# Legal holds

Source: https://docs.settlemint.com/docs/console/asset-lifecycle/venues/legal-holds
Place a legal hold that keeps a venue's records out of the retention run, and request, review or reject its release.

A legal hold keeps the venue's records out of the monthly retention run until the hold is released. The **Legal holds** tab lists every hold with its scope, reason, who placed it and its status. [Venue retention](https://docs.settlemint.com/docs/concepts/issuing-and-markets/venue-retention#legal-holds) explains the run and the archive.

![The venue's Legal holds tab with the Place hold button and the Scope, Reason, Placed by and Status columns](https://docs.settlemint.com/docs/screenshots/console-venue-legal-holds.light.en.webp)

[Screenshot] The "Legal holds" table with "Scope", "Reason", "Placed by", "Status" and "Actions" columns, and the "Place hold" button above it.

## Before you start [#before-you-start]

- **The Owner or Platform admin role.** Only an Owner or a Platform admin can place or release a hold, from a wallet that holds the Venue operator or Venue admin role on this venue.
- **The Reporting approval row.** Releasing a hold follows the "Reporting" row under "Approvals" on [General](https://docs.settlemint.com/docs/console/organisation-settings/general#approvals), as [Release a hold](#release-a-hold) describes.

## Steps [#steps]

### Place a hold [#place-a-hold]

1. Select **Place hold**.
2. Set an **Instrument**, a "Participant (optional)" by wallet address, or a "Held from (optional)" and "Held until (optional)" window to narrow the hold, or leave them empty to cover the entire venue. An instrument you set must be one the venue lists. The end of the window is exclusive, and the start must be before the end. A record is held only when it matches every bound you set, so a narrow scope leaves other records open to the next retention run.
3. Enter a **Reason**.
4. Select **Place hold** in the sheet. The new hold appears with the status "Active" and a scope such as "Entire venue" or "Instrument: EUROC / AEDT".

## Release a hold [#release-a-hold]

Select **Request release** on an active hold and give a reason. What happens next follows the "Reporting" row under "Approvals" on the "General" page of "Organisation settings".

While the row reads "Second person required", the hold's status becomes "Release requested". A different Owner or Platform admin selects "Review release" and then **Approve release** or "Reject request". A rejection clears the request and the hold stays active. If the person who requested the release approves it, the sheet shows the refusal and the hold does not change.

While the row reads **Not required**, one person releases the hold alone and at once. The hold's row reads "Released", and the hold's detail names the approval policy as the releaser: "Approval policy, no second person required". Keep the row on "Second person required" while the venue is under a regulatory or litigation hold.

A platform administrator who has signed in as another user cannot place a hold or request or review a release, whatever the **Reporting** row says, because a legal hold must come from their own session.

## You should see [#you-should-see]

- The hold appears in the table with the status **Active** and the scope you set.
- After a release, its row reads "Released", and its detail shows "Release requested by", "Release reason" and "Released by".
- Records outside every active hold follow the retention period again at the next monthly run.

## Troubleshooting [#troubleshooting]

**Place hold or Request release is disabled**

  Only an Owner or a Platform admin can place or release a hold, from a wallet that holds the Venue operator or Venue
  admin role on this venue. Anyone else sees **Place hold** disabled with "Only an organisation owner or a platform
  administrator can place or release a legal hold.", and each row's release button disabled with "Owner or
  administrator only".

A platform administrator signed in as another user sees "Place hold" disabled with "You are acting as another user, so
you cannot place a hold or request or review a release. That person must sign in and do it themselves.", and **Request
release** and "Review release" disabled with "Not while acting as another user". The API refuses all three too, so sign
in as yourself to act.

**The hold does not release**

While the "Reporting" row under "Approvals" reads "Second person required", a different person has to approve the
release. The person who requested it cannot approve it. Ask another Owner or Platform admin to select **Review
release**.