Shari Driver, CEO of the Owners Corporation of Australia Ltd (OCN), notes that today NSW Fair Trading released the report from the first stage of the investigation. We note that McGrathNicol identified:
“Several potential conflicts of interest not disclosed by Netstrata to its clients including the personal relationships that employees of Netstrata had with suppliers.
Highly saturated use of those related entity suppliers or suppliers with whom Netstrata had a commercial arrangement.
Other practices that could be considered not in the best interests of the consumer, including:
– charging a premium to strata plans who did not use Netstrata’s wholly owned insurance broker, Strata Insurance Services (SIS).
– a remuneration structure which arguably incentivises its strata managers to bill for add-on charges (Schedule B charges).”
NSW Department of Fair Trading Media Release: https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/fair-trading/news/nsw-fair-trading-releases-mcgrathnicol-report-into-netstrata
Earlier this year, on 24 January 2025, the Owners Corporation Network (OCN), the Australian Consumers Insurance Lobby (ACIL), and the Unit Owners Association Queensland (UOAQ) jointly called on the NSW Government to urgently release the McGrathNicol summary report into Netstrata. The outcome of the overall investigation is yet to be be concluded by Government.
Related Content: https://ocn.org.au/strata-government-investigation-netstrata/