Buncombe County, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Article III of Chapter 14, adopted by Ord. No. 15215 in 1975, licenses "the business, trade or profession of masseur or masseuse" and any massage parlor, health salon, or physical culture studio, but exempts licensed hospitals, clinics, and the practices of physicians, osteopaths, chiropractors, and physical therapists (Sec. 14-76). An applicant files a written application with the board of commissioners under Sec. 14-91, showing name, address, and qualifications; Sec. 14-93 additionally requires written proof of good moral character and a health certificate from a medical doctor, covering the applicant and, for a corporate licensee, its officers.

Every employee hired after the license issues must also get a health certificate, and copies of all certificates go to the sheriff's department. Licensees must file employee names, home addresses, phone numbers, and workplaces with the sheriff, updating within seven days of any change (Sec. 14-97), and must keep records of every patron treated, subject to sheriff inspection at any reasonable time (Sec. 14-98). A bond payable to the county is required before a license issues (Sec. 14-101). The sheriff can recommend revocation to the board of commissioners for good cause (Sec.

14-99), and an operator's duty to verify a patron's age under Sec. 14-81(b) is itself grounds for revocation if ignored. Treating an opposite-sex patron requires a dated physician's, osteopath's, chiropractor's, or physical therapist's order specifying no more than ten treatments (Sec. 14-80).