Are you covered by somebody else’s insurance policy? If you are a property manager, you should be named as an additional insured on all landlords’ insurance policies. Don’t assume that happens automatically, even when it’s stated as a requirement in your client agreement.
A CRES client, a real estate licensee who is also a property manager, found out that he wasn’t on one of his landlord’s insurance policies—even though he was supposed to be. His property management agreement states that he is to be named as an additional insured on the landlord’s insurance policy. It wasn’t until he was being sued by the tenant that he realized the landlord had never added him to the policy. Since he wasn’t on the landlord’s policy, he was being denied coverage.
Luckily the licensee’s own real estate E&O + ClaimPrevent® plan is with CRES and he called CRES Risk Management Legal Advisory Services. The CRES attorneys walked him through his options and drafted an addendum for the landlord to sign, guaranteeing to cover the agent’s legal fees.
With the immediate situation taken care of, our client checked with all the landlords he worked with to make sure he was covered under their insurance policies as stipulated in their agreement. He discovered that most of them had not, in fact, added him to their policies. He got them to quickly add him and show proof of coverage — future risk averted!
Are you supposed to be covered under somebody else’s insurance? Do you know for sure you are? Get proof, before there’s a problem. That’s great prevention.
And for CRES E&O members, if a problem does come up—or even a question—call the CRES “Stress Less” Risk Management Hotline at 877-273-7467. It’s included with CRES Errors & Omissions insurance to help you resolve issues pre-claim.
