A commercial lease almost always asks for the same package: general liability at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, the landlord and its property manager as additional insureds, and often waiver of subrogation and property coverage on your own contents and improvements. Who this is for: any business signing or renewing a commercial lease.
The short version
- Landlords ask for additional insured status so a tenant's incident does not hit their policy.
- The lease usually names several entities, including the owner, the manager, and sometimes a lender.
- Damage to rented premises is a small sublimit inside general liability that leases often overlook.
- Tenant improvements are usually the tenant's property to insure, not the landlord's.
- The certificate is normally required before keys are handed over, so start early.
What the lease clause usually demands
| Requirement | Typical figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| General liability per occurrence | $1M | Standard across almost all leases |
| General liability aggregate | $2M | Watch for a per location aggregate requirement |
| Additional insured | Owner, manager, and sometimes lender | Get the exact legal names from the lease |
| Waiver of subrogation | Often mutual | Ask for it to run both ways |
| Property coverage | Contents and tenant improvements | Usually the tenant's responsibility |
| Business income | Six to twelve months | Protects you rather than the landlord |
| Damage to rented premises | $100K to $300K | Higher than the $50K to $100K default on many policies |
| Umbrella | $1M to $5M | More common in retail and restaurant leases |
The damage to rented premises trap
Standard general liability includes a small sublimit for fire damage to the premises you rent, often $100,000 or less. Leases increasingly require $300,000 or more, and some require coverage for water and other perils rather than fire alone. It is usually cheap to raise, but it is a separate limit that nobody notices until a reviewer flags it.
Who insures what
- Landlord: The building shell and common areas, on their own property policy.
- Tenant: Contents, inventory, equipment, and usually tenant improvements and betterments.
- Contested: Read the lease. Some leases put improvements on the landlord's policy and charge it back, and insuring them twice is wasted money.
Getting it done quickly
- Send the whole insurance article of the lease to your broker, not a summary.
- Confirm the exact legal names of every entity to be named as additional insured.
- Check the damage to rented premises requirement against your current sublimit.
- Ask whether your policy has blanket additional insured wording, which makes this same day.
- Diary the renewal so the landlord gets an updated certificate without chasing you.
What this looks like in practice
Illustrative example. It is typical of what we see and is not a promise of how any specific situation would be handled.
The setup: A retail tenant signs a lease requiring $300,000 damage to rented premises coverage and additional insured status for the owner, the manager, and the lender.
What went wrong: The tenant's policy carried a $100,000 damage to rented premises sublimit and named only the owner.
What it cost: The landlord withheld the keys for six days until the endorsements were issued, and the tenant paid rent on a space it could not occupy.
The fix: Send the lease's insurance article to your broker during negotiation, not after signing, so the endorsements are in place at handover.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What insurance does a landlord require from a tenant?
Typically general liability at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, the landlord and property manager as additional insureds, a waiver of subrogation, and property coverage on the tenant's own contents and improvements.
Q: Why does my landlord want to be an additional insured?
So that if someone is injured in your space and sues the building owner, the defence can be tendered to your policy rather than consuming their limits and deductible.
Q: What is damage to rented premises?
A sublimit inside general liability covering damage to the space you rent, historically fire only. Leases often require $300,000 or more, which is usually inexpensive to add.
Q: Do I need to insure my tenant improvements?
Usually yes. Improvements and betterments are commonly the tenant's to insure, but read the lease, because some shift it to the landlord and charge it back through operating costs.
Q: How fast can I get a lease certificate?
Same day once the policy is in force, provided your broker has the exact entity names and the insurance article from the lease.
Q: What if the lease asks for more coverage than I have?
Price it before you sign. Most lease insurance requirements are negotiable, and knowing the cost turns a blocker into a line item in the deal.
How Morrow helps with certificates of insurance
Morrow is a licensed independent commercial insurance brokerage that specializes in certificates of insurance and the endorsements behind them. Meeting a commercial lease insurance clause without delaying handover is the kind of thing we handle every day, for clients across construction, trades, professional services, trucking, real estate, and hospitality, so we know what a compliance reviewer will reject before you send it.
- We issue certificates the same day you ask, and usually within the hour.
- We read the contract first, so the endorsements the certificate reports actually exist on your policy.
- We push back on requirements the market will not issue, and give you language your client will accept.
- We keep a record of who was issued what, so renewals go out before anyone chases you.
Get in touch and we will see how we can help. Send us the contract or the certificate request and we will tell you what your current policy can support and what needs to change. Start at morrowinsure.com or reach the team through the contact options on that page.
One more thing. This article is general information and is not legal advice or a statement of coverage. Certificates report what a policy says, and the policy wording controls in every case. Forms and requirements vary by carrier, by state, and by contract, so have a licensed advisor review your own policy and your own contract before relying on any of it.
Last updated: Reviewed by the Morrow commercial lines team. Last updated August 2026.