In 2014 M2 Recovery was contacted by a leading chain of DIY stores that suspected it had been overpaying for its property insurance through hidden commission payments being received by the landlord’s managing agent.

M2 Recovery immediately started to analyse the premiums paid for the portfolio of more than 50 different properties over the last six years to determine if the rates could have been inflated to cover the cost of secret commissions.

“It became clear through the audit process that the insurance broker had been paying large commissions to the managing agent in order to secure the business, and that this commission was being hidden from our client” said M2 Recovery founder and managing director Neil Holloway.

In fact, the audit revealed that the landlord’s managing agent had been taking more than £200,000 in commission annually for a number of years, and that this had not been disclosed to the landlord, creating a secret profit for the managing agent and retaining the business for the broker.

Ultimately, M2 Recovery was able to recover more than £lm in illegal commission payments for the client, as well as reduce their annual insurance premiums by £200,000 following the cessation of the payment of secret commissions between the insurance broker and the managing agent.