Pawnbroking: Apply for a licence

The pawnbroker grants a loan of money against the deposit of a pledge to secure the loan plus interest and the costs of doing business.

The pawnbroker brokers pawn transactions by granting an advance on pawns handed over to him/her and pledging the pawns in his/her name with a pawnbroker.

Anyone wishing to operate the business of a pawnbroker or pawnbroker requires a licence from the competent authority. The licence may be subject to conditions insofar as this is necessary to protect the general public or the pledgers.

In the case of partnerships (e.g. OHG, KG), every managing partner is a trader. In the case of legal entities (e.g. GmbH, AG), the licence is granted to the legal entity.

• Fee number 103 of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Trade Costs Ordinance (GewKostVO M-V)
• § Section 34 of the Trade Regulation Act (GewO)
• Ordinance on the Business Operations of Commercial Pawnbrokers (Pawnbrokers' Ordinance - PfandlV)

• Identity card or comparable identification document (copy)
• Non-EU citizens: Residence permit (copy)
• Proof of the legal form of the company
  • Company headquarters in Germany:
    • for registered companies: Extract from the commercial register and, if applicable, a copy of the articles of association (e.g. in the case of a civil law partnership (GbR))
  • Company domicile abroad: Documents from this country that prove the legal form.
• Proof of personal reliability
  • Residence in Germany:
    • Certificate of good conduct
    • Extract from the central trade register for natural persons and, if applicable, legal entities
  • Residence abroad: Documents from your home country that prove that you have the personal reliability to perform the desired service
  • In individual cases, the authority may request further documents that are suitable for making a statement about your personal reliability as an applicant.
• Proof of the funds and securities required for operation
  • Residence in Germany:
    • Extract from the debtor register
    • Information from the insolvency register
  • Residence abroad: Documents from your home country as proof that you have the necessary means and collateral
• Proof of insurance
• Floor plan of the rooms intended for commercial use

If you want to work as a pawnbroker, you must provide special securities and evidence.

• You must provide proof of the necessary funds or collateral for the first six months. This can be a credit balance or a bank guarantee.
• You must also take out insurance against fire damage, water damage, burglary and robbery and present it at the time of application. A safe must be available for jewellery.
• You must secure your premises against burglary with an alarm system.
• In the case of car pawnbrokers, the question of possible environmental hazards caused by the parking areas of the vehicles must be clarified.

Permission will be refused if:

• facts justify the assumption that the applicant does not possess the reliability required for the business operation. As a rule, anyone who has been convicted of a felony, theft, embezzlement, extortion, fraud, breach of trust, forgery of documents, receiving stolen goods, usury or offences against the law against unfair competition in the five years prior to submitting the application does not have this reliability.
• The applicant does not provide evidence of the funds required for the business operation or corresponding collateral.

You must apply to the competent authority for a licence to operate a business as a pawnbroker or pawnbroker's agent.

After the examination, you will either receive a licence or a notice of refusal. A licence may be subject to certain conditions.

The pawnbroker must notify the competent authority which rooms he/she uses for the business operation at the start of the business operation; furthermore, he/she must immediately notify any change of rooms used for the business operation.

The pawnbroker is obliged to keep accounts.

• Contradiction

• Pawnbroking business - apply for a licence in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

  Display of performance in the source portal

• Lord mayors and mayors of the independent and large district cities
• Head of the district offices or mayor of the independent municipalities

• Pawnbroker - licence application