COMMENTARY ON SECTIONS General Section 44 – Determination of transfer application
95.Where a person applies for a premises licence to be transferred to him, this section provides that the licensing authority may not consider the application unless
	the transfer application has been given immediate effect under section 43,
	the existing licence holder has agreed to the transfer, or
	the applicant has been exempted from the need to obtain that consent. An applicant will be so exempted if he can show that he has taken all reasonable steps to obtain that consent and that he is in a position to use the premises straightaway for the licensable activities authorised by the licence. An authority must provide reasons for any decision to refuse to exempt an applicant.
96.Subsection (5) provides that if the police have notified the licensing authority of objections under section 42, the authority must hold a hearing to consider the application for transfer, and, if it considers it necessary for the promotion of the crime prevention objective (see section 4), must reject the application. The need for a hearing can be dispensed with by agreement of the authority, the applicant for the transfer and the police. The section provides, in subsection (2), that in all other cases the authority must grant the application for transfer.