not that it was registered at some point in the past.
Next comes the Zoning Verification Certificate, which confirms the address is zoned for this use, and the Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check, which is the personal-suitability half of the review. The 36-day window on the police check is short by design, and third party clearances are rejected outright, so order it from the police service board where you live rather than from a screening website.
The fifth item is a premise plan drawn to scale. This is the document applicants most often underestimate. It has to depict, among other things, parking areas, queuing areas, walkways, smoking areas, patios, seating areas, offices, cloak rooms, dance areas, disc jockey areas, kitchen facilities, bar areas, washrooms, storage areas and entrances and exits. The plan is what the fire, health and parking inspectors read before they visit, so an accurate one saves you time later.
Finally, you attend in person with government photo ID and have your photograph taken for the municipally issued photo ID card that comes with this licence.
Zoning and premises requirements
A Zoning Verification Certificate is part of the checklist. It is issued against the property, not against you, and it confirms that the zoning applying to that address permits the use you are proposing. Get it moving early, because a zoning problem is the one issue no amount of paperwork elsewhere can fix.
There is a shortcut in some cases. If the same category of business was previously licensed at the address within one year, a Zoning Addendum may be completed instead of a full Zoning Verification Certificate. That is worth checking if you are taking over premises that operated as an adult services entertainment establishment recently, because it can save both a step and a charge.
The scaled premise plan does a related job. Zoning verification answers whether the use is allowed at the address; the premise plan shows how the space will actually be laid out and used. It must be drawn to scale and show the parking, queuing, walkway, smoking, patio and seating areas, the offices, cloak rooms, dance areas and disc jockey areas, the kitchen and bar areas, washrooms, storage and every entrance and exit.
Inspections and approvals
Three inspections are required, and all of them are arranged after your application has been received rather than before you file it. You do not book them yourself in advance.
The fire inspection looks at the building's fire safety systems and how people get out of it. The health inspection covers the public health requirements that apply to the premises. The parking inspection checks the parking provided for the site against what is required for it.
Each inspection carries its own charge, so a failed inspection that has to be repeated is not just a delay. Read your own premise plan critically before the inspectors arrive: if the plan shows an exit or a storage area that does not exist in the same place on site, that is the kind of mismatch that turns one visit into two.
How much does it cost?
The cost of a new application is built from several separate charges rather than one figure. There is a processing fee for opening and reviewing the file, the licence fee itself, and a separate fee for each of the fire, health and parking inspections. Because this licence comes with a municipally issued photo ID card, there is also a photo fee.
HST applies to some of these and not to others. The processing fee, the inspection fees and the photo fee are charged with HST added; the licence fee itself is not. Zoning verification, or the addendum where you qualify for it, is charged on top of everything else and is not subject to HST, which is why the City's fee schedule shows a total with zoning and a total without it.
Renewal is a shorter list: the annual licence fee, the health inspection, and the fire inspection and photo fee on a three-year cycle. A licence that is allowed to lapse and then reinstated carries a reinstatement fee with HST on top.
The City sets every amount in its fee schedule and confirms the total that applies to your file when you apply. Ask for the breakdown at the counter rather than relying on a figure you were quoted months earlier.
How to apply
Start with the two items that are outside your control: the zoning verification for the address, and Council approval, which is required for any new licence and only where one is available. Confirm both with Licensing and By-law Services before you commit to a location.
Then assemble the file. Complete the application form, get a current business registration, corporate profile or master business licence dated within one year, and have the premise plan drawn to scale with every area the checklist names. Leave the Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check until the end of your preparation, not the beginning, because it has to be dated within 36 days of your application.
Attend in person with government-issued photo identification. Your photograph is taken during that visit for the municipally issued photo ID card that comes with the licence. Once the application is received, the City arranges the fire, health and parking inspections.
Keep an eye on the sequence for staff as well. Your managers and attendants each need their own personal licence, and each of them has to apply in person with their own police check.
Renewals and staying compliant
The licence has to be renewed in person with government-issued photo identification. That is not a formality you can delegate by email; the same attendance rule applies at renewal as at first application.
The municipally issued photo ID card is printed annually with an updated expiry date, and a new photograph is required every three years. Declarations A and B both have to be completed at renewal.
Inspections continue on their own cycles. The health inspection is charged at each renewal, and the fire inspection recurs every three years. The photo fee follows the three-year photo cycle rather than being charged every year.
Renew before the licence lapses. A late licence has to be reinstated, and reinstatement carries its own fee with HST, on top of everything you were going to pay anyway.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. Can Hamilton issue a new adult services entertainment establishment owner licence as soon as your paperwork is complete?
The by-law makes any new licence in this class subject to Council approval, and only where a licence is available at all.
2. Which criminal record check will the City accept for this application?
The checklist requires the check from the police service board in your city of residence within 36 days, and expressly rejects third party clearances.
3. Does the owner licence cover the people working at the establishment?
Schedule 1 licenses the establishment, the operator/manager and the attendant separately, each with its own application.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.