[Business Startup] Procedures for organizing permits and licenses after factory relocation and list of notifications — Is it enough to just change the business registration address?

3-Line Summary

1. Even if you change your business registration address and complete the registration of the relocation of the head office, the permits and licenses for the old factory do not expire automatically.
2. The establishment approval/registration (completion report) of the new factory and the liquidation (cancellation, closure, or succession of status) of the old factory are different procedures, and the deadlines for each are counted separately.
3. Before relocating, you must create a list of permits and licenses by sector and decide whether you will leave facilities in the old building or demolish them.

Table of Contents

1. Factory relocation does not end with just registering the new factory
2. Case Study: A manufacturing company that moved from a leased factory to the Namdong National Industrial Complex
3. Procedures for the new factory: Occupancy contract, factory registration, installation of manufacturing facilities
4. Procedures for the old factory: List of closures, cancellations, and succession of status by sector
5. Cases involving demolition versus cases where a successor continues operations
6. How to link the return of the security deposit with the liquidation of permits and licenses
7. The outcome of this case and a pre-relocation checklist

1. Factory relocation does not end with just registering the new factory

I am an administrative agent (administrative scrivener) with an office located in Songdo, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. When conducting consultations regarding factory relocation, inquiries almost always converge in the same direction. Questions like “How do I register the new factory?” arrive about three months before the move, but questions like “How do I settle the old factory?” arrive long after the relocation is finished. Often, they arrive only after an inspection notice has been sent to the old address.

The reason is simple. Correcting the business registration and registering the relocation of the head office are highly visible tasks that are included in the relocation schedule. On the other hand, because factories have obtained permits, notifications, or registrations separately according to various laws and regulations, their names do not change all at once. This article will follow that difference through a specific case. I have organized the factory registration and change procedures handled by our office in a previous post, so here, I will focus on the notifications that follow a relocation.

2. Case Study: A Manufacturing Company That Moved from a Leased Factory to the Namdong National Industrial Complex

This is the story of a female CEO in her late 20s who runs a company that produces thermoformed food packaging containers. She is currently operating the business as the second generation, having taken over the factory from her father, and had 11 employees. They had been working in a 640㎡ leased factory in Okryeon-dong, Yeonsu-gu for nearly 12 years, but the contract could not be extended because the landlord decided to sell the building. Fortunately, their application to move into the Namdong National Industrial Complex was approved, and they moved their equipment at the end of September.

The move went smoothly. The business registration address was updated immediately after the move, and the new address was included in the delivery notes for clients. The CEO said she thought, “It’s finally over.”

The consultation began via email in mid-October, six weeks after the move. Two notices had arrived at the old address, which the former building manager had photographed and sent to her. One was a notice for a periodic fire safety inspection, and the other was a notice regarding the deadline for waste-related reporting. The landlord was requesting “confirmation of administrative cleanup regarding facilities” before returning the security deposit.

After reading this email, there was only one thing to verify: how many active permits and licenses still existed under the old factory name. Even the CEO did not know exactly. This was because many had been obtained by her father when the factory first started.

3. Procedures for the New Factory: Occupancy Agreement, Factory Registration, and Installation of Manufacturing Facilities

Before looking at the old factory, I examined the new factory side first. This is because if the new side is misaligned, organizing the old side becomes meaningless.

If located within an industrial complex, the occupancy agreement serves as the establishment approval

In an industrial complex, signing an occupancy agreement with the management agency is considered as having received approval for factory establishment. Therefore, a separate approval process is not required at the district office. The CEO handled this part correctly. If the factory has moved outside the complex, a factory with a building area of 500㎡ or more must obtain approval from the Mayor, County Governor, or District Head in accordance with Article 13 of the 「Industrial Cluster Development and Factory Establishment Act」.

Factory registration is completed through a completion report after installation is finished

If a completion report is filed within 2 months from the date the building use approval and the installation of machinery/equipment are completed, the factory will be entered into the factory registration ledger (Article 15 and 16 of the same Act, Article 20 of the Enforcement Decree). In this case, since the equipment was installed at the end of September, the deadline was the end of November. Upon checking, the report had already been submitted through the occupancy management agency within this deadline.

When bringing machinery into an existing building, check the approval for the installation of manufacturing facilities

In cases where manufacturing machinery is installed in an existing factory building to engage in manufacturing, approval for the installation of manufacturing facilities under Article 14-3 may be required. This applies to factories with an area of 500㎡ or more, and installing machinery without approval is subject to criminal punishment, so it should not be viewed as a mere matter of administrative fines. While this specific case was handled during the occupancy contract stage, if you are moving to an existing building outside the industrial complex, you must inquire before signing the contract.

To summarize, the process for a new factory is Occupancy Contract or Establishment Approval → Installation → Completion Report (within 2 months) → Factory Registration. This is not linked to the liquidation of the old factory. The registration of the old factory is not canceled simply because the registration of the new factory is completed.

4. Procedures for the Old Factory: List of Business Closure, Cancellation, and Succession of Status by Sector

Now, regarding the old factory. I had one request for the CEO via email. It was to collect copies of all permits, notifications, and contracts used at the old factory, organized by sector. We were able to verify these from the document boxes my father had kept.

The sectors where names might still remain under the old address are typically as follows:

Not all sectors are organized in a single line. In this case, there were waste plastics from the thermoforming process and small amounts of ink from the printing process. Therefore, waste and hazardous materials were applicable, and firefighting overlapped with the building’s inspections.

Since the competent authorities differ for each sector, they cannot be organized all at once in one place. Furthermore, depending on the sector, the method of organization may be succession of status or transfer of name rather than business closure or cancellation. This difference will be explained in the next section. Since the deadlines and forms vary by regulation for each case, we received the CEO’s documents and inquired with each competent window by sector to verify.

5. Cases of Demolition vs. Cases of Successor Continuing Operations

The method of organization varies depending on whether the facilities are demolished or if a successor continues the operations.

In the case of demolishing facilities, the report of closure/cancellation must be accompanied by confirmation of the demolition. If only the business has stopped but the facilities remain, you may be required to provide evidence of the disposal of residual chemicals and waste.

In the case of a subsequent tenant continuing to use the facilities, there are certain areas where succession of status or change of name is appropriate rather than business closure. If you file a business closure report at this stage, it creates a larger problem because the successor would have to re-register the facilities from scratch.

In this case, the landlord did not yet know if the buyer was in the same industry (plastic processing). It had not even been decided whether to demolish or leave the facilities. I asked the landlord two questions in writing. One was whether the new owner planned to continue using the equipment, and the other was whether it was correct that the CEO had completely withdrawn all equipment. The reply came two days later, stating that the equipment had indeed been 100% withdrawn and that the new owner planned to demolish the building and rebuild it.

Only once this answer is received can the direction toward business closure/cancellation be determined. If a report is submitted before the direction is set, discrepancies arise—for example, one area is closed while another is undergoing succession negotiations.

6. How to Link Deposit Refund with the Cleanup of Licenses and Permits

It is not unusual for a landlord to demand “confirmation of administrative cleanup” as a condition for returning a security deposit. This is because inspection or reporting notices attached to the old building address can also affect the building’s stakeholders.

I recommended a method of collecting copies of receipt slips for each completed field and delivering them sequentially to the landlord as soon as each area was cleared. If you wait until everything is completed all at once, the return of the deposit will be delayed, and your operating funds will be tied up in the meantime. In this case, we first sent the receipt slips and photos of the cleared areas, and after the landlord confirmed the schedule for the remaining areas, they agreed to return a portion of the deposit first.

There was a particularly awkward part. At the very bottom of the box, we found a small quantity of hazardous materials storage declaration documents that the CEO’s father had obtained when they moved in 12 years ago, and a sticky note was attached that read, “Ink warehouse key is at the security office.” The key had been handed over to the building manager during the move, and the warehouse was already empty. The CEO said with a smile, “My father always makes sure to leave notes like this.” Thanks to that note, we were able to verify the hazardous materials side one day earlier.

7. Results of This Case and Pre-Relocation Checklist

In this case, the organization by sector was completed about 5 weeks after the consultation began. Regarding waste, hazardous materials, and air quality, the matters were settled through closure or termination reports, and the electricity and gas accounts were settled and terminated. Fire safety matters were resolved through inspections by the building’s stakeholders, and inspection/report notices sent to the old address ceased to arrive. In this case, the security deposit was returned in full without any remaining balance. However, this result applies specifically to the combination of facilities and business types in this case, and not all relocations take the same amount of time. Since the subjects of reporting and the deadlines vary by sector, individual verification is required.

If you are preparing for a relocation, please check the following in order:

1. First, create a list of permits and licenses for the old factory. List factory registration, waste, air/water/odor, fire safety, hazardous materials, and electricity/gas by sector.
2. Confirm in writing with the landlord whether you will leave facilities behind or demolish them in the old building.
3. For the new factory, establish a separate schedule for occupancy contract or establishment approval → installation → completion report (within 2 months from the date installation is finished).
4. Decide on a method to forward mail sent to the old address to the new address before the relocation date.
5. Keep the receipt and removal photos organized by sector. These will be used when claiming the return of the security deposit.

This has been reconstructed for better understanding and is not related to any specific person or event.

This is an administrative agent (administrative scrivener) office located in Songdo, Incheon (POSCO Tower Songdo). We handle administrative appeals, permit/license/report document preparation/filing services, foreign immigration (visa/residency), and regular administrative management. For factory registration, change registration, and the various sector-specific reports that follow a relocation, we also assist by checking the current status before filing. If you are in a similar situation, please feel free to contact us.

• Address: Room 2697, POSCO Tower Songdo, 165 Convensia-daero, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon
• Phone: 010-3374-2687
• Website: www.hwangadmin.com