A health club or health spa operating in the District — including a gym franchise location — must post a surety bond with DLCP before making membership sales, under D.C. Code § 28-3817. A club that limits membership sales to 100 persons or fewer files at the $25,000 tier; ours is $250 flat, and the price you see is the checkout price.
















A health club filing is one of the simpler consumer-protection bonds. Here's the entire process:
Business details, membership-sales cap, and an effective date. That's the application.
Bonds like this are among the thousands of bond types that issue right after purchase. At most, 1–2 business days.
Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to file with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection ahead of your first membership sale. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
D.C. Code § 28-3817 is the District's consumer-protection statute for health spa sales — cash or credit sales where a health club or spa agrees to provide goods or services for more than 30 days. Before making such a sale, the operator must file a surety bond (or an equivalent letter of credit or cash) with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP).
The statute sets two tiers: $50,000 for a standard health spa, and a reduced $25,000 for an operator that states in writing it will limit membership sales to 100 persons or fewer. This filing is written at the $25,000 tier. It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety carrier, and DLCP (the obligee), with members who prepaid dues as the protected party if the club closes or fails to deliver.
It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a member claim, you repay the surety. DLCP requires evidence the bond remains in force filed annually, so we track your renewal and notify you well ahead of the date.
These are the actual issuing fields — the application includes a standard soft-pull credit consent, common to most bonds at this tier.
Start the application →$250 flat, soft-pull credit consent only, bond often issued in the same sitting. Free until issued.