Opening a Combat Sports Gym: The Insurance Checklist Before You Sign the Lease

You’ve found the unit. The roller door works, there’s room for a cage or a ring, and the agent wants an answer by Friday. This is the point where a lot of new gym owners sign first and sort out the insurance later. Then the lease turns out to need a cover they don’t have, or the coaches they planned to roster can’t be insured the way they assumed, and the opening date slides. Work through this checklist before you sign and most of those surprises show up while you can still do something about them.

It’s written for anyone opening a boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, BJJ, kickboxing, taekwondo or karate gym in Australia, whether it’s your first space or a second location.

1. Read the insurance clauses in the lease before you negotiate rent

Commercial leases almost always tell the tenant what insurance to hold. Find those clauses early, because they shape the policy you need. Look for:

• The public liability limit. $10 million and $20 million are both common. Your cover has to meet the number in the lease, not the number you’d have picked.
• When cover has to start. Many leases need insurance in place from the day you get access, which can be weeks before you open, while the fit-out is under way.
• The landlord’s interest. Some leases ask for the landlord to be noted on your policy. That is a request your broker handles, so flag it at quote time.
• Glass, fixtures and the building. Some leases make the tenant responsible for glass or for damage to fit-out. That can point to cover beyond liability.
• Indemnity and release clauses. These can ask you to take on responsibility you wouldn’t otherwise have. Some policies limit cover for liability you agree to under a contract, so get these clauses checked against the policy wording, and get legal advice on the lease itself.

Then ask the agent how they want proof of cover. It is usually a certificate of currency, and our guide to certificates of currency covers what landlords check on it.

2. Check the space is approved for a gym

Not every commercial or industrial unit can be used as a fitness or martial arts facility. Depending on the zoning and what the unit was used for before, the council may need to approve a change of use, and the fit-out may need building and fire-safety sign-off. Ask the council before you sign, not after. It matters for insurance too: a policy is arranged on the basis of what you tell the insurer about the premises and how you use them, so it pays to know the space is legally set up for what you plan to run in it.

3. Decide the structure, then use the same name everywhere

Sole trader, partnership, company or trust: get advice from your accountant on which one suits. Once you’ve picked it, make sure the same legal name sits on the lease, your ABN and your insurance. A lease in “Smith Combat Pty Ltd” with a policy in “Smith’s Boxing” is one of the most common reasons a certificate gets knocked back. Fixing it after signing means paperwork on both sides while you wait on the keys.

4. Write down exactly what you’ll run

Insurers price and cover a gym on what actually happens on the mats. Before you ask for a quote, write a one-page list:

• the disciplines you’ll teach, and whether classes are full contact, light contact or technical only
• whether you’ll run sparring, and how it’s supervised
• kids’ and teens’ classes, and the age groups
• roughly how many members you expect in the first year
• any strength and conditioning, open-gym hours or personal training
• weapons work, for arts that use it
• gradings, interclubs, seminars or fight nights you plan to host
• anything off-site, such as park sessions or classes in a school hall

This list does two jobs. It gets you a quote that fits what you’ll really do, and it stops the classic gap: a policy arranged for “martial arts classes” that doesn’t contemplate the fight night you add six months later. If your plans change, tell your broker before the new activity starts. Our guide to what drives the cost of gym insurance explains why each of these questions comes up.

5. Sort out your coaches’ qualifications before you roster them

This is the one that catches people. Insurers look closely at who is teaching. Recognised coaching qualifications and accreditation with a relevant body can decide whether a policy is available at all, not just what it costs. A gym run by an experienced fighter with no formal coaching qualification can find its options are limited.

Before you open, list every coach and what they hold: coaching accreditation, first aid and CPR, and a current working with children check if they will teach under-18s. Every state and territory runs its own check under its own name (in Queensland it’s the blue card), and the rules on who needs one differ, so check the requirements where you operate.

Then decide how each coach is engaged. Staff are generally covered under the gym’s arrangements, including workers compensation. Contractors who run their own classes are different: many gyms ask them to hold their own public liability and professional indemnity insurance and to show a certificate before they start. Self-employed coaches and personal trainers can get cover for their coaching business, which can make that conversation easier. Put the arrangement in writing either way.

6. Know which covers to look at

Every gym is different, but these are the covers that typically come up when a combat sports gym opens:

• Public liability, for injury to members, visitors or the public, and damage to other people’s property, arising from your business. This is the one the landlord asks for.
• Professional indemnity, for claims arising from your coaching advice and instruction, such as a member alleging an injury came from how they were taught. In a coaching business it often matters as much as public liability.
• Workers compensation, compulsory if you employ staff. It runs through your state or territory’s scheme, and whether contractors count can depend on the arrangement and the state.
• Contents and equipment, for mats, cage or ring, bags, pads and the fit-out you’ve paid for.
• Business interruption, which can help keep the lights on if an insured event such as a fire or flood closes the gym for a while.

Our combined liability package is built around $20 million public liability and $5 million professional indemnity, subject to policy terms. Check the limits your lease names rather than assuming, and ask what each policy excludes as well as what it covers. See our combat sports insurance page for how we cover gyms, coaches and events.

7. Put your safety paperwork in place before the first class

Insurance responds after something goes wrong. Your systems are what you’ll be judged on when it does. Have these ready on day one:

• A membership agreement and waiver that explains the risks of training. A waiver isn’t a shield: Australian law limits what it can do, especially for minors, so get legal advice on the wording.
• Sparring rules, covering supervision, protective gear, matching partners by size and experience, and when a session stops.
• A head-knock procedure: anyone with a suspected concussion stops training and doesn’t return without medical clearance.
• An incident register, filled in the same day, with what happened, who saw it and what you did.
• First aid: a stocked kit, an ice supply and someone trained on the floor during every class.
• Equipment checks on mats, ropes, cage padding and bag mounts, written down.

These protect your members first. They also show an insurer, and a court if it ever comes to that, that you ran a careful gym.

8. Get the quote before you sign, and the certificate before you get the keys

Here’s the order that saves the most stress:

1. Get the lease’s insurance requirements in writing.
2. Request a quote with your one-page activity list and those requirements attached.
3. Check the quote meets the lease: limit, start date, name, noted interests.
4. Sign the lease.
5. Bind the policy to start on your access date, and send the landlord the certificate of currency.

Starting a quote early costs you nothing and tells you whether your plans are insurable as they stand. If they aren’t, you find out while you can still change them: a different class mix, a coach who finishes a qualification, a lease clause renegotiated.

Ready to open?

Tell us what you’ll run, where you’ll run it and what the lease asks for, and we’ll look at options that fit before you commit. Request a quote. Already insured with us and moving to a new space? Call us on 1300 266 228 and we’ll work through the changes with you. Our policy handling page explains how we manage certificates and changes.

General information only, not advice. Get legal advice on your lease and waivers. Cover is subject to eligibility and the policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions.