BYO permit

Allow BYO alcohol at your restaurant, club or commercial party bus.

On this page

• Licences that allow BYO
• Key features
• Who this permit suits
• Application fees
• Before you apply
• Apply now
• After you apply
• When you get your decision

A BYO permit allows customers to bring their own alcohol to drink at your venue.

Licences that allow BYO

If you have one of these liquor licence types, it already allows customers to BYO:

• General
• Restaurant and cafe
• On-premises
• Full club
• Restricted club.

If you do not have one of these, and you want to allow BYO, you need to apply for a permit.

If you want to offer BYO at a one-off event, you may need a temporary limited licence instead.

Key features

• You can allow BYO alcohol at your venue, if you want.
• Only for restaurants (including cafes), clubs and commercial party buses, whether included in the ticket price or not.
• Cannot sell alcohol at your venue.
• Request your trading hours when you apply.

Commercial party buses

You are defined as a commercial party bus if your bus is:

• hired for payment
• carries pre-booked passengers.

Commercial party buses need a BYO permit only if they operate:

• between 8 pm and 5 am (regardless of customer pick-up time)
• in a designated area or carry customers to, from or through a designated area.

They must comply with the Code of Conduct for Bus Operators. This outlines the standards of customer and operator behaviour we expect.

Apply at least 11 weeks before you need a permit. It may take longer if we need more information or if there are objections.

Who this permit suits

This permit suits if you want to allow BYO alcohol at a:

• restaurant
• cafe
• club
• commercial party bus.

If you have another venue type, you cannot apply for this permit.

Explore all liquor licence types.

Application fees

You need to pay a non-refundable application fee when you apply.

The fee for a BYO permit is $336.20.

Read about liquor licence annual renewal fees.

Before you apply

Complete these steps before you start your application.

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1. 1Check council requirements

Contact the relevant local council to check if you need any planning permits for your venue.

You do not need a planning permit for your BYO permit, but you may need planning approval for other reasons.

2. 2Check who can apply

Only an authorised person can apply for the licence. This depends on who is applying.

If you are applying as:

• an individual, you must apply for the licence yourself (on the form this is called a ’natural person')
• a company, a current director or someone the board has officially authorised to sign documents must apply
• an incorporated association, an executive committee member must apply
• a partnership, a partner must apply (partnerships can only be made up of individuals).

3. 3Get your information ready

Have these details and documents ready:

• business name
• trading hours
• red line plan (restaurants, cafes and clubs only) that shows where alcohol will be sold and consumed
• management plan (party buses only), explaining how you will reduce alcohol-related harms of party bus activities
• credit card details – to pay the non-refundable application fee (Visa or Mastercard). The form will ask you to declare that you have the right to occupy the venue. You must have a property title, lease or other legal document that gives you the right.

You no longer need to upload a council planning permit with your application. Instead, upload the LCV new licence or permit planning document when the form asks for a planning permit. This is a temporary step until we update the form. You can upload a planning permit instead, if you have one.

LCV new licence or permit planning document PDF 112.91 KB (opens in a new window)

Apply now

Complete the application form on the Service Victoria website.

It takes about 40 minutes to complete.

Get help with unfamiliar words and details in the application form.

Apply now

After you apply

Service Victoria will email to acknowledge your application, including a receipt for your application fee.

Liquor Control Victoria will then review your application and email if we need more information. This may take a few weeks.

We send your application to Victoria Police. This gives them a chance to object to your licence if they have concerns.

Victoria Police may contact you to discuss your application.

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• Respond if we need more details

We will email you if:

• your application has missing or incorrect details
• we need additional information to help us assess your application. Make sure you respond to any request by the date we give in the email.

If you do not, we may refuse your application – you will lose your application fee.

• Respond to any objections

Victoria Police may object to us granting the permit.

We will email you if we get an objection and advise next steps.

When you get your decision

It can take about 9 to 11 weeks to get your decision.

It may take longer if Victoria Police objected to your permit or we needed to ask for more information.

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• If we grant your permit

We email to advise that we are granting your permit.

The email tells you how to sign up to our Liquor Portal.

It’s important that you register. It’s where you can:

• access your annual renewal notice
• download a copy of your permit and red line plan
• manage your notifications
• update contact details and other actions. Find out how to manage your permit.

Stay compliant

Be aware of your obligations under the law and as a permit holder.

There are serious penalties if you do not comply.

Find out how to stay compliant.

• If we refuse your permit

We will email to advise that we are refusing the permit, including reasons for our decision.

• If you want to appeal the decision

You can appeal the:

• decision to grant or refuse the permit
• details of the permit, for example, the permit conditions or red line plan.

When to appeal

You must appeal within 28 days of receiving the permit decision.

How to appeal

1. Complete the internal review application form. It has details on the reasons for appeals we can accept.

Internal review application PDF 1.53 MB (opens in a new window)

2. Send the form to us either by:

• Email: secretariat@liquor.vic.gov.au
• Mail: Liquor Control Victoria GPO Box 4356 MELBOURNE VIC 3001

3. We will email you with next steps. This may take a few weeks.

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Updated 22 September 2025

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