Renters Insurance

Setting what you require, asking a resident for a policy, reading the certificate they send, and what Seayora will and will not decide for you.

Lease Center → Insurance lists every executed lease, what its insurance requirement is, and whatever policy the resident has uploaded against it. A unit with nothing on file is in that list too — it is the row that most needs to be visible.

The seven states, and why they are different words

No policy on file — nothing has ever been submitted for this lease.
Submitted, not verified — a resident uploaded a certificate and nobody has read it yet.
Verified — you read it and said it is good.
Rejected — you read it and said what was wrong.
Expiring soon — the policy is real and its end date is close.
Expired — the policy has run out.
Not required — this lease does not ask for one.

Submitted is not verified. A resident uploading a document does not make a unit covered; somebody has to read it, and Seayora keeps the two words apart everywhere they appear.

What you require

Every setting under “What you require” is read by Seayora, not just stored:

Require renters insurance by default, and ask automatically when a tenancy begins — applied to leases you draft from now on. A signed lease’s own terms are the agreement and are never rewritten by a setting.
Minimum liability and minimum contents cover — checked when a policy is submitted.
The policy must name me as an interested party — checked when you verify.
Grace after a lapse — how long a lapsed policy is treated as an oversight rather than a breach.
Anything else the resident should know — included when you ask for a policy.

Blank and $0 are different answers. Leaving a minimum blank means there is no minimum; entering 0 sets a minimum every policy in the world meets.

Asking for a policy

Open a unit with nothing on file and ask. The resident is emailed and reminded — as your date approaches if you set one, weekly if you did not. Asking twice does not send two requests: there is one open ask per lease, and asking again re-sends it with whatever you changed.

You can withdraw an ask at any time, and you should when the unit is sold, re-let or exempted — the reminders do not stop on their own.

Reading a certificate

Verifying or rejecting both email the resident. Rejecting requires a reason, because that reason is what they are told and what they act on; rejecting with nothing to fix guarantees the same certificate again.

If your rules require the policy to name you as an interested party, verifying asks you to confirm you can actually see your name on the certificate. A resident ticking a box on their own form is their claim; verifying is your statement that you read the document, and Seayora will not fold the two together.

A policy carrying less cover than the lease asks for is flagged, not blocked. You can still verify it — that is your decision, and it is recorded as yours.

Where the figures came from

When a resident uploads a declarations page, Seayora can read the carrier, the numbers and the dates off it to fill their form in. That is marked on the record, because “somebody typed this in” and “this was read off the document” are different degrees of confidence — and only one of them can be checked against the certificate in front of you.

What Seayora does not do

Seayora does not sell insurance, does not broker it, and does not decide whether a policy is adequate. It records your requirement, chases the resident, holds the certificate, and keeps the decision — yours — with a date on it.

Frequently asked questions

A resident says they have insurance but nothing is on file. What do I do?

Ask for it from their unit. They get an email with what the policy has to show and a link to upload the certificate, and they are reminded until they do.

Can I require insurance on a lease that is already signed?

The setting applies to leases you draft from now on. A signed lease’s terms are the agreement; changing what it requires is a conversation, not a switch.

The certificate is fine but the liability is below my minimum. Can I accept it?

Yes. Seayora flags the shortfall and lets you verify anyway, and records that you did.

Where do I read the actual certificate?

The document opens on seayora.com — it is a file, and reading it properly is what the decision rests on. Everything else about the policy is on the phone apps too.

Does anything happen automatically when a policy expires?

The unit moves to Expiring and then Expired, and the resident is reminded. Nothing is enforced against them automatically; what to do about it is yours to decide.

Related guides

Related features and guides

Security Deposits on Seayora — Documentation. How to collect, hold, document, and return a security deposit — the ledger behind the figure, the statutory deadline, the itemized statement, and what freezes when.
Creating & E-Signing Leases — Documentation. How to build a lease, send it for electronic signature, and rely on the audit trail under ESIGN and UETA.
Lease Renewals & Amendments — Documentation. Renewing an expiring lease, the last day you can lawfully serve notice, what the local market is asking, and what a served notice freezes.
Employee Tasks & Check-Ins — Feature. Assign tasks to staff, track completion, and require check-ins at site visits so field work is accountable rather than assumed.
Invoicing, Estimates & Statements — Feature. Create invoices and estimates, send customer statements, and collect payment through the same rails as rent — with everything posting to the ledger automatically.
Voice Notes in Messaging — Feature. Record and send voice notes in any Seayora conversation. Transcoded server-side so they play on iPhone, Android, and desktop alike, stored with the thread, and searchable as part of the property record.