How to Get a Business Premises Licence: Step by Step
An operating licence is not a complex job when the steps run in the right order; what makes it complex is almost always steps changing places. This guide splits the process into eight steps.
The document list is in the documents guide, timing in the duration guide, and the whole process in the complete guide.
Step 1: Settle the Activity Code and Class
Everything starts here, because the class governs the whole process. Choose the activity code with your accountant, thinking about the work you will actually do, and confirm your class with the classes guide.
Skip this step and everything after it is built wrongly: the wrong document list, the wrong authority, the wrong calendar.
Step 2: Ask About the Address’s Eligibility
This is the one step that comes before the lease. Go to the district municipality’s licensing unit and ask: “can this activity be licensed at this address?” Zoning, the occupancy permit and any distance rule surface here.
If the answer is unclear, request a written opinion. This five-minute task prevents the most expensive mistake in the process (zoning guide).
Step 3: Open the Tax Registration
The licence file requires a tax certificate, so tax registration comes first. It takes days for a sole proprietorship and slightly longer for a company. Formation as a whole sits in the business guide.
In the same period, registry and chamber records are completed; both enter the file.
Step 4: Gather the File
Get your district’s current list in writing and assign an owner and date to each document. Building documents — occupancy permit, fire clearance, consent — take longest and should be requested on day one.
Do not apply before the file is complete. Piecemeal applications are the commonest reason an authority moves you to the back of the queue.
Step 5: Submit the Application
Applications go to the district municipality, to the zone administration inside an industrial zone, or to the relevant authority for special activities (authority guide). Ordinary premises may run a fast declaration-based process.
Always take the submission receipt: which document was delivered when is the only basis for any later discussion.
Step 6: Run Renovation in Parallel
Start renovation once the licence conditions are clear and run it in parallel with the application. Fire, ventilation, hygiene areas and access arrangements are mandatory in most classes and are checked at the site inspection.
Finishing renovation and then applying is the commonest mistake that doubles the calendar — and it risks wasted work, because what the authority requires may differ from what you assumed.
Step 7: Pass the Site Inspection
Before the team arrives, run a pre-check: signage, fire extinguishers and installations, hygiene areas, exit routes, a layout matching the stated capacity. Displaying documents where they belong is also part of the inspection.
If deficiencies are found, time is granted; anything fixed within that period stops being a problem. What inspectors ask is covered in the inspection guide.
Step 8: Receive the Licence and Become Visible
The job does not end when the licence is issued: the document is kept visibly displayed at the premises, and its details — title, activity, address — must be kept accurate.
A second job follows the same week: making the premises exist digitally. The licence grants legal existence; a business profile grants existence for customers. Details are in the digital setup guide.
Field Note
A hairdresser applied after finishing renovation; the authority required changes to the ventilation flue and the newly built ceiling came down. The same work was done twice. At the second branch the order was corrected: conditions first, renovation second. The cost fell by a third. Renovation starts after you know the licence conditions.
Quick Summary
The order: code and class → address eligibility → tax registration → file → application → parallel renovation → site inspection → licence and digital setup. Ask about eligibility before signing the lease and start renovation only once conditions are clear. Always take the submission receipt.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes; with a power of attorney your accountant or an authorised person can run the process — the usual route for founders based abroad.
The class may change and the licence must be reissued, which is why the code is chosen against the real activity from the start.
Request a copy from the issuing authority; since the document must be kept at the premises, do not postpone it.
Next step: Put the eight steps in your calendar and do step two this week; for how your own class proceeds, continue with the classes guide.