What do the insurance requirements in my contract or lease mean?
Each requirement asks for a policy at a limit or an endorsement on it. Additional insured adds the landlord, client or venue to your general liability (CG 20 11 for a landlord, CG 20 26 for a named party), primary and non-contributory makes your policy pay first, and a waiver of subrogation stops your insurer pursuing them. Your type of business changes what matters: liquor liability for a restaurant or bar, E&O and cyber for IT and consultants, a bond for cleaning.
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The COI Requirements Decoder
Paste the insurance section of any lease, packet or contract, or a certificate you were sent, and pick your type of business from 54. It recognizes 44 requirements plus the construction terms, explains each, flags what is often missing and asks us to quote it in one step. Your text never leaves the page.
What each kind of document usually asks for
- Restaurant or bar lease
Usually asks: GL $1M / $2M, liquor liability $1M, landlord as additional insured on both, umbrella, build-out and business income.
Where it goes wrong: Host liquor sent where liquor liability was required, or the landlord missing from the liquor policy.
- Any commercial lease
Usually asks: GL naming the landlord, manager and lender, damage to premises rented, property on your improvements, mutual waiver.
Where it goes wrong: Damage to premises rented limit below the lease figure.
- Property manager or building vendor packet
Usually asks: GL, auto with hired and non-owned, workers comp with no exemptions, umbrella, bond for cleaning, endorsement copies.
Where it goes wrong: One entity named on the endorsement where the packet lists three.
- Cleaning contract
Usually asks: A janitorial bond or third-party crime coverage at a stated amount, on top of the vendor packet.
Where it goes wrong: Liability insurance sent as proof of a bond.
- Client contract or MSA (IT, consulting, agency)
Usually asks: Professional liability or tech E&O, cyber, GL, sometimes crime, with retroactive date and tail terms.
Where it goes wrong: The client named as additional insured on E&O or cyber, which those policies rarely allow.
- Venue or event agreement
Usually asks: GL naming the venue, owner and manager, liquor liability for anyone serving, a certificate by a deadline.
Where it goes wrong: Wrong legal name for the venue, or the certificate after the deadline.
- Staffing client contract
Usually asks: Workers comp with an alternate employer endorsement, GL, sometimes EPLI.
Where it goes wrong: "Additional insured on workers comp", which no comp policy can do as written.
- Franchise agreement
Usually asks: The franchisor and affiliates as additional insureds, set limits, annual certificates.
Where it goes wrong: The franchisor’s exact entity names.
- Construction subcontract
Usually asks: Additional insured for ongoing and completed operations, primary wording, waivers, per-project aggregate.
Where it goes wrong: Completed operations and the exclusions a certificate never shows.
- A certificate somebody sent you
Usually asks: Nothing; it reports the policies on the day it was issued.
Where it goes wrong: Reading a Y in the ADDL INSD box as the endorsement.
Requirements your type of business changes
- Professional liability
Not named here, but client contracts for your kind of work usually require it. Ask before you sign whether the client expects it.
- Cyber
Not named here. If you store or can reach client or customer data, the next contract will probably ask, and general liability excludes damages from loss of electronic data.
- Liquor liability
Not named here. If alcohol is served or sold at what you do, ask whether host liquor is enough or you need a liquor liability policy.
- Abuse and molestation
Not named here, but schools, districts, funders and parents’ programs ask anyone with access to children or vulnerable adults for it, with its own limit.
- Products liability and the vendor’s endorsement
Not named here. If a store or distributor sells your product, expect a vendor’s endorsement request (CG 20 15 or CG 20 44) and a products aggregate.
- Crime coverage or a bond
Not named here, but clients who give your staff keys or access often ask for a janitorial or business services bond.
- Alternate employer endorsement
Not named here. Staffing clients usually ask for an alternate employer endorsement on your workers comp; ask whether this one does.
- Customers’ cars in your care
Not named here, but any shop agreement or fleet contract will assume you carry garagekeepers for customers’ cars.
Every requirement, with the page that answers it
Certificates
What a certificate proves, and what to send when one is asked for.
- How do I read a certificate of insurance, and what should I check?
- What is an ACORD 25 and what does it actually prove?
- What is the difference between a certificate holder and an additional insured?
- Is a certificate of insurance the same as being covered?
- What goes in the description of operations box on a certificate of insurance?
- Who is going to ask me for a certificate of insurance, and what will they want on it?
- How do I know if my insurance meets the requirements in a contract?
Leases and venues
What a landlord or venue asks a tenant, a vendor or a host to carry.
- What insurance does a restaurant or bar lease require, and why does the landlord want liquor liability?
- My lease says to add the landlord as additional insured. What does the lease actually require?
- What is "damage to premises rented to you", and is my limit high enough for my lease?
- Who insures tenant improvements: the landlord or the tenant?
- The venue sent insurance requirements. What does a vendor or host need?
- What insurance should I require from tenants, and why does my carrier care?
Vendor and client contracts
Packets from property managers, and contracts from the clients you serve.
- A property manager sent vendor insurance requirements. What do I need to work at their buildings?
- My cleaning client requires a janitorial bond. What is it, and is crime coverage the same thing?
- Our enterprise customer’s contract requires tech E&O and cyber. What limits do we need, and what do we send them?
- A client contract requires E&O, media liability and cyber from our agency. What limits do we need, and what do we send?
- Does my franchisor have to be an additional insured on my policy?
- What insurance should an equipment rental agreement require from the renter?
The endorsements behind the clauses
Additional insured, primary wording and waivers, on each policy a document names.
- What is the difference between a named insured, an additional insured and an additional interest?
- What does primary and non-contributory mean (CG 20 01)?
- What is a waiver of subrogation (CG 24 04)?
- What is WC 00 03 13, and do I need it blanket or specific?
- A client wants to be additional insured on my workers comp. What do they actually need?
- Can my insurance guarantee 30 days’ notice of cancellation to the certificate holder?
Policy terms the document sets
Claims-made terms, retentions and the carrier itself.
- What is the difference between occurrence and claims-made coverage?
- What is the difference between general liability and professional liability?
- What is the difference between first-party and third-party cyber coverage?
- What is the difference between a self-insured retention and a deductible?
- What is the difference between admitted and non-admitted insurance, and should I care?
- What is a workers comp ghost policy, and do I need one?
- Does workers compensation cover independent contractors?
A contractor holding a subcontract or bid package? The contractor requirements hub and the Contract Insurance Decoder cover every construction endorsement by form number.
A licensed agent, not a form.
We read the requirements against the policies you carry, add the endorsements your carrier offers, and place what it will not write, such as liquor liability without an assault and battery exclusion, with a carrier that does. The review is the same whether the document is a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract.
Written by Kevin Kelsey, founder and principal agent, CA License #6011822. Last updated 2026-10-05.
Common questions
- What do the insurance requirements in a contract or lease mean?
- Each one asks for a policy at a limit, or an endorsement that changes who the policy covers. Additional insured adds the other party to your policy, primary and non-contributory makes yours pay first, a waiver of subrogation stops your insurer suing them, and the certificate is only the proof. The kind of business you run decides which policies matter most.
- What are COI requirements?
- The list of coverages, limits and endorsements a landlord, client, venue or property manager wants to see on your certificate of insurance before you start. The certificate summarizes your policies; the requirements are what those policies must contain.
- Decode your COI requirements
- Is being a certificate holder the same as being an additional insured?
- No. A certificate holder receives a copy of the certificate and has no rights under the policy. An additional insured is added to the policy by endorsement and can be defended under it.
- Certificate holder vs additional insured
- Can you quote what my requirements ask for?
- Yes. Paste them into the decoder, pick your type of business and press the quote button; we receive the requirement list and the limits, not the document. A licensed agent compares it with what you carry and quotes what is missing, placing hard requirements such as liquor liability without an assault and battery exclusion with a carrier that writes them.
- Open the decoder
Information, not legal advice. Your policy’s own forms decide what it covers, and carriers vary in which endorsements they offer. Indemnity clauses are questions for your attorney.