Property Owner — Liability Cover
Commercial landlord public liability — where the building wording stops and your responsibility starts.
Commercial landlords carry Property Owner Liability for injury to tenants, visitors, or contractors on your premises (not the tenant's business activities). This is distinct from the Material Damage / Business Interruption building wording. Coverage interplay with tenant's own liability and the building's body-corporate liability matters.
Cover types most relevant
- Public liability
Public liability (sometimes "broadform" or "general liability") covers third-party bodily injury and property damage arising from your business activities. NZ commercial wordings vary materially on the products-liability bundle, the "occurrence" definition, contractual-liability extensions and the territorial limit.
Watch out for
- tenant: Property Owner Liability EXCLUDES tenant business activities — the tenant needs their own PL for that. Confirm in lease and require evidence.
- asbestos: Pre-2000 buildings have asbestos exposure — most wordings exclude unless endorsement bought.
Related topics
This scenario is built from FCIB-panel wordings (NZI · QBE · AIG · Zurich · Delta · Dual) plus Vero as an off-panel market comparator. Clause-level cover matches require the wording corpus to be populated for each product — where it isn't yet, the page shows "Not on file — request latest wording from insurer via FCIB" rather than fabricating an answer.
For a tailored quote on the cover types listed above, contact First Commercial Insurance Brokers Ltd (FSP748591): 0800 437 699 · stewart@fcib.co.nz