Question: Does handing a complex disclosure document to a volunteer committee equal transparency?
Experts note that disclosure often fails as a regulatory tool because volunteer committees often lack the technical expertise to decipher complex commission structures, tax implications, and broker fees. Does handing a complex disclosure document to a volunteer committee equal transparency? What practical steps must strata managers take to ensure truly informed consent?
Answer: Committees rely heavily on their strata managing agent’s recommendation, so disclosure alone is not enough to ensure truly informed consent.
Absolutely not. I think the biggest problem with a lot of committees is that they rely on their strata manager heavily in the decision-making process. What I’ve seen in this industry is that you can hand an absolutely awful deal to a client, fully disclose it, and they take the deal because the strata manager says it’s a great deal.
Disclosure alone does not assist. A lot of committees are retired volunteers who don’t really know a lot about strata insurance, and they generally just accept the recommendation the strata manager puts forward.
I understand that businesses have rights to have certain models, but some models are just so unfair that they should not occur. For example, when a consumer is paying 40% of their insurance premium on commissions. When they signed up with the strata manager a few years ago they were only paying 20%, but through the course of being handed documents that may have disclosed the increase in commissions on page 8, have come out with a much worse off deal that didn’t get picked up because the committee didn’t read every page of that document.
This post appears in the July 2026 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Tyrone Shandiman Strata Insurance Solutions E: tshandiman@iaa.net.au P: 1300 554 165
This information is of a general nature only and neither represents nor is intended to be personal advice on any particular matter. Shandit Pty Ltd T/as Strata Insurance Solutions strongly suggests that no person should act specifically on the basis of the information in this document, but should obtain appropriate professional advice based on their own personal circumstances. Shandit Pty Ltd T/As Strata Insurance Solutions is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 404246) of Insurance Advisenent Australia AFSL No 240549, ABN 15 003 886 687.