Documents Required to Open a Nail Salon: Step by Step

Step 1: Three questions before taking the premises

This step involves no documents at all, yet it is the step that decides the process. Does the building have an occupancy permit, is the zoning status open to this activity, and if the building is residential, can condominium consent be obtained?

Common mistake: signing the lease, starting the fit-out, and only then learning the building has no occupancy permit. What is lost at that point is not a fee but months of empty rent.

Time: 1-2 days. Needed: a document request from the landlord.

Step 2: Check the occupational competence certificate

Nail application is a field requiring occupational competence. If you do not hold the relevant certificate, you will either employ a certified practitioner or enter a training process yourself.

Common mistake: leaving this item until last. Training and examination take weeks; waiting with premises taken and rent already running is the most expensive scenario.

Time: same day if you hold the certificate, weeks if not. Needed: a mastery or occupational competence certificate.

Step 3: Lease and stamp duty

When drawing up the lease, have two things written in: that the building holds an occupancy permit, and that consent will be obtained by the landlord. Those two sentences strengthen your hand in any dispute that comes later.

Common mistake: skipping the stamp duty. It gets paid later with a penalty, and the validity of the lease is questioned at the licence application.

Time: 1 day. Needed: the contract, the stamp duty payment.

Step 4: Commencement notice and tax certificate

The commencement notice is filed through your accountant or over the interactive tax office. The tax office then sends an officer who sees the address and the activity in place. Once that visit is complete, the tax certificate is issued.

Common mistake: leaving the premises completely empty before the visit. Having a layout in which the officer can see the activity speeds things up.

Time: 3-7 days. Needed: lease, identity document, accountant.

Step 5: Chamber registration

If you are setting up as a sole trader you register with the tradesmen’s and craftsmen’s chamber; if you are forming a company, with the trade chamber. The chamber may ask for your occupational competence certificate at this stage.

Time: 1-3 days. Needed: tax certificate, identity document, competence certificate.

Step 6: Hygiene training certificates

Everyone who will work in the salon and serve customers directly must hold a hygiene training certificate. The training is short, but it has to be completed for all staff.

Common mistake: only the owner obtaining the certificate. Inspection asks for every member of staff’s certificate.

Time: a few days. Needed: staff list, training record.

Step 7: Licence application

The application goes to the district municipality’s licensing unit. A nail salon is generally assessed as non-hazardous premises, but the activity description has to state explicitly that applications are carried out.

Common mistake: taking the licence as “cosmetics retail” and then carrying out applications. If the licence and the work do not match at inspection, the licence does not protect you.

Time: 1-3 weeks if the paperwork is complete. Needed: all the documents above.

Step 8: Social security and opening

If you will employ staff, the workplace declaration is filed before the first employee. Once the licence is collected it is displayed in the window, the tax certificate is placed where it can be seen, and the price list is put on show.

Time: 1-2 days. Needed: licence, staff details.

Ventilation and waste: two headings asked at inspection

The products used in nail application contain volatile substances, and dust forms. Salon ventilation is therefore looked at separately at inspection. A dust extraction system at the work stations is the layout expected both for worker health and for inspection.

Separating used file bits and single-use materials is also asked about. If you have a sterilisation device, keep its records.

The products you use are also inspected

The acrylic, gel, monomer and primer products used in nail application are subject to cosmetics legislation. These must be notified and labelled.

The risky supply channel

Some of these products come in from abroad through individual routes, by courier, and are sold over social media. Products bought through that channel carry two risks: notification may not have been made, and the contents may include restricted substances.

Choose your supplier with this in mind when opening the salon. Buy invoiced, Turkish-labelled products from a corporate supplier, and file the notification confirmation for every group. The price difference looks tempting, but a single product found at inspection costs far more than that difference.

Practitioner health

The vapour and dust from these products affect the practitioner when breathed in over long periods. Dust extraction and mask use are needed not only for inspection but for the health of the person working in your salon. Practitioners with long years in this field most often complain of the respiratory tract.

Checklist

Before taking premises: occupancy permit, zoning status, the possibility of consent, the state of the occupational competence certificate.

After the contract: stamp duty, commencement notice, tax certificate, chamber registration, staff hygiene training.

Before the licence: the activity description covering applications, ventilation layout, waste separation, sterilisation records.

At opening: licence collection, social security declaration, tax certificate, price list, the file of staff certificates.

For the general order authority by authority see the business licence roadmap, and for capital and monthly cost bands the cosmetics and beauty sector page. For the document list of a similar application field, take a look at our lash and brow studio article.

Two neighbouring branches worth a look: hair salon licences and and why is a health.

In Short

• The list runs two items longer than a cosmetics shop’s: hygiene training and occupational competence
• Without an occupational competence certificate the process spreads over weeks; put this item first
• The activity description on the licence must cover applications, otherwise the licence is useless
• Hygiene training is required for all staff, not only the owner
• Ventilation and dust extraction are looked at separately at inspection
• Verify the occupancy permit, zoning and consent trio before taking premises
• With complete paperwork the licence is finished within one to three weeks

Quick Glossary

Occupational competence certificate: a certificate obtained by examination showing capability to do a job. Hygiene training certificate: the mandatory training certificate for staff serving customers directly. Activity description: the work written on the licence as permitted at that address. Sterilisation: the process of clearing reused instruments of microbes.

Next Step

Let’s draw up your salon’s document list and timetable together: quote form.

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated: September 2026