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Our Owner Corporation manager stated that her company was not receiving any commissions as they charged fees.
The replacement manager (same company) was asked how much was the commission on the building insurance premium (as if it was known they were receiving commissions). The reply was 20%. The financials group things as one entity such as “insurance”.
This equates to well over $1,000.00 a year commission.
Verbal assurance that this will be reduced to 10% was given. Nothing in writing. It appears we are paying fees on top of commissions.
The insurance company does not talk with clients.
The broker was vague.”Get your owner’s Corporation to talk with the insurance company”. After a lot of nonsense including the threat by the Owners Corporation of charging $120.00 per hour to persist with this issue, an official complaint was lodged. A screenshot of a paragraph of a document that is somewhere on the owners portal states they can charge up to 20%.
Requests for an itemised list of all fees and charges, etc. has yet to take place.- This topic was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by .
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The title on the above should read: Owners Corporation receiving commissions.
The “Owners Corproation Manager” in Victoria is what’s called the strata manager in other states. I can’t see how the Owners Corporation (that’s you and all your fellow owners) could receive commissions since you (they) are paying the bills.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
I find it offensive but 20% commission is in the standard OC management contracts. Ours wants 25%. Brokers also take commission about the same. So you will be paying 40-50% on top of what the insurer charges. Also note it is in the interests of both bodies for your insurance to increase. They get rewarded financially. Nice huh?
You will also find that your OCM will have a commercial relationship with a broker and be an authorized representative.
It doesn’t sound like your broker is acting in the OC’s interests but then he has a commercial relationship with the OCM.
You and the OC can simply get a new broker that does not have a commercial relationship with the OCM so they don’t and can’t get a commission. Make that clear when you talk to other brokers that you are cutting the OCM’s lunch.
You can also ask the broker for a flat fee or reduced commission and negotiate around that and get a committee vote to go with the broker chosen.
Insurers will do only one quote and will not necessarily deal with every broker. Ask potential brokers if they deal with your current insurer.
Make sure your insurance includes Claim Preparation. Make sure the potential broker will prepare any claims.
You can in fact go direct to insurance companies and cut everybody out of commissions but you would not have anybody to do claim preparation. There are claim preparation companies and you may have to hire one if you do have claims. I haven’t taken this step yet out of funk.
In any case taking the steps above in the first year I saved $20K about 33%. In all subsequent years the OCM has received 0 cents commission.
It is the way to go. The OCM just calls the broker and you can do that. They will try to put the fear of god into you and tell you somebody always get the commission but they are just trying to protect there easy 20%. At my AGM last week the new OCM told me was pissed off when he saw no commission.
YOU CAN DO IT!
I am in Victoria. The body corporate which is most used in Victoria has the 20% as a maximum in their “vanilla” contract. It is a while since I have seen the contract but it also states that if theirs is no commission they will put up fees.
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