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.

Read more about the Certificate Holder role here.

Understanding the gap:

The Before Resubmitting checklist at the end of this article summarizes what should be confirmed on the corrected COI.

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).

For the Certificate Holder to be accepted from places other than its standard box, the wording must explicitly state that the information refers to the Certificate Holder, as in the examples below.

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, the documents list part of the entity, 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.

Non-standard abbreviations are not accepted as equivalent because they can have different meanings. Here, the Certificate Holder requirement calls for Lopez & Reis, Inc. While a similar name has been provided (L&R, Inc.), the abbreviation used is not acceptable, so the “missing” gap 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.

• Missing Information

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. 

• Misspelled 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:

• Incorrect Certificate Holder

When multiple COIs are required and provided, but something is missing or misspelled on the Certificate Holder information, Jones indicates which COI must be corrected using its reference number (#).

In the example below, while COI #1 lists the Certificate Holder information exactly as required, COI #2 is missing the entity’s designation, so the applicable gap is flagged.

• Missing Required Certificate

When multiple COIs are required, but not all are provided, Jones flags a gap for each missing COI, and a separate gap to evidence that separate COIs are needed for each Certificate Holder entity.

In the example below, while COI #1 was provided, COI #2 is completely missing. The first gap indicates what information is missing, and the second clarifies that multiple certificates are needed.

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