Certificate Holder Gaps

A Certificate of Insurance is issued to provide evidence that a vendor, subcontractor, or tenant carries the coverage required per contract. The Certificate Holder field indicates the party the certificate was issued to — typically the property manager, landlord, or general contractor.

This gap means the submitted documents do not correctly show the required information. The sections below explain what is missing and how to resolve it.

Finding the right section:

Missing Certificate Holder Information

A “missing” gap is flagged when the required Certificate Holder entity or address does not appear, or is incomplete, on the submitted Certificate of Insurance.

Where to Add the Missing Coverage

Certificate Holder information is usually included in the dedicated box in the Certificate of Insurance:

If there is no space to add the information in the Certificate Holder box, it can be mentioned in the Description of Operations box or on the Additional Remarks page (ACORD 101):

Partially Missing Certificate Holder Information

If the Certificate Holder on the Certificate of Insurance seems identical to the required information but is still being flagged as a gap, a specific part may be missing. Jones uses quotation marks (“”) to highlight the exact problem. 

Here are some examples:

• Missing part of the entity

In this case, part of the entity is listed on the documents, but “Strategies” is missing. To fix the gap, the COI needs to be updated and reissued to reflect the complete entity name. 

• Missing part of the address

While the rest of the address provided on the COI matches the required information, the ZIP code is missing or wrong; the COI needs to be updated and reissued to reflect the correct ZIP code number.

Unacceptable Abbreviations

Sometimes, entities are listed with abbreviations that aren’t acceptable. In these cases, a “missing” gap will be flagged.

Here, the Certificate Holder requirement asks for Lopez & Reis, Inc. However, the provided abbreviation is not acceptable, since it isn’t standard and can have different meanings, so the missing gaps will be flagged.

Misspelled Certificate Holder Information

A “misspelled” gap is flagged when the required Certificate Holder entity appears on the submitted Certificate of Insurance, but the name contains an error. 

Note that even if the difference is minor, such as a letter being missing or typed incorrectly, the gap is still needed.  Jones uses quotation marks (“”) to highlight the exact problem. 

Here, the word “Development” has an extra letter “t”, so the misspelling gap applies.

Does the Gap Include a Policy Name?

Certificates for different policy lines — General Liability, Automobile Liability, Workers’ Compensation, Property Insurance, etc.  —  are sometimes issued separately, occasionally by different brokers or carriers. 

It’s common for the Certificate Holder box to be filled correctly on one certificate but be left blank or list wrong information on another. Jones specifies the policy name to highlight which COI needs to be fixed and reissued.

In this case, the Workers’ Compensation COI is missing the entity in the Certificate Holder box. The gap is applicable considering that the policy is listed on a separate COI, even if other COIs include the correct information. 

For the next example, the Workers’ Compensation COI includes the entity name, but part of it is misspelled, so the gap is flagged specifically for the policy’s certificate.

Separate COI Required for Each Certificate Holder Entity

Sometimes, multiple Certificates of Insurance are required for different stakeholders  — one for the owner and a separate one for the management company. When that is the case, the requirement specifies that more than one entity must be listed as the Certificate Holder. 

If multiple Certificates of Insurance are required, the required policies and provisions must be present on all of them. 

Here is an example of a requirement that calls for two separate Certificates of Insurance, one for each entity:

If one of the required COIs is missing, Jones flags a gap requesting the missing COI, indicating which one with its reference number (#), and a specific gap requesting that a separate COI is provided for each entity:

When all required COIs are provided, but something is missing or misspelled, Jones indicates which COI must be corrected using its reference number (#).

Missing Additional Insureds

When multiple Certificates of Insurance are required, all COIs that include policies that must indicate Additional Insured coverage must list the Additional Insured entities.

The requirement calls out the required Additional Insured entities for each Certificate Holder entity:

In such cases, Jones indicates which COI must be corrected to include the missing Additional Insured entities or fix specific issues using its reference number (#).

Before Resubmitting

Small details are a common cause of repeat gaps — a misspelled name, or a missing ZIP code. The list below summarizes what should be confirmed before the corrected COIs are submitted.

• All required Certificate Holder entities are listed, spelled exactly as required
• Full designations are included (LLC, Inc., LP, Co.)
• Full address is listed
• Certificate Holder coverage is evidenced on every certificate where it is required
• If more than one COI is required, each is issued individually, including all the required policies and provisions
• The certificate falls within the current policy period