How do I add my landlord as an additional insured?

Ask your agent to add the landlord by endorsement, giving the exact legal names the lease uses and the premises address. Many business owner’s policies add landlords automatically where a written lease requires it; others need CG 20 11 or a carrier form scheduled by name. Then ask for a certificate that references it.

Does the coverage continue after I move out?

Not under CG 20 11, which excludes any occurrence after you cease to be a tenant in that premises. A lease that asks for coverage after you leave is asking for more than this form gives.

Is this the same as what the landlord’s insurance requires?

Often it is where the clause came from. Many landlords’ carriers require tenants to carry general liability naming them, which is why the clause rarely moves.

Can you check the insurance requirements I was sent?

Yes. Paste them into our free COI Requirements Decoder, pick your type of business, and it explains each requirement, flags what is often missing and lists the lines to quote, without the text leaving your browser. One button then asks a licensed agent to quote what it found.

A boutique owner with a silver bob in a linen blazer standing in her newly built-out empty retail space holding a printed lease and a ring of keys, late sun through the storefront glass

My lease says to add the landlord as additional insured. What does the lease actually require?

The standard way is ISO CG 20 11, Additional Insured, Managers Or Lessors Of Premises, naming every party the lease lists for the space you lease. Most commercial leases also require general liability limits, damage to premises rented, property coverage on your contents and improvements, business income, a mutual waiver of subrogation and certificates before you take possession. A certificate listing the landlord as holder does not meet the additional insured clause.

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A commercial lease insurance clause, decoded

Lease says	What it means	Where it lives
Commercial general liability, $1,000,000 per occurrence	Injury or damage you cause, at that limit	General liability or a business owner’s policy
Landlord, manager and mortgagee as additional insureds	Each party added for liability from your use of the space	CG 20 11, or a blanket form that reaches landlords
Damage to premises rented, $300,000	Your sublimit for fire damage to the space	General liability declarations
Special form property, full replacement cost	Your contents and improvements insured at replacement cost	Property or business owner’s policy
Business income, 12 months	Income while you cannot operate after a covered loss	Property or business owner’s policy
Mutual waiver of subrogation	Neither side’s property insurer recovers from the other	Property policy; most allow it in writing before a loss
Primary and non-contributory	Your liability policy pays before the landlord’s	CG 20 01 or carrier wording
Certificates before possession, renewals annually	Proof before keys, then every year	From your agent

Commercial general liability, $1,000,000 per occurrence
What it means
Injury or damage you cause, at that limit
Where it lives
General liability or a business owner’s policy
Landlord, manager and mortgagee as additional insureds
What it means
Each party added for liability from your use of the space
Where it lives
CG 20 11, or a blanket form that reaches landlords
Damage to premises rented, $300,000
What it means
Your sublimit for fire damage to the space
Where it lives
General liability declarations
Special form property, full replacement cost
What it means
Your contents and improvements insured at replacement cost
Where it lives
Property or business owner’s policy
Business income, 12 months
What it means
Income while you cannot operate after a covered loss
Where it lives
Property or business owner’s policy
Mutual waiver of subrogation
What it means
Neither side’s property insurer recovers from the other
Where it lives
Property policy; most allow it in writing before a loss
Primary and non-contributory
What it means
Your liability policy pays before the landlord’s
Where it lives
CG 20 01 or carrier wording
Certificates before possession, renewals annually
What it means
Proof before keys, then every year
Where it lives
From your agent

The detail

CG 20 11 12 19 adds the scheduled person or organization as an insured only for liability caused in whole or in part by you or those acting on your behalf in connection with the ownership, maintenance or use of the part of the premises leased to you.
ISO endorsements reproduced in Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, "Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds" course materials (2019)
CG 20 11 12 19 excludes any occurrence after you cease to be a tenant in the premises, and structural alterations, new construction or demolition performed by or for the additional insured.
ISO endorsements reproduced in Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, "Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds" course materials (2019)
Where a contract requires the coverage, CG 20 11 12 19 gives the additional insured no broader coverage and no higher limit than the contract requires, and applies only to the extent permitted by law.
ISO endorsements reproduced in Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, "Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds" course materials (2019)
Leases commonly name the landlord, its property manager and its lender, each of which must appear on the endorsement or be reached by a blanket form.
Kevin Kelsey, agency placement experience

What this means for you

Name every party the lease names. Landlord, management company and lender are three entities. A certificate naming one of them gets rejected for the other two.
Holder is not insured. Being the certificate holder gives the landlord a copy and no rights. The clause wants the endorsement.
Insure what you built. The landlord insures the building. The shelving, flooring and fit-out you paid for are yours to insure unless the lease says otherwise.
Ask before you sign. Limits, an umbrella or an "admitted carrier only" clause can be negotiated before signature. After it, they are a cost.

Go deeper on any of these

Need this handled?

Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.