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Our Building Insurance was to expire on 12/31/07. Two weeks ago our Man company presented the Board with the new Insurance package (and expensive) for the building -- to take effect 1/1/08. The Mang agent hired an Insurance broker, and they made the final decisions on the buildings insurance, and cut the deal -- WITHOUT CONSULTING THE BOARD AND WITHOUT BOARD APPROVAL.
The Board received the information a few days before the deadline, during the holiday. Although there was no time to review, One BM questioned the policies, and was answered with a condescending and snide reply from the Insurance Agent. There were substantial raises in policies.
Our Mang agreement states that the Board is to be consulted and the Board is to make the decision. Certainly this is breech of contract BUT.. Besides our Man contract, is anyone familiar with the Insurance laws. Can, the Mang agent along with the Insurance broker, without consulting the Board and without their consent, make this agreement? The Board had no choice but to go along with these choices -- but is it legal?
Retired Board members were shocked, and said that in the past the Mang had made a presentation, they were given options, and the Board – made the decision.
Any Insurance info would be appreciated... Thank you
Thank you for taking the time to answer.. We have already started an investagation, but someone (retired) from another Mang company, suggested that there may be NYState laws that apply to the Mang company and Agent making an agreement without board approval..
Email Power is making it more and more difficult for Mang companies to get away with this sort of nonsense...
Thank you Alice
Some managing agents have a sufficient number of buildings that there is an "umbrella" policy to cover them all... and you can save substantially on your premiums.
It's appalling that your MA acted without direction from the board.
Thank you RLM... We are following through, and having other brokers check the policies -- and have already discovered very troubling issues... However, do you know if there is a NYState law governing Insurance, and how it is procured...
AliceT
group risk policies are discounted because it is a bulb discount. usually through a manging agency who tries to put all its' buildings with one insurance co. . you should talk about this with your managing agent. if they do not know about it, get a new MA that does.
Regardless our property manager engages our insurance broker periodically to obtain quotes for insurance coverage, e.g.: liability, vehicle, property damage BD&O, etc.
We determine whether to retain our current carrier or move to a new carrier.
Quite frankly, it isn’t an easy process as one might expect each carrier writes policies with different disclaimers and deductibles.
However, our broker does the analysis and provides the overview for our review
One needs to be aware there is an insurance history or experience file for each property that identifies the number of claims files and paid.
Essentially, we use our broker as our interface to the carriers and as our consultant.
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I don't know about the laws, Alice, but if you're right about the contract, then the managing agent didn't follow it. You certainly have grounds for terminating your contract with the managing agent, but that may be too drastic.
Consumer policies usually allow you to cancel within 30 days of signing a contract. That's probably not a good idea either because you then wouldn't have insurance unless you can get a new policy ASAP.
Here's what may be a more sensible approach. You have insurance now. But you (that is, the board) should shop around for competing policies. Once you have one you like, sign up and pay the premium. Then you just stop paying the premiums on the contract you don't like. (The policy will lapse, and that's what you want.) Find out how often the premium is being paid, and hope that it's at least twice a year.
As always, check with your corporate lawyer before doing any of this.
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