Commercial · Zero Capital™

Zero Capital™

Deposit-free commercial leasing that replaces expensive bank guarantees and cash deposits. Cover is priced against your own portfolio's risk profile and goes wider than a traditional deposit. The monthly fee is tax deductible.

How It Works

Insurance-Backed Protection, Priced Per Portfolio

Tenant profiles, risk exposures and lease structures differ from one commercial portfolio to the next. Zero Capital™ has no fixed pricing tiers. Each proposal is built from your portfolio's own risk profile and claims history.

Tenants pay a small, affordable monthly fee instead of a large upfront cash deposit or expensive bank guarantee
Coverage levels are set per portfolio from a detailed risk assessment, not a standard industry rate
Protection covers rent arrears, property damage, early termination, legal costs, and cleaning/restoration
For tenants the monthly fee is a tax-deductible operating expense, materially cheaper than locked capital
No suretyships, no bank guarantees, no capital locked up for the lease term
Claims run through a structured insurance channel, with payouts averaging 7 to 14 days

Request a Proposal View Governance

Insured Cover · SchedulesLeaseHub™

Sum InsuredSchedulesCover Allocation

Current schedule of cover

The terms that apply to policies priced from now on

All 4 properties with cover terms share the same terms.

Property	Total cover	Effective
Riverside	4.50×	01 Mar 2026
Harbourside	4.50×	01 Mar 2026
Northgate	4.50×	01 Jun 2026
Westbrook	4.50×	01 Jun 2026

An illustrative schedule, not a client's: the four properties and their dates are invented. Cover is written as multiples of monthly rent - here three months of rental, one of damages and half a month of penalties, 4.50× in all - and every property on the portfolio is on the same terms, which is how most schedules read. The premium rate the portal prints beside a schedule is left off: there is no rate card, and the number only exists once a ledger has been read.

Coverage

What Zero Capital™ Covers

Exactly what is protected, and how the product responds at lease end.

What Is Covered

Rent arrears: outstanding rental payments at lease end, including the notice period
Property damage: physical damage to the premises beyond fair wear and tear
Early termination: losses arising from a tenant vacating before the lease expires
Legal and recovery costs: costs incurred in pursuing amounts owed by the tenant
Cleaning and restoration: costs to return the premises to a lettable condition

Coverage Notes

Cover levels are set per portfolio from your risk assessment, not a fixed industry rate
Coverage applies from lease commencement and remains active for the full lease term
If the tenant stops paying the monthly fee, the landlord retains full protection for the lease term
Claims are assessed at lease end based on the final account and supporting documentation
Every exclusion is set out in the policy schedule, so there are no hidden terms

Comparison

Why Lease Insurance Replaces Bank Guarantees

Suretyships and bank guarantees take weeks to arrange and tie up working capital for the whole lease term. Zero Capital™ costs less, starts immediately and covers more.

Cash deposit, bank guarantee and Zero Capital compared, on seven points.
	Cash deposit	Bank guarantee	Zero Capital™
What the tenant puts up	One to three months’ rent in cash, paid before the lease starts.	No cash leaves, but a bank facility or collateral is pledged, subject to credit approval.	A small monthly fee. No capital.
Time to put in place	Quick, once the tenant has the lump sum and it has cleared.	Weeks of bank processing.	Immediate on signing. No bank approval.
Working capital through the term	Locked in a trust account for the full lease.	No cash out, but the tenant’s facility limits carry it for the term.	Untouched. Nothing is locked up.
Ongoing cost	No fee, but trust accounting and reconciliation to run.	Annual facility fees and bank charges.	A small monthly fee, deductible as an operating expense.
How much is covered	Real cover, but typically one to two months of rent at most.	Real cover, up to the guaranteed amount and no more.	Set per portfolio from its own risk profile, and wider than a deposit.
When there is a loss	A set-off against the deposit; disputes are common.	The guarantee pays, but calling it is a lengthy legal process.	A claim filed through LeaseHub™, settled from the dedicated cell.
At lease end	A refund to reconcile, and often to dispute.	A guarantee to release, and a facility to free.	A final account, filed online.

Cover levels and premiums are set per portfolio at underwriting; there is no rate card. Payout timing is the average on complete claims filed to date.

Claims Process

When a commercial lease ends, the claim follows a documented path. No legal proceedings are required.

At lease end, the landlord or property manager prepares a final account statement covering arrears, damages, and restoration costs
The claim is submitted through the LeaseSurance platform (LeaseHub™) with the supporting documents: inspection reports, invoices and the final account
LeaseSurance assesses the claim against the policy terms and coverage schedule
Approved claims are settled directly from the dedicated cell captive, not from a general fund
The process is materially faster than calling a bank guarantee or pursuing a suretyship claim through legal channels

Claims · All ClaimsLeaseHub™

OverviewPeriod AnalyticsAll Claims

Payouts average 7 to 14 business days from a complete submission.

Unit	Status	Claim Total
Shop 4	Paid	R 86,400.00
Suite 201	Approved	R 64,750.00
Unit 12	In Process	R 96,300.00
Shop 9	Submitted	R 38,900.00
Office 3	Due	—

An illustrative claims list, not a client's: units and amounts are invented. Five commercial claims at the five stages a claim passes through, in the portal's own status words, from a final account still due, which has no total yet, to a claim paid in full.

How We Underwrite Commercial Portfolios

Zero Capital™ pricing is never generic. Every commercial portfolio is assessed on its own performance data, not on industry benchmarks. Renewal pricing applies to new leases only, so existing tenants are never repriced mid-lease.

We analyse 24 to 36 months of ledger data from your portfolio: arrears patterns, vacancy rates, tenant profiles and past claims
Premiums are calculated per portfolio, reflecting your specific risk profile and claims history
We assess tenant creditworthiness during underwriting, but the landlord is the insured party, not the tenant
Underwriting results are ring-fenced in a dedicated cell, so your portfolio's good performance benefits your portfolio

Tax Benefit

The Monthly Fee Is Tax Deductible

Unlike a cash deposit (which is a refundable asset, not an expense), the Zero Capital™ monthly fee is classified as an operating expense and is fully tax deductible for the tenant. This means the net cost of lease insurance is materially lower than the opportunity cost of capital tied up in a deposit or bank guarantee facility.

For commercial tenants, this distinction matters. The monthly fee flows through the income statement as a deductible operating cost. A cash deposit sits on the balance sheet as a non-deductible current asset, earning minimal interest and producing no tax benefit.

Where the cost sits · Two ledgersTenant’s accounts

Balance sheet

Cash deposit or bank guarantee

Current assets

Deposit paid to the landlord, or a facility pledged to the bank

Locked for the lease term
Earns minimal interest, or nothing
Not deductible: an asset, not an expense

Income statement

Zero Capital™ monthly fee

Operating expenses

Lease insurance fee, billed month by month

Nothing locked for the term
Deductible as an operating expense
No asset to carry or reconcile

Where each instrument sits in a tenant’s own accounts, drawn as the two statement extracts an accountant would point to: the deposit or facility as an asset carried for the term, the fee as an operating expense in the year it is paid. Every line is the stated policy position; there is no figure, because the saving depends on the tenant’s own tax rate.