WHEN my daughter went away to college, she and two of her friends decided to rent an apartment. She brought the apartment lease to me because the property owner required a parent's signature. After reading the lease, I was convinced that if I signed it, I would have to hold the property owner and management company harmless for almost anything. They could get into a bar fight on Friday night, and I would have to pay for their defense and any judgment or settlement.

I took my concerns to the property manager, who admitted he had never actually read the lease. When I showed him some sections I had highlighted, he admitted that he wouldn't sign the lease for his own children. Fortunately, he agreed to modify some sections before I signed. However, I imagine that many other parents signed the lease "as is" for their children, not fully realizing what they were agreeing to. This experience led me to begin researching property leases.

Too often, I hear agents and brokers describe a similar situation. Many of their clients sign property leases without reading them, much less understanding them. The leases can have important insurance implications, but many agents don't ask to see them before writing an insurance policy. This can lead to uninsured exposures for clients and E&O exposures for agents.