Strata managers are no longer permitted to receive a commission from the insurance company.
Really? Why then does the law say that any commissions have to be declared? Also, most insurance companies will not discount the premium by the amount of the strata managers’ commission even if you negotiate directly.
You’re right. I should have read Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) Section 60.
In my defence, when we still had a strata manager, the strata manager said that his employer was no longer allowed to receive a commission for insurance. Either he was wrong or I misunderstood the message.
I agree that if I dealt directly with an insurance company, who is already working through a broker, they would not exclude the broker’s commission. However, it is different with insurance companies who are not working through a broker. There is no broker commission.
I found some strata insurance companies. I called them for quotes. I saved almost $5,000. We also got a premium reduction because we excluded “common contents” from the cover. When the insurer asked if we had “common contents”, I said “yes we have letter boxes in a brick wall”. The insurer said that’s already covered by the building policy. Since we don’t own anything else (e.g. chairs, tables, computers, tv, garden tools etc.) we excluded common contents and saved a bit more.
I mention this because we had common contents cover for decades when the strata manager + insurance broker arranged our insurance for us. It makes me wonder why we would pay a professional to organise our insurance if they don’t even consider our specific needs.