If either end of your move is a strata or a managed building, you will hear the phrase "certificate of insurance" within about five minutes of a building manager picking up the phone. Often abbreviated to COI.
It is not a formality and it is not something that can be produced on the morning. Without one on file, the elevator booking does not get released, and without the elevator booking there is no move. It is worth understanding early, because it is the single most common reason a confirmed date falls apart.
What the document actually is
A certificate of insurance is a short document issued by an insurance broker — not by the moving company itself — confirming three things to the building:
- That the moving company carries current liability coverage
- That the policy is active across the dates of your move, with the effective dates shown
- That the strata corporation is named as an additional insured on it
That third line is the one that matters and the one most often missing. A certificate proving a company is insured is not the same as a certificate naming the building. The building is not asking for evidence that a mover has a policy. It is asking to be covered by it.
Why a building insists on one
A strata corporation carries two real exposures on any move day.
Damage to common property. Lift interiors, corridor walls, lobby flooring, door frames and loading bay surfaces. Without a certificate naming the corporation, the building's own policy absorbs the cost of that damage, and a claim history follows the building into its next renewal.
Injury during the move. If someone is hurt in a common area during a job the building permitted, the corporation is exposed. The certificate determines whose policy responds.
That is the whole logic. The building is going to be involved either way if something goes wrong; the certificate decides whose insurer pays. Which is why "do I really need one" always resolves to yes wherever the building asks.
What the limits will be
Requirements vary by building and by insurer, and they change. A downtown tower with a large common-area exposure will typically require more than a small older complex, and some larger developments name additional entities beyond the strata corporation itself.
Because of that variation, the reliable move is not to learn a number — it is to get your building's actual wording. Ask the manager for the requirement in writing: the required limits, the exact legal name to be listed as additional insured, any additional entities, the filing method and the lead time. Then send that wording to your mover. A certificate produced against the building's own text is accepted; a generic one frequently is not.
Ask your mover, in the same conversation, for the current written coverage terms that apply to your move — what the limits are, what they exclude, and how items packed by you are treated against items packed by the crew. Those terms belong in the scope, not in a conversation on the day.
What the certificate does not cover
This is the most common misunderstanding, and it is worth being blunt about.
The certificate protects the building. It is not a substitute for your own insurance and it does not extend to your possessions in any general way.
What it addresses:
- Damage to the building's common areas during the move
- Injury to crew or third parties in those areas
- The building's exposure arising from having permitted the work
What it does not address:
- Damage to your own belongings, which is governed by the coverage terms in your move scope and by your own home or tenant policy — two separate things that need to be checked separately
- Anything in storage, if your move runs into a storage period — ask specifically how storage is treated, because the terms often differ from the terms in transit
- Anything after the move is complete
If you own anything of unusual value — documented antiques, fine art, jewellery, an instrument — tell your own insurer that a move is happening. Most policies want to know, and some require it.
Who files it, and when
There are three ways this goes, and only one of them is reliable.
The mover files it directly with the building manager. This is how it should work. The requirement goes across at booking, the broker issues the certificate against the building's own wording, and it is filed with the manager ahead of the move. You never handle the paperwork.
The mover sends it to you to forward. Workable, but it introduces a step where something gets missed — usually a forwarded email that lands in a manager's queue and is not opened before the deadline. If this is how your mover works, confirm receipt with the building yourself rather than assuming.
The mover cannot produce one at all. Treat that as the answer to a different question. A carrier working regularly in managed buildings has done this many times; one that has not is telling you something about the kind of work it does.
Ask early how far in advance your mover files, and ask your building how far in advance it requires the certificate. Those two lead times need to overlap, and they are the pair most likely to be discovered incompatible three days out.
What goes wrong with certificates
Five failure modes account for nearly all of the rejections:
- The wrong named insured. The certificate lists a legal name that does not match the strata corporation's registered name. Buildings check this, and a mismatch is rejected without discussion.
- Limits below the requirement. The building asked for a figure and the certificate shows less. Rejected.
- Dates outside the move window. A certificate issued for the wrong week, or one whose effective dates end before your date. Rejected.
- No additional insured wording. The certificate proves coverage exists but never names the corporation. This is the one that most often gets past a casual reader and stops the move at the desk.
- Filed too late. Correct in every respect and delivered after the building's cut-off, which for many buildings is several business days rather than the day before.
Every one of these is fixable if it is caught early, and none of them are fixable at eight in the morning with a crew standing in a lobby.
What to send, and when
As soon as your date is provisionally held, send your mover:
- The building's written requirement, including the exact legal name of the strata corporation
- The filing method and the address it goes to — usually the building manager rather than the concierge
- The building's lead-time cut-off
- Your booked elevator window, and any deposit the building holds
- Any additional entities that must be named
Then confirm with the building manager that it has arrived and been accepted. Not that it was sent — that it was accepted. Those are different states and only the second one releases the lift.
The questions that come up
Does this cost extra? Producing a certificate is part of working in managed buildings for any carrier that does it regularly. If a separate fee appears for the document itself, ask what it is for.
My building has not mentioned one — do I still need it? Some smaller or older complexes do not require filing. Ask directly rather than assuming from silence, because a manager who has not raised it may simply be expecting you to.
Does it protect my own belongings? No. That is the coverage terms in your move scope plus your own policy, and both should be read before the day rather than after an incident.
My move was delayed over a certificate. Now what? Raise it with your mover first. Most rejections are wording or date problems that a broker can reissue quickly, which is exactly why the filing happens well ahead of the day rather than against the deadline.
Before you hold the date
Send us the building's requirement along with your two addresses and your target date, and we will confirm in writing what can be filed, what it covers and how much lead time the building needs — before the elevator window is booked rather than after. Start your move brief, or call 778-994-2303. If your move sits inside a building at both ends, the way the demand calendar interacts with building windows is worth reading in the same sitting.