One of the of the key focuses of the press coverage on the Strata Management Industry recently has been Insurance Commissions earned and (in almost all cases) retained by strata management companies. There has been mounting pressure on the government and industry in relation to addressing this practice and it has now been announced that the peak Strata Industry body, SCA NSW, has passed a motion to begin the phased transition away from agencies accepting insurance commission remuneration, beginning January 2026.
Strata Sense, as part of its commitment to prioritising our communities in everything we do, has always rebated commissions back to our owners corporations and it is heartening to see the industry seeking to reach a similar standard. Strata Sense has been planning for this industry change with brokers who service our mutual clients for some time. A move to no strata management commissions will deliver further cost savings of around 1 – 1 ½% of total premium (via reduced taxes and levies); a number of our communities have moved to this model or were already on this model. We will be encouraging the rest to follow suit moving forward.
The objective of this update is to inform of the industry change and to confirm that Strata Sense will continue its planned implementation of no commissions for all insurance renewals taking place from 20 October 2025. From this date all renewals will be free of any strata management-related commissions* and any additional savings will be passed on in full to the owners corporation. This transition requires no organisational, operational or financial changes for Strata Sense or for our communities. Strata Sense has always strived to deliver a transparent and more inclusive fee model to its communities. We are therefore able to confirm that, unlike most competitors, Strata Sense will not need to increase our strata management fees to compensate for the loss of insurance commission revenue.
This communication is to provide an update to all our communities as there may been further press on this subject. As it relates to specific communities, our team will be in touch with those communities in line with respective renewal process.
*Please note that whilst we will require brokers to be transparent in their fees, we cannot control whether they take a commission versus having a fixed fee structure – that is a matter for those companies directly to consider and our committees can select an appropriate broker based on their preferred fee structure.