Commercial Property Insurance for Landlords and Building Owners
Property coverage built around what your building is actually worth — not what you paid for it, and not a number that made sense five years ago.
A commercial property policy is the foundation of any building owner's risk management program. It's also one of the most commonly misstructured coverages we see — not because owners don't care, but because property insurance is easy to set and forget, and the consequences of getting it wrong don't surface until a claim.
At Anvo, we work with landlords, apartment building owners, and mixed-use property owners across the Kansas City and New York City metro areas. Our clients range from owners of a few commercial buildings to growing apartment complex portfolios, and the work we do is the same regardless of size — making sure the coverage reflects the actual replacement cost of the building, the actual rental income at risk, and the actual liability exposure created by tenants and common areas.
Key Coverage Areas for Commercial Property Owners
Commercial Property Insurance The core of your program. A commercial property policy covers your building and its structural components against losses from fire, wind, hail, vandalism, water damage, and other covered perils. The most consequential decision in structuring this coverage is the insured value — which should reflect the full replacement cost of the building, not its market value or assessed value. Those numbers are often lower than replacement cost, and insuring to them creates a gap that becomes apparent only when you need to rebuild.
Commercial Landlord Insurance
Loss of Rents Coverage If a covered loss makes your building uninhabitable or forces tenants to vacate, loss of rents coverage replaces the rental income you're not collecting while repairs are underway. For a landlord whose mortgage, taxes, and expenses continue regardless of whether the building is generating income, this coverage is essential — and it's one of the most underutilized protections we see among property owners. The limits should reflect your actual gross rental income over a realistic restoration period, not an arbitrary number.
General Liability As a property owner, you have liability exposure for injuries that occur on your premises — in common areas, parking lots, stairwells, and anywhere else tenants and visitors can be injured. A slip and fall in a poorly lit hallway, an injury in a parking structure, or a maintenance-related incident can all generate third-party claims against you as the building owner. Commercial general liability coverage responds to these claims and covers your defense costs and any resulting settlements or judgments.
Equipment Breakdown HVAC systems, elevators, boilers, and electrical systems are significant assets in any commercial building — and when they fail, the cost isn't just the repair. For a building with multiple tenants, a failed HVAC system in the middle of summer is a tenant relations problem as much as a maintenance problem. Equipment breakdown coverage addresses mechanical and electrical failures that standard property policies exclude as maintenance issues.
Umbrella Coverage For building owners with multiple properties or significant assets, a commercial umbrella policy extends your liability limits beyond what your underlying GL policy provides. As your portfolio grows, so does your aggregate exposure — umbrella coverage is the most cost-effective way to extend your protection as you scale.
Apartment Building Insurance
Apartment buildings are among the most complex commercial property risks to insure correctly — not because they're inherently more dangerous than other property types, but because the variables that affect coverage and pricing are numerous and property-specific. Pool or no pool, parking structure or surface lot, balconies, amenity spaces, building age and construction type, number of units — all of these affect how underwriters evaluate the risk and what coverage is available at what price.
In the Kansas City market, where new apartment construction has been significant in recent years, we work with owners of completed and occupied complexes to make sure their coverage reflects the actual replacement cost of a newly built asset — which is often higher than owners expect — and that their loss of rents coverage is adequate for a building where rental income is the entire return on investment.
Apartment Building Insurance
Mixed-Use Building Insurance
A building with commercial tenants on the ground floor and residential units above it carries a more complex insurance profile than either a purely commercial or purely residential building. The commercial tenancy introduces business-related liability exposures — customer foot traffic, food service if a restaurant occupies the ground floor, retail operations — while the residential component introduces tenant liability, habitability requirements, and loss of rents exposure across two different tenant categories.
Insuring a mixed-use building correctly requires a policy that addresses both components rather than defaulting to either a standard commercial or standard residential form.
Mixed-Use Building Insurance
Why Building Owners Work with Anvo
The most common problem we find when a new commercial property client comes to us is underinsurance — a building that was insured at a value set years ago and never updated to reflect rising construction costs, completed renovations, or building improvements. Construction costs have increased materially over the past several years, and a replacement cost valuation that was accurate in 2019 may be significantly short of what it would actually cost to rebuild today.
We conduct a replacement cost analysis on every commercial property we insure, and we revisit it at renewal. It's not a complicated process, but it's one that makes a significant difference when a claim occurs.
We serve commercial property clients across the Kansas City and New York City metro areas, with carrier relationships that allow us to place coverage for a range of property types and ownership structures.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is replacement cost value and why does it matter? Replacement cost value is what it would cost to rebuild your building today — using current labor and materials costs — if it were completely destroyed. It's different from market value, which reflects what a buyer would pay for the property, and from assessed value, which is used for tax purposes. Insuring your building at market or assessed value rather than replacement cost can leave you significantly underinsured if you ever need to rebuild.
What is loss of rents coverage and do I need it? Loss of rents coverage replaces the rental income you lose if a covered loss makes your building uninhabitable. For any landlord whose financial obligations — mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance — continue regardless of whether the building is generating income, this coverage is essential. We see it underutilized consistently among commercial property owners, often because it wasn't explained clearly when the policy was placed.
Does my property policy cover tenant improvements made by my tenants? Generally no. Your commercial property policy covers the building structure and permanently attached fixtures. Improvements made by tenants — their own buildout, specialized equipment, interior finishes beyond the base building — are the tenant's responsibility to insure under their own policy. Your lease should address this clearly, and we can help you understand what your policy does and doesn't cover relative to your lease terms.
Can I insure multiple properties under one policy? Yes. A schedule of properties under a single commercial property program is often the most efficient structure for owners of multiple buildings. It simplifies administration, ensures consistent coverage terms across your portfolio, and typically represents a manageable percentage of your total rental income.