What happened: Victorian Labor has pledged to ban commissions paid to strata managers on purchases including building insurance.
Who's involved: Victorian state government, owners corporation managers, insurance brokers, Consumer Affairs Victoria.
What's at stake: Commission revenue across more than 500,000 strata-managed Victorian properties, with broker pay flagged for review.
Why it matters: If legislated, the ban would reshape how building insurance is placed and paid for in Victoria's strata channel.
Where it stands: Election commitment announced October 24, 2026 - five weeks before the November 28 Victorian state election.
One in five Victorians lives in a strata-managed property. If the state government gets its way, the people who manage those buildings will no longer earn a cent from the insurance placed on them.
Victorian Labor announced on October 24 that it would ban owners corporation managers from taking commissions or payments that influence purchasing decisions - from building insurance to repairs. Minister for Consumer Affairs Tim Richardson also put broker commissions on notice, with the government stating they "will be examined too, so managers can't be paid through the back door."
The proposed ban targets a revenue stream that has drawn national scrutiny. Strata manager commissions on insurance have been criticised across the industry for creating a financial incentive to place owners with pricier policies rather than better ones - a structural conflict of interest that consumer groups and lot owners have pushed to eliminate.
Under the announcement, a dedicated Owners Corporations Taskforce would sit inside Consumer Affairs Victoria with powers to police the new rules. The release says the measure would protect the more than 500,000 strata-managed properties across the state.
The policy also bundles governance reforms: at least 21 days' notice before an AGM, penalties for breaking proxy voting limits, and two to four weeks for owners to vote outside meetings.
This is the second round. Victoria introduced the first stage of strata reforms to Parliament on June 3, 2026. That round expanded Consumer Affairs Victoria's enforcement powers and dealt with levy arrears and payment plans - but insurance commissions were left on the table.
This October announcement picks them up. The question is whether it becomes law.
The Victorian state election falls on November 28, 2026 - barely five weeks after the announcement. The current Parliament expires on November 3. Any bill not passed by then lapses. That means the commission ban depends on Labor winning and legislating in the next term.
The release draws a line that matters. Strata manager commissions would be banned outright. Broker commissions would be "examined."
That one word does a lot of heavy lifting. Broker pay is governed by federal financial services law, not state legislation - which means Victoria cannot simply ban it the way it can ban manager commissions. The National Insurance Brokers Association has pointed out that brokers already operate under significant federal compliance requirements and that state reforms need to work within that framework.
NSW is on a parallel track, with its Productivity Commission investigating a potential ban on strata manager commissions there. The Strata Community Association in NSW has already begun phasing out insurance commissions among its members.
For brokers in the strata channel, the practical effect right now is a question mark. A ban on manager commissions would not directly change broker pay. But the government's stated intention to "examine" broker commissions signals the current arrangement is not locked in - and any shift away from commission-based models for managers would change the commercial dynamics of how building insurance gets placed across the strata market.
