Officially

From the publisher, in order, with its history intact.

Environment Agency gov.uk

Transfer an abstraction or impounding licence (form WR165)

Imported from official source

You must meet the conditions of your licence and pay any fees until the Environment Agency issue a licence to the new licence holder.

The new licence holder will be responsible for meeting the licence conditions and paying any fees from the date the licence is transferred.

You cannot transfer a temporary abstraction licence.

Share responsibilities between two or more people

There’s a different form if you want to share the responsibilities under an existing licence between two or more people. This is known as apportioning a licence.

You can ask the Environment Agency to transfer the licence on a specific date. If you provide a specific date, it must be at least 5 weeks from today.

The Environment Agency may need to change the transfer date if they:

  • need to ask you questions about your application

    • To transfer an abstraction licence, the new licence holder must:

  • have, or expect to have, a right to access the place where they will abstract water
  • have a right of access for at least 12 months, or the remaining length of the licence, whichever is less

    • The Environment Agency may ask for proof of their right of access, such as a deed, lease or tenancy agreement.

    The Environment Agency will ask you for:

  • details of the new licence holder, including who to contact about site operations, abstraction returns and billing
  • an authorisation letter from the new licence holder

    • You must upload an authorisation letter, signed by an authorised person. The letter must confirm the new licence holder:

  • has, or will have, access to the abstraction points

    • If you’re applying on behalf of the current licence holder, you must also upload an authorisation letter stating you are authorised to apply on their behalf.

    The Environment Agency accepts authorisation letters from the following authorised persons:

  • registered company – a company director or company secretary
  • limited liability partnership (LLP) – a partner, company director or company secretary

    • This is an extract. The publication continues at the source.

    Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Licence

    Read the original at the source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-an-abstraction-or-impounding-licence-form-wr165

    Officially imported this from Environment Agency’s own source and shows an extract. If you work there, claiming the profile and verifying the domain lets you choose to show the full text here.

    Provenance

    Organization
    Environment Agency — imported from official source
    Official source
    https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency.atom ATOM
    Imported
    November 09, 2026 13:00
    Versions
    1 recorded
    Identity
    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transfer-an-abstraction-or-impounding-licence-form-wr165#20...

    Officially records where a publication came from, not whether it is true. Imported records are reproduced from an organization's own official source.