Define: Necessary Consents
Necessary Consents is a defined term describing all planning permissions, licences, permits, certificates, authorisations and approvals, whether from a public authority or private third party, that a party must obtain to lawfully carry out the Permitted Use of a property or asset under a contract. It allocates responsibility for regulatory and third-party clearance obligations.
Legal accuracy standard set & glossary spot-checked by Imad Mohammed Nazar , Skadden-trained M&A lawyer, Legal Engineer at GenieAI
What Necessary Consents Means in a Contract
Necessary Consents is a defined term used to capture every approval, licence, permission, certificate or authorisation that a party must secure before it can lawfully use, occupy, develop or operate an asset in the manner intended by the agreement. The definition typically covers both public consents, such as planning permissions issued by a local authority, and private consents, such as a landlord's approval or a lender's waiver, whenever such approval is required by a Competent Authority or third party for the Permitted Use.
The purpose of the term is to consolidate what would otherwise be a scattered list of regulatory and contractual requirements into a single, defined concept that the rest of the agreement can reference. Instead of repeating long lists of permissions in every clause, drafters simply refer to Necessary Consents, which keeps warranties, conditions precedent and indemnities concise and consistent throughout the document.
This term is especially common in transactions involving Relevant Circumstances
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