Home › State guides › South Carolina
Renting a booth or a suite in a South Carolina salon? The big question is whether you need your own establishment license or whether you are covered by the salon you rent from. Here is exactly how South Carolina treats it in 2026 — the license question, the fees, the inspection rule, how your rent is taxed, and the steps and postings to get compliant — sourced to the state’s own rules and dated.
YES — a booth/suite renter needs their OWN salon (establishment) license. The statute is unusually explicit: S.C. Code 40-13-20(1) defines a 'salon' as 'a building or any place, or part of a place or building including, but not limited to, a rental booth, in which cosmetology is performed on the general public for compensation.' Reg. 35-15(A)(1) defines a salon for licensing as 'a location, other than a cosmetology school, at which cosmetology, nail technology or esthetics is practiced,' and 35-15(A)(2) requires 'any firm, person or corporation desiring to open a salon' to apply to the Board. So an independent renter operating a rental booth or private suite is itself a 'salon' and must hold a salon license separate from the host shop's license. Cite: S.C. Code 40-13-20(1); S.C. Reg. 35-15(A).
Confirm with the SC Board of Cosmetology (LLR). The salon license is biennial (S.C. Code 40-13-250(E)); Reg. 35-15(G) requires renewal before July 1 of the year the license expires. The exact dollar amount is set in the LLR fee schedule, not in Chapter 35, and could NOT be verified — the official LLR fee page (llr.sc.gov/cos) was unreachable at verification time. Do not rely on a quoted figure; confirm current salon application and renewal fees directly with LLR before advising a client.
The independent professional must first hold a current SC individual practitioner license from the Board of Cosmetology matching their services: Cosmetologist (1,500-hour program), Nail Technician (300-hour program), or Esthetician (450-hour program). Individual licenses renew biennially; per Reg. 35-23, continuing education is not required in the first licensing period, but from the second period on the licensee must obtain 4 contact hours of board-approved CE covering SC cosmetology laws/regulations, client safety, and/or infection control each period.
YES — a pre-opening inspection is required. Reg. 35-15(C)(1): the Board or its designee shall conduct an inspection to ensure all licensure requirements are met 'within ten working days, prior to issuance of a salon license.' If the inspection cannot be completed before the projected opening date, the Board may issue a temporary permit for not more than 90 days to operate until inspection (Reg. 35-15(B)(1)); if the salon then fails inspection, the Board may extend the temporary permit up to 30 additional days (Reg. 35-15(B)(2)). Licensed salons are inspected periodically thereafter (Reg. 35-15(C)(2)); entry authority is in S.C. Code 40-13-290(B).
South Carolina treats an independent rental booth/suite as its own salon. Practical consequences: (1) the renter files a separate salon license application (Reg. 35-15(A)(2)) at least 10 working days before opening and designates a manager responsible for compliance and for all personnel physically located in the space (35-15(A)(3)); (2) the license is valid only for that location and owner and is non-transferable (35-15(D)(1),(E)(1)) — a change of location requires a new application and fee submitted 20 working days before opening at the new site (35-15(D)(2)), and a change of name or owner requires a new application and fee (35-15(E)(2)); (3) the space must independently meet salon standards — Reg. 35-20(B)(1) requires each salon to occupy a separate building or part of a building suitable for sanitary service, and salons separated from one another must be divided 'by a solid wall from the floor to the ceiling and separate entrances' (this bears directly on suite-rental buildouts); each unit needs direct access to hot/cold running water, restroom facilities, a closed clean-linen cabinet, fire extinguisher, first-aid kit, covered trash, and a sharps container (Reg. 35-16). Note: SC has no separate 'independent-contractor' or 'booth renter' license tier — IRS/employment status is a tax matter, but the state licensing obligation is the full salon license regardless.
Booth rent is a lease of real property and is not subject to South Carolina sales tax, and cosmetology services are not taxed either. Retail product sales ARE: the rate is 6% (5% plus the additional 1% imposed in 2007), and a retail licence costs $50 under S.C. Code Sec. 12-36-510(A)(1). Each renter selling product needs their own retail licence. Source: S.C. Code Title 12 ch. 36 ; SCDOR policy manual ch. 23.
Work through these in order — the kit turns them into a checklist you can tick off:
Before you can rent a booth, a chair or a private suite in South Carolina you must hold your own individual practitioner licence, and the licence has to match the work you actually do. The State Board of Cosmetology, staffed by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR), issues three practitioner licences under S.C. Code Section 40-13-230: cosmetologist, esthetician and nail technician. Each requires at least sixteen years of age and a tenth-grade education, plus the hours and the board examination: one thousand five hundred hours of cosmetology classes in a board-approved school (or the master hair care specialist route under Chapter 7) for a cosmetologist, four hundred fifty hours of skin care for an esthetician, three hundred hours for a nail technician (Section 40-13-230(A), (B), (C)). If you are licensed elsewhere, Section 40-13-270 authorises full reciprocity for a properly licensed non-resident, and Regulation 35-13 spells out endorsement: either a nationally recognised entry examination, or two years of licensure in another state, DC or a US territory plus four hours of board-approved CE in South Carolina law, client safety and infection control (which also cover the first renewal). There is no route by which an unlicensed person may rent space and work under someone else's licence: Section 40-13-110(A)(6) makes it a disciplinary offence to practise cosmetology anywhere other than a licensed salon, the only carve-out being emergencies such as illness, invalidism or death, where a licensed operator may serve a person elsewhere by appointment only. Barbering is a separate world with a separate board: under Section 40-7-30 no person may practise barbering unless licensed under Chapter 7 by the State Board of Barber Examiners.
South Carolina is one of the bluntest states in the country here, and the answer sits in the statute's definition section rather than in a rule. S.C. Code Section 40-13-20(1) defines a beauty salon as 'a building or any place, or part of a place or building including, but not limited to, a rental booth, in which cosmetology is performed on the general public for compensation.' The words 'including, but not limited to, a rental booth' are the whole ballgame: your rented booth is a salon in its own right. Regulation 35-15(A)(1) repeats the point from the licensing side, defining a salon as 'a location, other than a cosmetology school, at which cosmetology, nail technology or esthetics is practiced', and Regulation 35-15(A)(2) requires 'any firm, person or corporation desiring to open a salon' to apply to the board at least ten working days before opening, on the board's form, with the required application fee. Section 40-13-300 then supplies the operative rule: a person, firm, corporation or association applies to the board, pays the initial licence fee, and on approval a salon licence is issued, displayed in a conspicuous place, valid only for the location named on it, and not transferable. Read together, an independent renter who takes a booth or a suite and serves the public for compensation is running a salon and needs her own salon licence in addition to her practitioner licence, and the host shop's licence does not cover her. Section 40-13-20(6) confirms the legislature had this arrangement in mind: 'independent contractor' means 'a licensed practitioner who rents or leases a place or part of a place in a beauty salon', and the definitions of cosmetologist, esthetician and nail technician each say 'including, but not limited to, an independent contractor'. Two qualifications. First, this text has not been amended since the 2000 rewrite, so it predates modern suite complexes; the board applies it through Regulations 35-15, 35-16 and 35-20, which is why suite buildouts run into the wall-and-entrance rule described below. Second, a chair in a barbershop is different: Chapter 7 has no 'rental booth' clause and instead requires the shop itself to be registered under Section 40-7-320, with registration and inspection applied for at least fifteen working days before opening and no new shop operating until fees are paid and the shop has passed inspection. Ask the Board of Barber Examiners in writing before assuming your rented space is not a separate shop.
The licence is issued by South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR), State Board of Cosmetology (barbershops: LLR State Board of Barber Examiners).
Fee: Not verifiable from primary sources on the date of writing, and this file will not invent a number. South Carolina keeps cosmetology fees out of the regulation: Regulation 35-25 says in full that 'Fees will be established and adjusted pursuant to Section 40-1-50, and posted on the board web page.' The LLR Board of Cosmetology site (llr.sc.gov/cosmo) that carries the posted schedule refused all connections from this environment at verification time, so no salon application, salon renewal, individual renewal or reinstatement figure is asserted here. Call the board at (803) 896-4588 or pull the fee page from llr.sc.gov/cosmo before quoting any dollar amount to a client. The one licence fee in this whole file that does come from primary text is the state retail licence: fifty dollars per permanent branch, establishment or agency, payable at the time of application (S.C. Code Section 12-36-510(A)(1)).
Renewal: Biennial, with a fixed calendar deadline rather than an anniversary date. Section 40-13-250(E) requires the holder of a salon or school licence to renew biennially on a date set by the board with a renewal fee set in regulation, and Regulation 35-15(G)(1) fixes the mechanics: the salon licence 'shall be renewed upon application, accompanied by the required renewal fee, to the board before July 1 of the year in which such license expires.' Individual licences also renew biennially, and Section 40-13-250(A) conditions renewal on proof of board-approved CE, with a statutory exemption for a licensee who has held a licence at least fifteen consecutive years and is sixty or older, or who has held continuous licensure at least thirty years, is fifty, and has not been disciplined. An individual licence not renewed by the designated date expires that day and may be restored within three years on payment of the required renewal fee and proof of qualification to resume practising (Section 40-13-250(B)). After three years the board must reexamine before issuing a new licence (Section 40-13-250(C)), and Regulation 35-23(C) is blunter: after three years the licence is no longer renewable by payment of fees, both theory and practical examinations must be retaken and passed, and the licensee is then treated as newly licensed. Barbershops run on a different clock: under Section 40-7-50 all barber licences and registrations must be renewed as of June thirtieth of each year, i.e. annually, not biennially.
Booth rental is lawful in South Carolina and written into the statute, but it is licensed as a salon rather than merely tolerated. Three consequences follow from the text. First, the licence is yours and it is nailed to your space. Regulation 35-15(D)(1) makes a salon licence valid only for the location named and not transferable, and 35-15(E)(1) makes it valid only for the owner and salon named. Moving suites, even inside the same building, requires a new application and fee twenty working days before opening in the new location (35-15(D)(2)); a change of business name or ownership entity requires a new application and fee (35-15(E)(2)). On permanent closure the licence must be returned to the board immediately, and a temporary closure of more than sixty days must be notified (35-15(F)(1)). Second, the manager designation is a real obligation, not a formality. Regulation 35-15(A)(3) makes the designated manager responsible for compliance with the whole chapter and 'responsible for all personnel physically located in the salon'. If you sublet part of your suite to an assistant or a second practitioner, you have taken on that person's compliance. Third, and this is where suite concepts get expensive, Regulation 35-20(B)(1) requires that every salon occupy a separate building or part of a building suitable to render adequate sanitary services to the public, and that salons 'must be separated from each other by a solid wall from the floor to the ceiling and separate entrances'. Read literally, a row of open stations that each hold their own salon licence does not satisfy that rule, while a properly walled suite with its own entrance does. The board's inspectors apply this in practice through Regulation 35-15(C), and how a given multi-licence building is treated is the single most important question to put to the board in writing before you sign a lease. Nothing in Chapter 13 or Regulation 35 sets rent terms, notice periods, key access, retail-line restrictions or client-record ownership; those are contract questions governed by the lease. Get in writing: the licensed footprint, who supplies and maintains the water, restroom and laundry facilities Regulation 35-16(B) requires you to have direct access to, who pays for the fire extinguisher and first aid kit, who holds the head lease, what happens to your salon licence if the host's licence is suspended, and whether the host claims any right to your client list. Note the asymmetry with the barber side: a rental booth in a cosmetology salon is a salon by statute, while Chapter 7 has no such clause and writes its Section 40-7-320 registration duty as a duty of the shop. If you rent a chair in a registered barbershop, ask the Board of Barber Examiners in writing rather than assuming either way, and note that Section 40-13-40 lets you practise in a Chapter 13 salon instead, which puts you squarely under the rental-booth clause.
Yes, and it is a pre-opening inspection, the item most likely to slip a South Carolina booth renter's opening date. Regulation 35-15(C)(1) requires the board or its designee to inspect the salon to ensure all licensure requirements have been met, 'within ten working days, prior to issuance of a salon license', which is why the application must be in at least ten working days before your stated opening date (Regulation 35-15(A)(2)). If the inspection cannot be completed before your projected opening date, the board may issue a temporary permit for not more than ninety days to the owner to operate the salon until an inspection can be made (Regulation 35-15(B)(1)). If the inspection then finds the salon does not meet all licensure requirements, the board may in its discretion extend the temporary permit for not more than thirty additional days (Regulation 35-15(B)(2)). On a satisfactory inspection the temporary permit is relinquished to the board's representative and the salon licence issues (Regulation 35-15(B)(3)). After opening, licensed salons are inspected periodically by a representative of the board (Regulation 35-15(C)(2)). The entry power is statutory: members of the board or their authorised agents may enter a salon or school at any reasonable time for purposes of inspection (S.C. Code Section 40-13-290(B)), and Regulation 35-20(A)(2) gives a board designated representative access to the premises at any time that the practice of cosmetology or a related profession is being conducted. Refusal to permit, or interference with, an inspection is itself cause for disciplinary action (Regulation 35-20(A)(3)). A failure to receive a passing inspection is cause for discipline up to revocation if not corrected by the next inspection, and thirty days thereafter the board may schedule a show cause hearing (Regulation 35-20(A)(5)). Liability for the sanitary rules is joint and several by design: Regulation 35-20(A)(1) makes the licence holder and the person in charge liable individually and jointly with all persons working on the premises, and makes every licensed practitioner individually liable for the rules applicable to them. In a shared building a neighbour's dirty station can become your problem as licence holder and, if you are the designated manager, for personnel physically located in your salon.
Three separate questions, and they have three different answers. On the rent you pay the host: Section 12-36-910(A) taxes gross proceeds from selling tangible personal property at retail, and Section 12-36-910(B) extends the tax only to laundering, dry cleaning, dyeing and pressing services, electricity, communication services and manufacturer-consumed goods. Rent for floor space, a booth or a private suite is a lease of real property and is not on that list, so booth rent as such is generally outside the sales tax. The caution is the mixed deal: leases and rentals of tangible personal property are taxable retail transactions, so if the agreement bundles a chair, a shampoo bowl or a turnkey station into the price, that tangible portion can be taxable. Confirm any bundled arrangement with SCDOR before assuming the whole payment is exempt. On the services you sell: cutting, styling, skin care and nail services are not enumerated taxable services, so you do not charge sales tax on service revenue. On the products you sell: you do, and SCDOR is explicit that a small product line is no defence. Chapter 23 of its sales and use tax policy manual answers the exact question, using a hair salon where ninety-five per cent of the business is the nontaxable service of cutting and styling hair and only five per cent is product sales: 'the salon must still obtain a retail license and remit the sales tax on its sale of the hair care products.' The retail licence is per location and the licence tax is fifty dollars, paid at the time of application, under Section 12-36-510(A)(1). On the rate: the base state rate in Section 12-36-910(A) is five per cent, plus the additional one per cent imposed by Section 12-36-1110 since June 1, 2007, giving a six per cent state rate, on top of which counties may impose local option sales taxes. Verify the combined rate for your county on the SCDOR rate chart, because it varies by county and changes. On income: a booth renter reports her own net profit. Expect federal self-employment tax, quarterly estimated payments and South Carolina individual income tax on that profit. In a true booth rental you pay the host, so no 1099-NEC flows to you from the salon; the records are your own bookkeeping. Register for the retail licence through SCDOR's MyDORWAY portal at dor.sc.gov; it is a separate obligation from both the board salon licence and the municipal business licence discussed under local_rules.
South Carolina's licensing law and its employment law point in different directions, and a booth renter has to satisfy both. On the licensing side the statute could not be friendlier: Section 40-13-20(6) defines 'independent contractor' as 'a licensed practitioner who rents or leases a place or part of a place in a beauty salon'. The board does not treat renting as suspicious; it simply requires the rented space to be licensed as a salon. On the unemployment insurance side, South Carolina does not use an ABC test. The Department of Employment and Workforce administers the South Carolina Employment Security Law, and Section 41-27-230(1)(b) defines employment by reference to 'any individual who, under the usual common law rules applicable in determining the employer-employee relationship, has the status of an employee'. That is the classic common-law control test, which looks at behavioural control, financial control and the parties' relationship rather than at a rigid three-prong statute. Section 41-27-260 carries a list of specific exclusions from employment, and there is no cosmetology or booth-rental exclusion in it, so nothing in the statute automatically blesses a booth arrangement. The practical consequence is that the contract label will not save a relationship that behaves like employment. Pulling toward employee status: the salon setting your hours or schedule, setting your prices, taking client payment and paying you a share, supplying your product line and tools, controlling your dress, menu or marketing, disciplining you, and a rent figure that is really a commission dressed as rent. Supporting independence: a written lease at fixed rent for a defined space, your own key and hours, your own pricing, your own booking and payment collection, your own retail purchasing and insurance, your own business licences and, in South Carolina uniquely, your own salon licence for the booth. That last point is worth pressing with an auditor: South Carolina makes you licence the booth as your own salon, meaningful documentary evidence of a separate business, though not conclusive, since the employment tests turn on facts rather than on the licence file. For federal purposes the same fact-based common-law analysis applies, and workers' compensation is a third, separate analysis under Title 42. Misclassification exposure is back unemployment contributions and interest to DEW, back federal employment taxes, and workers' compensation exposure for the host. Confirm any doubtful arrangement with DEW at dew.sc.gov before the first payment.
Do not skip this section for South Carolina. Municipal and county business licences are close to universal here, and since the South Carolina Business License Tax Standardization Act (2020 Act No. 176, S.C. Code Sections 6-1-400 to 6-1-420, effective January 1, 2022) the rules are standardised statewide. The core mechanics from Section 6-1-400(B): a business licence runs a twelve-month period from May first to April thirtieth, expires April thirtieth, and must be renewed before May first, with penalties available if the tax is not paid by then. The tax is computed on gross income for the preceding calendar or fiscal year, or on a twelve-month projection for a business open less than a year; a new business is taxed on estimated probable gross income for the balance of the licence year. 'Taxpayer' expressly includes an individual (Section 6-1-400(A)(2)(c)), so a solo booth renter is a taxpayer in her own right and her gross income is her own service and retail revenue, not the host salon's. Section 6-1-400(F) requires every jurisdiction to accept the standard application established by the Director of the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, and Section 6-1-400(G)(1) requires each jurisdiction to adopt by ordinance, by December thirty-first of every odd year, the latest Standardized Business License Class Schedule recommended by the Municipal Association of South Carolina, built on NAICS classifications. Your rate class follows your NAICS code; the rate is set locally. If a jurisdiction assesses you and you disagree, Section 6-1-410 gives a defined path: notice of assessment, a written request for adjustment within thirty days, an informal conference, a notice of final assessment, then an appeal within thirty days accompanied by payment in protest of at least eighty per cent of the tax, a hearing before council or its appeals officer, and a further appeal to the Administrative Law Court. Beyond the business licence, expect zoning approval and a certificate of occupancy (Regulation 35-20(B)(2) already requires compliance with local building, plumbing and electrical codes), a sign permit for your own signage, and county business licences in unincorporated areas that levy one. Check your specific jurisdiction: whether you sit inside a municipality or in the unincorporated county changes who taxes you, and suite buildings on suburban corridors often sit just outside city limits. For mobile work the statute is explicit that local licences still apply: a mobile barbershop permittee must maintain any applicable county and city licences or permits, including business licences (Section 40-7-355(F)).
Practising or offering to practise cosmetology in violation of Chapter 13, or knowingly submitting false information to obtain a licence, is a misdemeanour: a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or thirty days, or both, for a first offence, and not more than five hundred dollars or six months, or both, for a second or subsequent offence (Section 40-13-200(A)). The board must permanently revoke the licence of a person convicted of, or pleading guilty or nolo contendere to, such a violation (Section 40-13-200(B)). Administratively, Section 40-13-110(A) lets the board revoke, suspend or restrict a licence for violating the chapter, a regulation or a board order, permitting an unlicensed person under your supervision to practise, wilfully failing to display the salon licence (Section 40-13-300), an individual licence (Section 40-13-280) or the sanitary regulations (Section 40-13-350), practising outside a licensed salon, and wilfully and continuously violating the sanitary regulations. Section 40-13-110(B) authorises a civil penalty in lieu of suspension or revocation, capped at five hundred dollars. Regulation 35-6 adds administrative citations and cease and desist orders, issued in person or by certified mail against an entity or individual 'including unlicensed persons'. Separate citations may issue per violation, but no more than five hundred dollars in administrative penalties may be assessed per offence. A citation may be appealed to the board within ten calendar days; if no appeal is filed it becomes a final order and the penalty is payable within thirty calendar days. These penalties are in addition to all other civil or criminal remedies. The board may also issue a cease and desist order or seek equitable relief from an administrative law judge (Section 40-13-100), the department may petition for injunctive relief in the name of the State (Section 40-13-210), and a person found in violation may be required to pay investigation and prosecution costs (Section 40-13-170). The barber side is far harsher: unlicensed barbering, or knowingly submitting false information to obtain a licence, is a misdemeanour carrying imprisonment of not more than one year or a fine of not more than five thousand dollars (Section 40-7-200). Outside the board, the exposures that actually close businesses are ordinary: municipal business licence penalties after May first (Section 6-1-400(B)), SCDOR assessments for uncollected sales tax on product sales, and DEW contributions plus interest if the arrangement is reclassified as employment.
Program sources: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c013.php · https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c007.php · https://www.scstatehouse.gov/coderegs/Chapter%2035.pdf · https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t12c036.php · https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t06c001.php · https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t41c027.php · https://dor.sc.gov/sites/dor/files/Documents/Policy%20Manuals/Chapter%2023%20-%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions.pdf · https://dor.sc.gov/sales-use-tax-index · https://dor.sc.gov/tax/sales · https://llr.sc.gov/cosmo/ (LLR Board of Cosmetology, fee schedule and forms; UNREACHABLE from this environment at verification time) · https://llr.sc.gov/cosmo/licensure.aspx (UNREACHABLE at verification time) · https://llr.sc.gov/barber/ (LLR Board of Barber Examiners; not reached, same host) · https://dew.sc.gov (SC Department of Employment and Workforce, unemployment insurance liability)
South Carolina is one of the clearest 'yes' states for booth-license requirements because the requirement is written into the statute itself: S.C. Code 40-13-20(1) literally names 'a rental booth' inside the legal definition of a salon, and Reg. 35-15(A)(2) requires any person opening a salon to apply. So an independent renter is not merely working inside someone else's salon — the state treats the renter's booth or suite as its own separate salon that must be individually licensed, inspected before opening, and renewed before July 1 of its expiration year. The buildout rule is a sleeper trap: Reg. 35-20(B)(1) requires salons separated from one another to be divided by a solid floor-to-ceiling wall with separate entrances, a real constraint for open-floor booth arrangements versus enclosed suites. Unlike some states, SC has no distinct 'booth renter' or 'independent contractor' license tier — it's the full salon license either way. The offsetting good news is on tax: SC does not tax real-property rent, so the booth rent a stylist pays is generally not a sales-taxable event.
It doesn't. A salon license is valid only for the named location and owner and is non-transferable (Reg. 35-15(D)(1),(E)(1)). An independent booth/suite renter must obtain their OWN salon license — a salon is defined to include a 'rental booth' (40-13-20(1)) and Reg. 35-15(A)(2) requires any person opening a salon to apply. Operating on the host's license is unlicensed salon operation.
SC requires a Board inspection within 10 working days before the salon license is issued (Reg. 35-15(C)(1)). If you can't be inspected before your open date you must first get a temporary permit — up to 90 days (Reg. 35-15(B)(1)), extendable up to 30 more days if you fail inspection (35-15(B)(2)). You cannot just open and wait for the inspector.
Reg. 35-20(B)(1) requires salons separated from each other to be divided by a solid floor-to-ceiling wall with separate entrances, plus direct access to water/restroom and the required equipment (Reg. 35-16). An open booth carved out of a larger salon may fail inspection where an enclosed suite passes — check the physical layout before signing a lease.
Booth/suite rent (real property) is generally not sales-taxable, but if you sell retail products you must register with SCDOR for a Retail License and collect tax on those sales; and if your 'rental' bundles equipment or other tangible personal property, that portion can be taxable ('any rental or lease of tangible personal property... at retail is subject to Sales Tax'). Verify mixed arrangements with SCDOR.
Timeline: Individual licensure is the long pole if not already held (1,500 hours cosmetology; 300 nail; 450 esthetics). For someone already licensed: file the salon application at least 10 working days before opening; the inspection is scheduled within 10 working days before license issuance, or a temporary permit (up to 90 days, +30 if it fails) bridges the gap. Realistically allow ~2-6 weeks from application to an issued salon license depending on inspection scheduling.
Cost: Salon (establishment) license: biennial — exact fee not published in Chapter 35 and the LLR fee page was unreachable at verification time, so confirm the current amount with the SC Board of Cosmetology (LLR); do not quote a figure without verifying. Additional out-of-pocket: individual license renewal (biennial) plus 4 CE contact hours from the second licensing period on; SCDOR Retail License (no state fee) if selling products; plus any buildout to meet the floor-to-ceiling separation and equipment standards.
Going independent takes time, and states revise these rules. Leave your email and we'll write to you when South Carolina's booth/suite licensing requirements change. Nothing else, ever — and you can unsubscribe from any message.
Pick South Carolina and get one clear kit: whether you need your own license, the fees, the inspection rule, how your rent is taxed, plus the steps to get compliant and what to display — as interactive checklists that save your progress. Free watermarked preview; clean printable PDF for $29.
Build my South Carolina kit →YES — a booth/suite renter needs their OWN salon (establishment) license. The statute is unusually explicit: S.C. Code 40-13-20(1) defines a 'salon' as 'a building or any place, or part of a place or building including, but not limited to, a rental booth, in which cosmetology is performed on the general public for compensation.' Reg. 35-15(A)(1) defines a salon for licensing as 'a location, other than a cosmetology school, at which cosmetology, nail technology or esthetics is practiced,' and 35-15(A)(2) requires 'any firm, person or corporation desiring to open a salon' to apply to the Board. So an independent renter operating a rental booth or private suite is itself a 'salon' and must hold a salon license separate from the host shop's license. Cite: S.C. Code 40-13-20(1); S.C. Reg. 35-15(A).
Confirm with the SC Board of Cosmetology (LLR). The salon license is biennial (S.C. Code 40-13-250(E)); Reg. 35-15(G) requires renewal before July 1 of the year the license expires. The exact dollar amount is set in the LLR fee schedule, not in Chapter 35, and could NOT be verified — the official LLR fee page (llr.sc.gov/cos) was unreachable at verification time. Do not rely on a quoted figure; confirm current salon application and renewal fees directly with LLR before advising a client.
The independent professional must first hold a current SC individual practitioner license from the Board of Cosmetology matching their services: Cosmetologist (1,500-hour program), Nail Technician (300-hour program), or Esthetician (450-hour program). Individual licenses renew biennially; per Reg. 35-23, continuing education is not required in the first licensing period, but from the second period on the licensee must obtain 4 contact hours of board-approved CE covering SC cosmetology laws/regulations, client safety, and/or infection control each period.
YES — a pre-opening inspection is required. Reg. 35-15(C)(1): the Board or its designee shall conduct an inspection to ensure all licensure requirements are met 'within ten working days, prior to issuance of a salon license.' If the inspection cannot be completed before the projected opening date, the Board may issue a temporary permit for not more than 90 days to operate until inspection (Reg. 35-15(B)(1)); if the salon then fails inspection, the Board may extend the temporary permit up to 30 additional days (Reg. 35-15(B)(2)). Licensed salons are inspected periodically thereafter (Reg. 35-15(C)(2)); entry authority is in S.C. Code 40-13-290(B).
Booth rent is a lease of real property and is not subject to South Carolina sales tax, and cosmetology services are not taxed either. Retail product sales ARE: the rate is 6% (5% plus the additional 1% imposed in 2007), and a retail licence costs $50 under S.C. Code Sec. 12-36-510(A)(1). Each renter selling product needs their own retail licence. Source: S.C. Code Title 12 ch. 36 ; SCDOR policy manual ch. 23.
No. SalonBoothLicense gives general information based on each state's published cosmetology/barbering and tax rules, dated to when we last verified them, and is not a guarantee of licensure. Booth/suite rules also depend on local permitting and your written rental agreement. Always confirm with your state board and local authority.
Sources: llr.sc.gov. Verified 2026-08-17. General information, not legal advice and not a guarantee of licensure — confirm with your state board and local authority before you open.