In today’s real estate environment, Certificates of Insurance (COIs) are no longer a routine administrative requirement. They are a frontline defense against costly liability, tenant disputes, and contractor negligence. And yet, many real estate owners and property managers still approach COI compliance with outdated methods, relying on manual processes and incomplete verifications.

This article provides a comprehensive look at modern COI requirements in real estate, why traditional approaches fall short, and how leading firms are rethinking compliance as a strategic function of asset protection.

What Is a COI and Why Does It Matter in Real Estate?

A Certificate of Insurance (COI) is a standardized document, typically an ACORD 25 form, that provides evidence of active insurance coverage, including general liability, workers’ compensation, and excess liability, among others.

In real estate, the stakes are high:

  • If a vendor’s policy lapses, and an accident happens, the liability could roll upstream to the property owner.
  • If tenant insurance doesn’t meet lease obligations, it could void risk-transfer agreements.
  • And if subcontractor COIs are incomplete or outdated, it can bring construction or maintenance projects to a halt.

The COI is the proof. But what matters even more is how you track, verify, and enforce compliance across your vendor and tenant network.

Understanding the Role of a COI in Real Estate

A Certificate of Insurance serves as evidence that a vendor, contractor, or tenant maintains active insurance coverage. It typically includes information on general liability, workers’ compensation, and other relevant policy types. On paper, it’s a simple document. In practice, it represents a complex web of risk relationships that must be continuously monitored and enforced.

The real estate industry, especially within commercial and multifamily sectors, involves a constant mix of third-party actors: landscapers, security providers, HVAC vendors, general contractors, and tenants, all of whom must maintain insurance. When one link in this chain is broken due to lapsed or insufficient coverage, the financial and legal consequences can cascade quickly to the property owner.

Why Legacy Real Estate COI Practices Create Risk

Despite the high stakes, many real estate teams still rely on static tools like spreadsheets, email threads, and file folders to track COI compliance. This creates several systemic problems:

First, fragmented processes lead to inconsistent enforcement. One property might diligently verify every COI, while another operates on trust. There’s no single system of record, which means compliance varies depending on who’s managing the file.

Second, renewal tracking is often reactive or nonexistent. Most insurance policies expire annually. If you’re not monitoring expiration dates in real time, you may be unknowingly allowing vendors to operate without coverage.

Third, verification is superficial. Many teams stop at checking that a COI was received. They don’t inspect whether required endorsements (such as Additional Insured status or Waiver of Subrogation) are included. They don’t validate policy limits or exclusions. This leaves organizations exposed.

To better understand the compliance gap between COIs and actual policies, please read COI vs Policy: How to Close the Risk Gap.

Why Real Estate COI Compliance Fails: The Real Problems Behind the Paperwork

COI issues don’t start with the document, they start with how real estate companies manage the process.

Let’s look at the three core failure points:

1. Manual and Fragmented Processes

Most real estate teams still manage COIs using:

  • Shared inboxes
  • Excel trackers
  • Static checklists

These tools don’t catch coverage gaps, don’t trigger real-time alerts, and definitely don’t scale across portfolios with dozens or hundreds of properties.

2. Lack of Standardization

Each property, region, or asset manager might use a different process. That inconsistency creates blind spots:

  • Missing endorsements
  • Outdated limits
  • Unverified policy details

Without a centralized system, there’s no way to ensure consistent enforcement, or accountability.

3. No Visibility for Ownership and Asset Managers

Many owners assume their property managers “have it covered.” But if COIs are incomplete, outdated, or stored across multiple systems, there’s no way to evaluate portfolio-wide risk or compliance.

The Old Way vs. the New Risk Reality

The old way:

  • A property manager collects COIs via email.
  • Someone checks boxes in a spreadsheet.
  • Maybe it gets saved to a folder on SharePoint.

The new reality:

  • Compliance is dynamic, not static.
  • Policies expire mid-contract.
  • Additional insureds aren’t listed properly.
  • Endorsements are missing.
  • State Law exclusions create hidden gaps in coverage.

In other words, having a COI isn’t enough. You need to verify the details. You need to monitor renewals. And you need a process that scales across every vendor, tenant, and project.

The Stakes: Legal Liability and Operational Delays

The legal and operational fallout from COI noncompliance is severe. If a vendor injures someone on-site and lacks adequate coverage, the property owner can be held financially responsible. In New York, for instance, Labor Law 240/241 makes owners strictly liable for certain types of injuries, even if a subcontractor was at fault. Without the right endorsements and exclusions explicitly confirmed, a basic COI won’t cover you.

Operationally, COI issues can cause project delays. If a subcontractor’s insurance is noncompliant, you can’t let them on site. If a vendor’s policy expires mid-service, you might be forced to halt operations until coverage is reinstated. These interruptions cost time, money, and reputational goodwill.

Common Myths About COIs in Real Estate

Let’s clear up some confusion we still hear all the time.

MYTH 1: “If we have the Acord 25, we’re covered.”

Wrong. You need to verify that the COI includes the correct endorsements and additional insured.

MYTH 2: “We’ll catch it during the annual audit.”
By then, it’s too late. COI compliance needs to be active, not retrospective.

MYTH 3: “Our system works fine for now.”
Manual processes scale poorly. As your portfolio grows, risk exposure multiplies, unless you automate.

Advanced Requirements: Beyond the COI

A COI is an important starting point for compliance, but by itself, it can only go so far. Even the best COI verification process cannot reveal every hidden risk.

For example, a COI may not confirm whether Additional Insured endorsements are valid, or whether Waivers of Subrogation are in place. Some policies also contain exclusions for high-risk work—like roofing or scaffolding—that never appear on the certificate. Without policy-level review, these blind spots can leave property managers exposed.

That’s why leading organizations use Jones for both COI verification and deeper policy verification. The platform makes it easy to start with fast, accurate COI checks, and then seamlessly expand into full document reviews when higher-stakes risks are at play. This layered approach ensures compliance at every level while helping teams save time and build credibility with tenants, owners, and partners.

What Comprehensive COI Compliance Looks Like for Real Estate Managers

To move from reactive to proactive, firms must embrace a modern compliance framework built on three pillars: automation, standardization, and continuous oversight.

Automation is the foundation. Relying on human memory to send renewal reminders or check for missing endorsements is a recipe for failure. Tools like Jones automate certificate collection, renewal tracking, and flagging of noncompliant entries in real time.

Standardization ensures that every property and asset manager follows the same playbook. This includes standardized insurance requirements, consistent review criteria, and centralized storage. With Jones, organizations can apply uniform workflows across diverse portfolios.

Continuous oversight replaces static reviews. COI compliance is not a one-time task; it’s a living process. Real-time dashboards, automated alerts, and policy-level verification enable asset managers and owners to see risk exposures as they develop, not after the fact.

Institutionalizing Risk Management with Technology

With the growing complexity of real estate portfolios and vendor networks, manual methods simply do not scale. A centralized, cloud-based solution is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a requirement.

Jones integrates seamlessly with property management platforms like MRI and Yardi. These integrations allow real estate organizations to connect COI compliance data directly with project management workflows, tenant onboarding, and vendor payment systems.

From a strategic perspective, this connectivity transforms insurance compliance from a reactive chore to a proactive value-driver. When compliance status becomes a data point in your operating system, decision-makers gain visibility, speed, and control.

What Owners, Managers, and Asset Teams Need Today: A Modern COI Compliance Strategy

To meet today’s risk environment, your COI strategy needs to be proactive, automated, and standardized.

Here’s what that looks like in practice.

1. Centralized COI Management

Jones acts as a single source of truth, one platform where you can:

  • Upload, track, and verify COIs
  • Assign workflows across your team
  • Integrate with Yardi and MRI for real-time compliance data

No more chasing PDFs across inboxes.

2. Automated Workflows and Reminders

With Jones, you can:

  • Automate renewal notices
  • Flag missing endorsements
  • Trigger tasks when compliance risks arise

This eliminates human error and ensures continuous coverage.

3. Policy-Level Verification

Unlike basic trackers, Jones doesn’t just check the box, it verifies:

  • Endorsements
  • Limits
  • Waivers
  • Additional insured status

It closes the gap between what a COI says and what a policy actually covers.

4. Portfolio-Wide Risk Visibility

Jones gives owners and asset managers dashboards that show:

  • Real-time compliance status across properties
  • High-risk vendors or tenants
  • Trends in renewal lapses or policy gaps

That’s not just compliance, it’s strategic risk management.

Want to compare the best COI Tracking Software Solutions? Jones has got you covered.


Why Owners and Asset Managers Must Pay Attention

Too often, COI compliance is viewed as an operational concern. But the financial liability ultimately flows to the ownership level. If a subcontractor without proper coverage causes a multi-million-dollar incident, the LLC that owns the building, or the private equity firm that owns the LLC, could be held accountable.

Owners and asset managers need real-time portfolio-level visibility into insurance compliance. Jones provides executive dashboards that surface key indicators: overall compliance rates, top non compliant vendors, aging COIs, and expiring policies. This insight allows leaders to assess risk posture across assets and take corrective action before issues arise.

Building a Culture of Compliance

True compliance goes beyond technology. It requires building a culture in which everyone, from the property coordinator to the CFO, understands the importance of COIs. Technology like Jones enables it at scale.

When risk management is embedded into daily operations and supported by automation, the entire organization becomes more resilient.

COI Automation as a Strategic Imperative

Certificates of Insurance might seem like paperwork, but they’re actually a signal. They signal whether your vendors are reliable. Whether your tenants are fulfilling their lease obligations. Whether your portfolio is exposed to preventable risk.

Real estate firms that treat COI compliance as a strategic function—and invest in modern tools like Jones—don’t just avoid fines and lawsuits. They operate with greater confidence, efficiency, and foresight.

In a market where trust, capital, and time are at a premium, that kind of operational edge is hard to beat.

Conclusion: COI Compliance is Risk Management. Jones Makes It Easy.

In today’s real estate market, insurance compliance isn’t just legal hygiene, it’s a core part of protecting your assets, your reputation, and your bottom line.

Jones was built to simplify, standardize, and supercharge your COI management strategy, with real-time visibility, automation, and integration across your tech stack.

So stop chasing PDFs. Stop relying on spreadsheets. And start turning COI compliance into a competitive advantage.

To learn how Jones can help your firm modernize insurance compliance, Talk to Sales and request a tailored demo today.