Buying a Tattoo Studio in Ontario: Public Health Rules, Toronto Licensing, Insurance, Records and the Artists

By Jatin Dua · Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty · Updated 29 September 2026 · 12 min read — how tattooing is regulated in Ontario, the notices and licences a new owner needs, insurance, the invasive-procedure records you inherit, inspection history, artists, HST and the documents to ask for.

How tattooing is regulated in Ontario

Unlike hairstyling, which is a compulsory skilled trade, tattooing has no provincial licence or certificate for the artist that I could find. The controls sit in two places:

• Provincial public health. O. Reg. 136/18 under the Health Protection and Promotion Act sets notice, setting, equipment, infection control and record rules for every personal service setting, and treats tattooing as an invasive procedure because it punctures intact skin.
• Municipal licensing. Toronto licenses the owner or operator of every personal services setting and requires a separate endorsement for tattoo and micropigmentation, which its licensing chapter defines as depositing pigments below the dermis with needles or similar implements.

Toronto Public Health’s BodySafe program classes tattooing as a critical service, inspected once a year and on complaint, with results posted on its web pages. So a studio’s value depends heavily on its public health habits, and those are visible before you buy.

Licences, notices and insurance for a new owner

• Public health notice. Anyone who intends to operate a personal service setting gives the medical officer of health written notice at least 14 days before starting, with the name and location, the operator’s contact details and a list of services (O. Reg. 136/18, section 3). Toronto asks for notice to BodySafe at least 14 days before opening under a new licence.
• Toronto licence. Licences are not transferable and their value belongs to the City. A new owner applies: $211.73 to apply plus $239.18 for the licence, $296.45 to renew, with a criminal record and judicial matters check and a tattoo endorsement. Adding services such as piercing needs another endorsement and 30 days’ written notice.
• Insurance. Toronto requires a studio offering tattooing, micropigmentation, piercing or electrolysis to hold at least $1,000,000 of liability insurance, endorsed to give the City at least 10 days’ written notice of cancellation, expiry or change, and to deposit a certificate. The licence page asks for a certificate of $1,000,000 commercial general liability. Line up your own policy before closing; the seller’s cannot simply carry on in your name.
• Zoning. Toronto does not require zoning approval when you take over a business with a valid licence, or one that expired less than three years before, in the same category.

The physical rules for the studio are in tattoo studio premises in Ontario.

The records you inherit

Tattoo studios keep more client records than almost any other small business, and the obligation continues after a sale.

• Provincial. Before any invasive procedure, the client gets an explanation of the procedure and its risks, and records are made (section 6). Section 14 records include sterilization and disinfection logs and, for each procedure, what was done and where on the body, the client’s and artist’s names and contact details, confirmation the risk information was given, the dates, and the lot numbers and expiry dates of pre-packaged sterile equipment. They stay on site for one year, or until the setting closes if sooner, then are kept securely for at least two more years.
• Toronto. The licensing chapter requires records of every sterilizer use, spore tests, purchases of sterile items, every tattoo with the client’s name, phone number and address, and every accidental exposure to blood, kept for five years and at the premises for the first year.

Agree in writing who keeps which records after closing, where they are stored and how the public health unit can get them. Client records are personal information; federal privacy law (PIPEDA section 7.2) allows them to be shared in a sale only if the buyer uses them solely for the deal and protects them, and clients must be told after closing. Regulated health practices carry a stricter version of this duty; see buying a dental practice.

The artists are the business

Clients follow artists. Most studios work with artists on commission or as independent contractors renting a station, and some employ them. The legal label is for an employment lawyer, but the commercial point is plain: if the lead artist leaves, much of the booking calendar goes too.

For employees you keep, section 9 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 carries their service with the seller over to you for notice, severance and vacation, unless you hire them more than 13 weeks after the earlier of their last day with the seller and the sale date. For contractors, look at their agreements, notice terms and any non-solicitation clause, and whether their social media following is theirs or the studio’s. The same retention question drives buying a hair salon or barbershop.

HST and the lease

HST. Section 167 of the Excise Tax Act allows the seller and buyer to jointly elect so that no GST/HST is charged on the sale of a business when the buyer acquires all or substantially all of the property needed to carry it on. It is not available where the seller is registered and the buyer is not, and it does not cover property supplied by lease or licence. The election is on CRA Form GST44; ask your accountant.

Lease. Some landlords restrict tattooing in their permitted-use or prohibited-use clauses. Confirm the lease names tattooing, and piercing if offered, and read the assignment clause. The logic is the same as any business lease; see lease assignment when a business is sold.

Documents to demand before you sign

No Canadian regulator, statistics agency or industry body publishes sale prices or price multiples for these businesses, so I will not quote one, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What you can do is test the asking price against documents.

• The Toronto (or other municipal) licence and endorsements, and the insurance certificate.
• BodySafe or public health inspection reports for the last three years.
• Sterilizer make, model and service records, and two years of spore test and sterilization logs.
• A sample of invasive-procedure records, anonymized, to confirm they meet section 14.
• Artist agreements, commission splits and booking data by artist.
• Two to three years of revenue by artist, reconciled to HST returns and bank deposits.
• Supplier invoices for sterile single-use equipment and inks.
• Biomedical and sharps waste pickup contract.
• The lease, with its use clause and assignment terms.

Where I fit

I help buyers of GTA service businesses with the property side: whether the lease allows the use, whether the space meets the setting rules, and what a unit is worth if the landlord will sell. There is no tattoo-specific estimator on my site, but the AI retail store value estimator gives a first range for a storefront. When you have your numbers, book a call or phone 833-330-1925. If you are weighing other personal service purchases, see also buying a dry cleaner for a very different set of risks.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• O. Reg. 136/18, Personal Service Settings — e-Laws — notice, setting, equipment and records rules
• City of Toronto — Municipal Code Chapter 545, Licensing — licences are not transferable; licence categories
• City of Toronto — Personal services settings licence — fees, C of Q, $1,000,000 CGL, 14-day notice
• City of Toronto — About BodySafe — inspection frequency by risk
• PIPEDA, section 7.2 — Justice Laws Website — personal information in a business transaction
• Employment Standards Act, 2000 — e-Laws — s. 9 sale of a business, 13-week rule
• Excise Tax Act, section 167 — Justice Laws Website — joint GST/HST election on the sale of a business
• Canada Revenue Agency — Form GST44 — election concerning the acquisition of a business

Related reading

• Tattoo studio premises in Ontario
• Buying a hair salon or barbershop in Ontario
• Buying a dry cleaner in Ontario
• Lease assignment when a business is sold
• Keeping a business sale confidential
• AI retail store value estimator