Standards, Tax and Regulations Briefings

The Aligning Real Estate Sustainability Indicators (ARESI) white paper aims to address existing ambiguities in real estate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within the European legislative framework, in order to unlock investment and drive decarbonisation of real estate. Robbie Epsom, EMEA Head of Sustainability at CBRE Investment Management, and Hugh Garnett, Investor Strategies Senior Specialist - Real Assets at IIGCC presented this industry proposal to enhance clarity and consistency in sustainability reporting.

During this briefing, Sofia Cordeiro, ESG Analyst at INREV, gave insights into INREV’s paper on the impact of real estate on nature, highlighting the importance of nature-positive strategies and the growing role of frameworks like TNFD. Lucas Wouters, Portfolio Manager Responsible Investment at APG AM, shared an investor’s perspective, showing how biodiversity risks are assessed across real estate portfolios using the TNFD LEAP approach and tools like IBAT and STAR metrics, and Emily Hamilton, Chief Sustainability Officer Savills Investment Management, showed how nature-based solutions were embedded at Bourn Quarter, demonstrating the tangible benefits of enhancing biodiversity for real estate resilience and asset value.

The updated Country-by-country Guide features up-to-date information on tax and regulatory regimes for real estate fund vehicles across diverse jurisdictions, including insights on country-level ESG regulations. During this briefing, Martijn Graafstal, Manager, Tax Real Estate, PwC NL, highlighted the changes in the German and Dutch tax rules. Stephen Chewter, Senior Manager, PwC UK, presented on the regulatory and tax aspects of the UK RIF, and Maarten Dansen, Senior Manager ESG, PwC NL, focused on the changes introduced in CSRD reporting obligations under the EU Omnibus I proposal.

INREV’s recent paper, Introduction to EU Taxonomy, offers practical insights into aligning real estate activities with the EU Taxonomy framework. During this briefing, Aleksandra Njagulj, Managing Director, Global Head of ESG in Real Estate at DWS, demonstrated how the assessment process works for DWS. Jeff Rupp, Public Affairs Director at INREV, joined her to focus on compliance with Section 7.7 (Acquisition and Ownership of Buildings), addressing the criteria for substantial environmental contributions, the “do no significant harm” principle, and adherence to minimum safeguards.

Susan van de Koppel-Nagelmaeker, Portfoliomanager at Amvest, presented De Trappenberg – Living and Care Fund: a case study of developing sustainable and impactful senior housing. Susan was followed by Anna Olink, Director, Real Estate Engagement – EMEA at GRESB, who provided insights into 2024 GRESB Annual Survey results on investment in senior housing.
The briefing, held in collaboration with EPRA, was part of European Retirement Week, a flagship platform to debate the future of pensions.

Rasmus Steiness, Transfer Pricing Senior Director, Nick Crama, Senior Director Tax, and Alistair McLaren, Transfer Pricing Director, from Alvarez & Marsal Tax, presented developments in the interest rates and financial covenants applied by lenders and its interactions with updated guidance on transfer pricing requirements and domestic changes to earning stripping rules.

Chris Brown, Managing Director, Climatise and co-founder of the London Doughnut Economy Coalition, Lianne Hulsebosch, Sustainable Urban Development Strategist, City of Amsterdam, and Alice Teboul, ESG Manager Property Investments, Columbia Threadneedle explored how Doughnut Economics and the principles of the circular economy can be integrated into the built environment, fostering cities that respect both social and planetary boundaries. 
This event was organised in cooperation with AREF, BBP, BPF, IPF and REIF.

Jeroen Elink Schuurman, Partner & PwC Global Real Estate Tax Leader, and Tijmen Cabollet, Director Real Estate and Alternative Investments Funds, both from PwC, presented on how real estate funds and institutional investors are taxed in the European Union and what the future holds for cross-border real estate investments.

Hira Sharma and Ed Peters, both Tax partners, Real Estate & Construction at BDO London office, presented on the use of a UK QAHC regime in real estate structures.

The updated Country-by-country Guide now features information on country-level ESG regulations. View an update of the most significant tax and regulatory updates across 16 jurisdictions, including an in-depth briefing of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) presented by Linda Thonen, Partner Legal Business Solutions and Martijn Graafstal, Senior Associate, Tax Real Estate, and Anish Sewbaransingh, Senior Legal Associate, all from PwC Netherlands.

Melville Rodrigues, Head - Real Estate Advisory from Apex Group and Tim Jones, Director, Deals Tax - Real Estate from PwC discussed how the UK funds sector can launch and operate the newly proposed Reserved Investor Fund (RIF). The session explored the RIF's tax-transparent, closed end structure and its potential benefits.

The briefing was moderated by Julie Patterson, Independent Non-Executive Director.

Roel de Vries, Managing Director, Nick Crama, Senior Director Tax and Rasmus Steiness, Senior Director Transfer Pricing at Alvarez & Marsal present how the EU's BEFIT and TP Directives impact real estate investment funds.

Louisa Chender, ESG Policy & Advisory at FCA and Shuen Chan, Head of Responsible Investment & Sustainability at Legal & General Investment Management Real Assets discussed the implications and the strategic challenges and opportunities associated with the FCA's recent proposals on SDR and labels for non-listed real estate investment.

Chris Ormond, from Goodwin, Emily Harmsworth, from Linklaters and Aidan McConville, from Addleshaw Goddard, share important insights on the UK Limited Partnership reform and its impact on the industry.

Michael O’Shea, Senior Public Policy Manager EMEA at Invesco presented the potential impacts of recent FSB and IOSCO proposals for open-end funds on real estate investment.

Jelle Bas Boon (Tax Partner) and Maartje Vaandrager (Tax Manager) of Deloitte in Amsterdam, presented on recently announced Dutch tax rules that impact the qualification of real estate investment funds and partnerships.

Note: The situation described on slide 21 of the presentation would not arise if an amendment to the legislation proposed after the presentation is adopted. The proposal would delay the conditional withholding tax on dividends for hybrid partnerships until 01.01.2025 (i.e. the date on which partnerships would generally become tax transparent by default), unless these partnerships would be located in low-taxing or blacklisted jurisdictions

Heike Schmitz, Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills presented how policymakers’ evolving pragmatic approach is creating opportunities for real estate transition funds with carbon reduction strategies to disclose under SFDR Article 9.

Melville Rodrigues, Head of Advisory Real Assets at Apex Group, explained the proposed UK Reserved Investor Fund (RIF) and the opportunities it presents for real estate investment. Melville was joined by Victoria Wolf, partner in EY’s International Tax and Transaction Services, Real Estate, and Michael Newell, partner in Cadwalader’s Financial Services Group.

During the briefing Alistair Dryer, Head of Europe at LaSalle Global Partner Solutions, Martijn Vlasveld, Managing Director, Head of ESG, Edmond de Rothschild REIM and Jef Holland, Partner, Deloitte Netherlands presented on the main features of the templates.

Matt Huggett and Emma Danforth, partners at Allen & Overy in London, presented considerations related to the extension or roll-over of closed-ended real estate funds and creation of continuation funds for existing portfolios or assets.

Updated Country-by-Country Guide 

Lilian Palliser, Senior Tax Associate at PwC in Amsterdam presented an overview of the most significant changes in the Country-by-Country Tax and Regulations Guide.
 

INREV, PRI and ULI have embarked on a journey to map and compare the most important global ESG regulations, standards and certifications and to assess each of them in relation to the E, S and G components. Join us to find out more about the results of this project, the Mapping ESG Report.

Abigail Dean, Global Head of Strategic Insights, Real Estate at Nuveen presented on recent insights from regulators that can inform our industry’s approach to implementing SFDR.

Tijmen Cabollet, Senior Manager, Real Estate & Investment Fund taxation at PwC presented on the European developments in beneficial ownership court decisions and their impact on the real estate investment.

Francisco Da Cunha, Partner, Real Estate Tax Leader and Benoit Sauvage, Director, RegWatch, Risk Advisory at Deloitte Tax & Consulting in Luxembourg presented the most recent ELTIF updates and how they might affect the non-listed real estate investment industry.

Federica Miano, Public Affairs Manager at INREV, gave an overview of the Public Affairs achievements in 2022 and a preview of next year’s priorities.

A joint INREV-EPRA event that featured academic and investor perspectives on how pension funds’ and insurers’ investments in real estate deliver long-term stable income streams that match their pension liabilities. Real estate’s benefits as long-term investments, the diversification value it adds for better risk-adjusted returns and its contribution to the built environment supporting the needs of older citizens were also discussed.

A joint INREV, AREF, BPF, CREFC Europe and IPF briefing where Louisa Chender, head of the Sustainable Finance team at the UK’s FCA discussed the SDR proposals and their implications for real estate.

Aleksandra Njagulj, Global Head of ESG for Real Estate for DWS in London gave an update on the just released Sustainability Disclosure Regulation proposal in the UK and the expected implications for the non-listed real estate investment industry.

To encourage more sustainable and less risky growth the EU commission issued a proposal to address the disparity in tax treatment between debt and equity financing (DEBRA). Antoine Dupuis, Partner at Atoz presented on the debt-equity bias reduction allowance (DEBRA) consultation and INREV response. The briefing was moderated by Richard van der Linden, Tax Partner Real Estate at PwC.

Jeff Rupp, Public Affairs Director at INREV, gave an update on the EU and UK reviews of Solvency II and the real estate industry’s efforts to introduce more appropriate regulation of insurers’ real estate investments.

Emily Harmsworth, Counsel at Linklaters LLP in London and Claire Prospert, Partner in the firm’s Luxembourg team, presented on the Cross-border marketing package and ESMA’s Marketing Communications Guidelines.

The Country-by-Country Tax and Regulations Guide has been updated and is available on the INREV website. Lilian Palliser, Senior Tax Associate at PWC in Amsterdam presented an overview of the most significant changes in the past year.

Antoine Badot, Partner at KPMG Luxembourg presented on the evolving tax landscape for real estate investment in Europe.

A joint INREV/AREF/IPF briefing where we looked at the UK government's progress with significant legislative improvements for the real estate funds sector that includes LTAF, QAHC, REIT and the PIF contractual scheme.

Richard van der Linden, Tax Partner Real Estate at PwC in Amsterdam, presented on the European Commission’s legislative proposal adopting the OECD agreement on minimum tax along with measures for fighting the use of shell entities for tax avoidance explained in the August briefing. Referred to as ‘ATAD 3’, the proposal if adopted could impact tax-related aspects of fund structuring and operation.

Melville Rodrigues, Head – Real Estate Advisory for Apex Group in London, presented on recent developments related to the LTAF.

Jennifer Burton, Managing Associate in Addleshaw Goddard's Global Investigations team in London provided an update on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Anti-Terrorist Financing (ATF) requirements for real estate investments.

Claire Prospert from Linklaters’ Luxembourg office and Richard Cole from the firm’s London office present on navigating the practical challenges of cross-border distribution of real estate funds under EU Cross-Border Distribution rules and evolving NPPR and MiFID practices.  

Richard van der Linden, Tax Partner at PwC in Amsterdam, presented on the current European Commission consultation on fighting the use of shell entities and arrangements for tax purposes.

Matt Evans, Partner at DLA Piper and John Went, General Counsel at CBRE Global Investment Partners, present on the current Commission review of procedural rules for obtaining clearance and the opportunity it presents for some relief.

Greg Brown and Paul Sampson, partners in Allen & Overy’s London office, presents on trends and considerations in fund financing.

The Country-by-Country Tax and Regulations Guide has just been updated and is available on the INREV website. Anne-Jet Klaver, Senior Associate Tax at PwC in Amsterdam presents an overview of the most significant changes in the past year.

Kate Binedell and Matthew Baker, Partners at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in London, who presented an update on recent ESG-related regulatory requirements impacting non-listed real estate investment. They were joined by Abigail Dean, Head of Sustainability, Real Estate at Nuveen in London, who discussed some of the practical issues implementing the new regulations present for fund managers.

Francisco Da Cuhna (Deloitte) and Keith O’Donnell (Atoz) discussed the structure and substance of the proposed code, and the contribution recommendations and best practices on tax-related matters.

Rodrigo Delcourt from Arendt & Medernach and Michael Daemgen from Arendt Regulatory & Consulting in Luxembourg present on host AIFMs, including their operating models, services provided to the real estate industry and regulatory parameters.

Jan Gruter, Legal Director and Jonathan Powling, Partner (Investment Management Team) and Zoe Connor, Partner at (Banking Team) Addleshaw Goddard present on emerging trends in real estate fund terms.

Constantin Sorlescu, Director of Professional Standards at INREV joined by Renaud Breyer, Partner at EY Luxembourg, and Andrew Muscat, COO/CFO at LaSalle Global Partner Solutions, shows you how to calculate TGER, including treatment and allocation of its main components, and how to make the transition from TER to TGER to ensure compliance with the INREV Guidelines.

During the briefing, Constantin Sorlescu, INREV together with Thomas Kallenbrunnen, PGIM Real Estate, Nick Brown, M&G Real Estate, John Ravoisin, PwC and Robert White, EY discuss:

• Liquidity requirements and secondary markets
• Terms and rights of redemptions
• Transparency and disclosures regarding pricing policy