Ninety per cent of a company address troubles are born from one hurried decision in the first week: choosing the address before checking it. This checklist arranges every head-office address check into a single process to run before filing the ERC — location function, use rights, administrative format, presence capability and fit with accompanying files — so the address is chosen once and correctly from the start.
Checks 1–3: function, use rights, address format
Check 1 — does the location function permit a head office: exclude immediately residential-function apartment units (banned under clause 8, Article 3 of the Housing Law 27/2023/QH15) and locations under planning or activity restrictions; for a mixed-use building, obtain papers confirming the office or commercial function of the exact rented space. Check 2 — can the company prove its use right: a lease carrying the landlord consent to head-office seating, business registration and signboard hanging; a copy of the landlord land-use and house-ownership certificate; and pre-handling of mortgaged-house, co-ownership or subletting-authorisation situations. Check 3 — can the address be written in correct administrative format: house number, street, ward or commune, district, province or city under current boundaries, matching the building papers and the registration authority recording style — a one-level administrative mismatch is the most common return reason among address faults.
Run these three checks on real papers, not on a broker introduction: read the space certificate or function document, read the draft lease before any deposit, and look the address up on the business registration portal to ensure no abnormal warning attaches to the location.
Checks 4–6: presence, file fit, stability
Check 4 — can the location show real presence: a signboard can be hung visibly at the entrance or under building rules; a mechanism exists to receive mail and authority documents (reception, authorised guard, a dedicated mailbox); an inspection team can enter and meet someone. Check 5 — does the address fit the overall file picture: identify which tax authority will manage the company from this address; for a foreign-invested company, how the head-office address fits the project location to be declared on the IRC (deliberately coinciding or deliberately separated, avoiding a later IRC–ERC split); and whether planned business licences carry their own location requirements. Check 6 — address stability: a lease term long enough for the first operating cycle, with renewal and early-reclaim clauses weighed against head-office relocation cost; a cheap address certain for only six months is expensive in another way.
Only after all six checks does the company lock the address into the file: the internal decision records the address in the exact format to declare, the lease is signed with full attachments, and signboard hanging plus mail reception are arranged from the first operating day.
If the address fails the checklist, and whether a lawyer is needed
Fix the address at the very check it fails before filing: unlawful function — change location, there is no workaround; missing landlord registration consent — negotiate the clause in or change landlord; ambiguous administrative format — obtain an address confirmation from the local authority or building developer; weak presence (no sign hanging allowed, no mail reception) — add a written arrangement with building management or change the rental model. Filing with a knowingly problematic address bets that post-checks never come — a bet earlier topics show loses at a very high rate.
On lawyers: a simple domestic company ERC at a standard office address does not necessarily need a lawyer address review. Use a lawyer or an experienced corporate adviser where: the company is foreign-invested and must fit the address to its IRC file; the location sits in a sensitive group (mixed-use condominium, under-documented private house, industrial park with its own conditions); or planned licences are tightly location-bound. One address-review session always costs less than one forced post-registration relocation.
The head-office address is a company first legal decision and operationally its hardest to change. Six checks — function, use rights, format, presence, file fit, stability — turn that decision from an intuition into a verifiable process. This draft is pending review by the QA Council.
Frequently asked questions
Before filing the ERC, what must be checked about the address?
Six points: first, location function permits a head office (not a residential unit under the Housing Law 27/2023; function papers for a mixed-use building); second, provable use rights (a lease with business-registration consent, landlord papers); third, the address written in correct administrative-boundary format; fourth, real presence capability (signboard hanging, mail reception, receiving inspection teams); fifth, fit with the managing tax authority and the IRC file for an FDI company; sixth, a sufficiently stable lease term.
Which papers prove the right to use the address?
The premises lease carrying the landlord consent for the company to seat its head office, register its business and hang a signboard; a copy of the landlord Land Use Rights and House Ownership Certificate for the address; identity papers and authorisation or consent documents of co-owners or the mortgagee where those situations exist. For an office building, the equivalent set is the lease with the building management unit plus building legal papers confirming the office function of the rented space.
What if the address is not eligible — how is it handled?
Fix the exact failing point before filing: unlawful location function (residential unit, non-business land) means changing location, as no regularisation exists; missing landlord consent means negotiating the clause in or changing the location; an unclear administrative address means obtaining confirmation from the locality or developer; inability to hang a signboard or receive mail means a written arrangement with building management or a different rental model. Never file with a knowingly flawed address “to pass registration first”.
Is a lawyer needed to check the address?
Not mandatory for a simple domestic company renting a standard office. Use a lawyer or corporate adviser where the company is foreign-invested and must align the address between ERC and IRC, where the location is legally sensitive (mixed-use condominium, under-documented private house, an industrial-park or restricted-area location), or where planned business lines carry location-bound conditions. One pre-lease review session is far cheaper than a later relocation and two-system registration repair.
How long does address checking take before filing?
For a standard location with complete papers, the six checks finish within one to two working days, mainly time spent obtaining landlord papers and verifying address format. Complex situations — a mortgaged house, a mixed-use building needing function confirmation, an industrial-park address needing the management board view — may add a few working days with the related authority or developer. Putting address checking into the first week of the formation plan keeps it from ever becoming the filing bottleneck.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council