Insurance Reporting Procedures for Property Managers

The following excerpts are from IREM’s Key Report, Lease Administration Simplified (IREM Copyright, 2009).

The following are procedures for insurable losses for a property manager:

1. Liability claims and incidents: Any and all incidents involving bodily injury, or likely bodily injury, to anyone, including tenants, subtenants, guests, invitees, member of the general public, employees and/or contractors must be reported immediately to the property manager and the property’s insurance company by a phone report, an e-mail report, and/or completing and sending to the insurance department and/or insurance company an incident report on the form provided by that entity.

The property manager should be prepared to provide all available information to the property owner and the insurance company at the earliest possible time. Also, the property manager should not discuss any incident with the parties involved or any other third party without prior approval of the insurance department and/or insurance company.

• Written report: The phone or e-mail report must be followed immediately with an incident report using the form provided by the insurance company or one used by the property management company, along with any statements by security personnel, company personnel and/or witnesses to the event. A separate report should be filed for each incident that occurs. Each such report should be forwarded to the insurance company and the property owner at the earliest possible date and by the most expeditious means possible.
• Non-business hours reporting: In the event a serious bodily injury incident occurs during nonbusiness hours, a report should be filed immediately with the insurance company at its emergency phone number. At the earliest possible time the next day a written report must be made using the required reporting format.

2. Property Damage Loss: Any and all property damage to the building or other assets from any cause must be reported immediately to the property owner the insurance company. That initial report can be by phone call or e-mail, but must be followed-up with a written report per the instructions of either the insurance company or the property management company’s procedures. The property manager should not discuss the property damage with any tenants or other third parties without the prior approval of the insurance department property owner.

After business hours reports of property damage or loss should be handled in the same manner as the liability incidents.

3. Lawsuit/Summons and Complaints: When a summons and complaint is served at the property, the property manager should immediately notify the property owner, its company and the insurance company by telephone or e-mail and send the original summons to the insurance company with copies to the property owner and her attorney. Include all legal and other documents that may explain and/or support the actions. Copies should be sent to the owner or the asset manager at the same time.

It is critical that the documents be sent promptly so issues can be promptly addressed. Under no circumstances should the property manager have any communication with the plaintiff, the plaintiff’s attorney or any third party regarding a legal matter unless it is requested by the owner, the insurance company or the owner’s attorney. If the property manager is contacted by any person in connection with a claim or lawsuit, the person should be referred to the property owner’s attorney or the insurance company and no dialog should take place.