The Missing Renewal That Led to a $175,000 Claim
A 160-unit condominium association had a competent property manager and a solid vendor compliance program - when it was set up. The program included collecting COIs from all vendors at contract signing, filing them in a shared drive organized by vendor name, and manually tracking renewal dates on a calendar.
In the third year of operation, the calendar became the weak link. The property manager who built the original system left. The incoming manager inherited the shared drive but not the tracking calendar. When the elevator service company renewed its policy, the renewal COI was never collected. Six months later, an elevator malfunction injured two residents. When the association looked to the elevator company's policy, the current COI on file - the one without a renewal - showed a policy that had expired eight months earlier.
The elevator company had been fully insured throughout. But the association had no way to prove it because the renewal COI had never been obtained. The claim resolved for $175,000, funded primarily by the association's master policy. The property manager had done everything right at setup. The ongoing management had failed.
The Full Scope of HOA COI Management
HOA COI management is not a one-time event at vendor onboarding. It is an ongoing operational function that requires active management of every active vendor relationship, every expiring policy, and every new contractor engagement.
A mid-size condominium community (150-300 units) typically maintains relationships with the following vendor categories requiring COI management:
Regular recurring vendors:
- Landscaping / grounds maintenance
- Pool and aquatics service
- Cleaning and janitorial
- Pest control
- Elevator maintenance and inspection
- Fire safety / suppression system service
- HVAC maintenance
- Security patrol or monitoring service
- Parking / valet management (if applicable)
Periodic project contractors:
- General contractors (for building projects)
- Specialty trades (plumbing, electrical, roofing)
- Painting and coating contractors
- Window and door contractors
- Pavement and parking lot contractors
Professional service providers:
- Property management company (if third-party managed)
- Legal counsel
- Accountants and auditors
- Reserve study consultants
- Insurance brokers
Unit owner contractors:
- All contractors approved for unit-level work
For a 200-unit community, total active COI relationships at any given time typically range from 15 to 35. With annual renewals and project-based additions, the annual COI management workload - collection, verification, filing, and renewal tracking - represents a meaningful time commitment.
What Documents an HOA Actually Needs
Beyond the ACORD 25 certificate of insurance, a thorough HOA COI management program includes:
| Document | What It Confirms | When Required |
|---|---|---|
| ACORD 25 COI | Coverage types, limits, effective dates, AI status summary | All vendors - every policy period |
| Additional insured endorsement | Actual endorsement text, basis, and form | Major contractors; any time AI is required |
| Waiver of subrogation endorsement | Actual waiver language | Major contractors when WOS required |
| Workers' comp declaration page | Statutory compliance, employer's liability limits | All vendors with employees |
| Umbrella/excess declarations | Layer structure, underlying coverage confirmation | When umbrella is required |
| Pollution liability certificate | Coverage for chemical/environmental incidents | Pool, pest control, HVAC |
Most HOA programs collect only the ACORD 25. The endorsement documentation - the documents that prove what the COI states about additional insured and waiver of subrogation - is almost universally absent from filing systems. For major projects and high-risk vendors, collecting endorsement pages significantly strengthens the association's documentation.
Expiration Tracking: The Ongoing Management Problem
Policy expirations are the most common HOA COI management failure. Unlike contract expirations, which happen once, insurance policy expirations happen annually for every vendor - and sometimes mid-year if a policy is cancelled or non-renewed.
An effective expiration tracking system requires three things:
1. A centralized database of expiration dates. Every active COI on file must have its expiration date in a system that generates alerts. A shared drive with PDFs does not do this. A spreadsheet with no alert mechanism requires someone to remember to check it.
2. Advance alert timing. Policy renewal timelines vary. Some policies can be renewed in days; others require significant lead time or remarketing. For most annual policies, a 60-day advance alert gives enough time to collect a renewal COI before the current one expires. A 30-day alert triggers escalation if the 60-day request has not been fulfilled.
3. A workflow for what happens when an alert fires. The alert is only useful if it triggers a defined action: who reaches out to the vendor, by what method, with what request, and what happens if the vendor does not respond. Without a workflow, alerts become noise.
Non-Compliance Response for HOA Boards
When a vendor's COI is deficient - whether because it has expired, limits are insufficient, or required endorsements are missing - the association needs a defined response process.
Step 1 - Immediate notification. Notify the vendor in writing of the specific deficiency. The notification should reference the specific requirement from the vendor agreement or community rules and state what is needed to cure the deficiency.
Step 2 - Work suspension. For safety-sensitive vendors (contractors, elevator service, pool maintenance), work should be suspended until the deficiency is cured. This is the most effective enforcement mechanism and typically produces rapid compliance.
Step 3 - Cure deadline. Give the vendor a reasonable but firm deadline - typically 5 to 10 business days - to provide evidence of compliant coverage.
Step 4 - Escalation. If the vendor does not cure within the deadline, escalate to the board. Options include: suspending the vendor from the approved list, not paying outstanding invoices until compliance is demonstrated, or engaging alternative vendors.
Step 5 - Documentation. Every step of this process must be documented. The deficiency, the notice, the response (or non-response), the escalation, and the resolution should all be in writing in the vendor's file. This documentation is the board's protection if a claim arises during the non-compliance period.
How Property Management Companies Handle Multiple Associations
Property management companies overseeing multiple associations face the COI management problem at portfolio scale. The manual approach - a spreadsheet per property, manual verification, email-based collection - does not scale beyond a few communities without significant staff investment.
Industry data suggests that manual COI management costs approximately $36,400 per year in staff time for a single-organization program. For a property management company managing 10 associations, even with some economies of scale, that represents a significant labor cost - and manual processes still produce inconsistent results.
Technology-enabled COI management allows a property management company to centralize the collection, verification, and tracking functions across the entire portfolio. Requirements are managed at the community level (different rules for different associations), but the workflow is standardized.
Bramble supports property management companies managing multiple condominium associations - each with their own vendor requirements, their own active vendor lists, and their own compliance calendars. The platform handles collection, contract-anchored verification, expiration tracking, and deficiency management across the entire portfolio, with property-level reporting for board meetings.
See how Bramble manages HOA COI compliance at portfolio scale.