We require that all renters provide a Certificate of Insurance for General Liability with $1,000,000 coverage naming Saucy Squares Dance Club, Inc. as an additional insured for the date of the event.

From the website of the National Association of Special Event Planners:

“The practice of a facility/venue requiring that they be named as an Additional Insured on a $1,000,000 General Liability insurance policy by all persons or entities renting or using the site, is quite common. This insurance industry practice is a well known and proven method of risk transfer from the standpoint and to the benefit of the facility/venue. The facility or venue is attempting to transfer some of the risk of a liability lawsuit to you, the event holder. It is so common, in fact, that the required Additional Insured wording or language is generally contained within the Insurance Requirement section of the Facility Rental Agreement or Facility Use Agreement. This agreement refers to the short term rental contract which you signed at the time you rented the facility/venue for your special event.”

There are several ways to obtain this Certificate:

• If you have a homeowner’s or renter’s umbrella liability policy, your broker will, in most cases, issue the certificate for the date provided
• If you don’t have such a policy, many brokers will sell such a policy and issue the certificate for a nominal fee, usually around $100
• There are many web sites that will provide this kind of insurance, such as the National Association of Special Event Planners (www.NASEP.org)

If you are a recurring renter, the third option may not be open to you (you will probably have to get your coverage from an insurance broker because it is on-going rather than one-time).