What a certificate of insurance is, and why your building wants one
The one piece of paper that stops a move at the loading dock, and the two weeks of lead time nobody budgets for.
A certificate of insurance, usually shortened to COI, is a one-page document from your moving company's insurer confirming the company carries liability and workers' compensation coverage. Many apartment and office buildings will not let a crew past the lobby without one on file. Your mover requests it from their insurer; you cannot issue it yourself.
Who actually issues it
This is the part that surprises people. The certificate does not come from your mover directly and it does not come from your building. It comes from the mover's insurance carrier or their broker, at the mover's request, naming your building as a certificate holder.
So the chain has three links, and every one of them takes time. You give us the building's requirements, we send those to our broker, the broker issues the certificate and sends it back. If the building rejects anything in the wording, that loop runs again.
What buildings usually ask for
Requirements vary by building and there is no universal standard, which is why the first thing to do is ask your leasing office or property manager for their insurance requirements in writing. Most requests cover some combination of the following.
- General liability coverage, at a minimum dollar amount the building sets
- Workers' compensation, which in New York is not optional for a company with employees
- The building's ownership entity named as an additional insured, spelled exactly as the management company writes it
- Sometimes the managing agent named separately from the owner
- A certificate holder address, which is often the management office rather than the building
The additional insured line is where these go wrong most often. Buildings want their legal entity name, and that is frequently something like a numbered LLC that shares nothing with the name on the front door. Getting it from the leasing office in writing, rather than copying it off your lease, saves a reissue.
How much lead time to leave
Two weeks is comfortable. One week is usually fine. Two days is where it gets tense, because the delay is rarely the insurer and almost always the building: management offices keep business hours, approvals sit in an inbox over a weekend, and the person who signs off is out of the office.
If you are moving at the end of the month, add more. Every other tenant in the building is asking for the same approval from the same person in the same week.
Where this comes up in Albany
Downtown is the main one. The office towers around State Street and the buildings serving the Empire State Plaza complex tend to run full commercial procedures: a COI on file, a service elevator booked in a named window, and often a certificate of insurance from anyone who is not an employee of a tenant.
Newer residential buildings downtown and along the river have mostly adopted the same paperwork. The converted warehouses and older walk-ups in the Warehouse District, Center Square and Hudson Park are more mixed. Some want nothing, some have adopted a full commercial-style packet since changing management, and the only way to know is to ask.
Uptown near the campuses is where it catches students. A purpose-built student building with a leasing company behind it usually has requirements. The three-family house rented by its owner usually does not.
What to do about it this week
- Email your leasing office or property manager and ask for their moving insurance requirements in writing, including the exact additional insured wording.
- Ask in the same email whether a service elevator has to be reserved, and whether there is a window when moves are not allowed.
- Send us both answers. We handle the rest with our broker.
- Confirm with the building that they received and accepted the certificate. Sent is not the same as approved.
That last step is the one people skip, and it is the one that turns into a crew standing in a lobby.
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Common questions
What a certificate of insurance is, and why your building wants one: the short answers
No. It has to be issued by your moving company's insurer or broker at the company's request. You can speed it up by getting your building's exact requirements in writing and passing them on early.
The insurer's side is usually quick. Building approval is the slow part, so leave a week or two, and more if you are moving at the end of the month when everyone else is asking too.
Most buildings will not let the crew work. That means a rescheduled move rather than a delayed one, because the truck and the crew were booked for that day.
Usually not. Certificates come up with managed buildings, offices and homeowners associations. A single-family house with no management company almost never asks for one.
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