10 OCTOBER 2023
Long-standing conflicts of interest can have a big impact on premiums.
There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to strata insurance, and a lot of the movement is hidden from the people who pay for it.
Karen Stiles, executive director of the Owners Corporation Network (OCN), a not-for-profit strata owners’ advocacy group, has long campaigned for the removal of insurance commissions and broker fees in strata insurance, but it’s been an uphill battle.
In 2012 the OCN called for an end to conflicted payments in its submission to a NSW review of strata laws, but such efforts have been met with stiff resistance from the strata management lobby.
Even owners’ corporations that are aware of the commission and broker fee issue have trouble unravelling the many different elements that make up a strata insurance premium.
“There’s just so much obfuscation. You get a gross premium quoted to you without the breakdown of how that is made up,” Stiles says.
Stiles says there are strata management firms that don’t accept commissions, but it puts them at a competitive disadvantage because they have to charge higher fees as a result.
Read full article:> https://www.choice.com.au/money/insurance/home-and-contents/articles/conflicts-of-interest-in-strata-insurance
