Clearing subjectivities after inception: a chase plan that holds up

Contents

1. Subjectivity, warranty, condition precedent: know which one you are holding
2. Why the chase fails
3. A day-by-day chase plan
4. Where WhatsApp earns its place
5. What good evidence looks like
6. Frequently asked questions

Every commercial broker has a version of this file. The client needed cover on the first, the underwriter wrote the risk subject to a satisfactory survey and a signed proposal form, and everyone moved on. Eight weeks later the survey has not happened, the proposal form is somewhere in a director's inbox, and nobody has told the client that the terms they think they have are conditional. Then there is a fire.

Chasing outstanding subjectivities is unglamorous work that sits at the exact point where broker professional indemnity claims are made. It is also, unlike most errors and omissions exposure, entirely fixable with a process. This is what that process looks like when it is written down.

Subjectivity, warranty, condition precedent: know which one you are holding

The three get used interchangeably in conversation and they are not the same thing, so read the actual wording before you tell a client anything:

• A subjectivity is a condition attached to the quotation or the placement — cover is offered subject to something being provided or done, such as a survey, a signed proposal, satisfactory claims experience, or confirmation of a risk improvement. What happens if it is not met depends entirely on how it is drafted: the insurer may reserve the right to amend terms, to impose an exclusion, or to withdraw.
• A warranty is a promise by the insured about a state of affairs. Under the Insurance Act 2015 a breach suspends cover rather than discharging the insurer for good, and an insurer cannot rely on a breach that could not have increased the risk of the loss that occurred — but suspended cover during the relevant period is still no cover.
• A condition precedent to liability bites at claim stage, on the specific claim affected.

The practical point for the chase: the deadline is set by the insurer in the quote, endorsement or market reform contract, not by any general rule. Fourteen, twenty-one and thirty days are all common; the number that matters is the one on your document. In the London market, the contract certainty discipline expects any outstanding items to be clearly identified and actively managed rather than left to drift — the same principle applies to a regional package placement.

Why the chase fails

1. No owner. The broker placed it, the technician processed it, and neither believes they own the survey.
2. The deadline is not diarised anywhere the team can see. It sits in one person's calendar and dies when they go on holiday.
3. The client never understood it was conditional. "You're on cover from the first" was heard; the subjectivity was in paragraph four of the covering email.
4. The chase happened by phone. Three calls were made and none of them is on file, so there is no evidence of any of it.
5. Nobody escalated. Day twenty-eight arrives and the response is another polite email rather than a call to the underwriter to ask for an extension.

A day-by-day chase plan

Work backwards from the insurer's deadline. The plan below assumes a thirty-day subjectivity; compress it proportionally for shorter ones.

When	Action	What goes on file
Day 0 (inception)	Send the client a written statement of what is outstanding, what happens if it is not delivered, and the date. Plain words, one list.	The message itself, in durable medium
Day 0	Diarise the insurer deadline, plus internal checkpoints, against the named owner. Not a personal calendar.	Diary entry with owner
Day 3	Confirm the client has read it and can actually supply the item. If the survey needs site access, book the date now.	Client's reply
Day 7	First chase, itemised: what is still outstanding and what is now done.	Message and any partial documents
Day 14	Second chase, and a call if nothing has moved. Follow the call with a short written summary the same day.	Call note and the written summary
Day 21	Escalate internally to the account director and warn the underwriter that an item may run late. Ask what they need.	Underwriter correspondence
Day 26	Final written warning to the client, spelling out the consequence in the insurer's own words.	The warning message
Deadline	Either confirm satisfaction in writing with the insurer, or obtain a documented extension. Never let it pass silently.	Insurer confirmation or extension
After	Tell the client, in writing, that the subjectivity is cleared and cover stands on the placed terms.	Closing confirmation

The pattern is deliberate: two written chases, one voice contact, one escalation to the market before the deadline rather than after it. It is the same rhythm as a well-run renewal — see our 60-day commercial renewal playbook — applied to a shorter window with a harder consequence.

Where WhatsApp earns its place

Documents are the bottleneck, and documents move faster on the channel the client already uses. A finance director who will not open a document portal will photograph a signed proposal form and send it in twenty seconds. Our document collection use case and the document request template cover the mechanics; three things are specific to subjectivities.

Name the consequence once, without drama. "The insurer needs the sprinkler certificate by 30 September. Without it they can amend the terms of the cover." That is more effective than three cheerful nudges, and it is the sentence you will want on file later.

Keep the item list in one message. Subjectivities arrive in bundles of three or four. A single numbered list, updated by replying to it, beats separate threads per document.

Do not let the channel become the record by accident. A photograph of a survey report in a chat is a starting point, not a placed file. Attach it to the client record and the placing file the same day. Where the brokerage runs its WhatsApp through a shared number, the thread already sits against the customer, which is most of the battle; ORIS holds the conversation, the customer flags and the CSV export alongside it, and an approved utility template makes the first request quick to send. What it will not do is invent a deadline for you — its lifecycle triggers cover renewals, anniversaries and lapsed engagement, so the subjectivity date belongs in your diary system with a named owner.

What good evidence looks like

If the file ever reaches your professional indemnity insurer, the question will be whether the client understood the position and whether you acted on it. A file that answers "yes" contains: the original terms showing the subjectivity as the insurer worded it; a dated message to the client explaining it in plain language; the chase trail with dates; the escalation to the underwriter; and a closing confirmation either way. Under ICOBS the duty is to act honestly, fairly and professionally in the client's best interests and to give information that is clear, fair and not misleading — a chase trail is simply what that looks like on paper. If it is not written down, it did not happen.

Frequently asked questions

Is the client on risk while a subjectivity is outstanding?

It depends on the wording, which is why the wording is the first thing to read. Some subjectivities are conditions of the offer and some attach to cover that has already incepted, with different consequences. Never tell a client "you're covered regardless" without checking the document, and put whatever you do tell them in writing.

What if the insurer's deadline is unrealistic?

Go back before it passes, not after. Underwriters routinely grant extensions where a survey cannot be booked in time, and a request made on day twenty with a proposed new date is treated very differently from a call on day thirty-two. Confirm any extension in writing and re-diarise it.

Can we accept a photograph of a signed proposal form?

Usually yes for the purpose of moving the file along, provided it is legible and complete, but check whether the insurer requires an original or a specific format. Save the image to the placing file immediately and note who sent it and when, because a chat is not a document management system.

Should the chase run from the account executive or a technician?

Either can chase, but only one person should own the deadline, and the client should know who that is. Split ownership is the most common failure mode. A named owner recorded against the diary entry, with a deputy for absence, fixes it more reliably than any reminder tool.

What do we do if the deadline passes with nothing delivered?

Tell the insurer and the client the same day, in writing, and ask the insurer to confirm their position. The exposure is rarely the missed subjectivity itself; it is the weeks afterwards when everyone carried on as though cover were unconditional.