We are sending you this update to make you aware of a number of matters regarding property held in the pension scheme that you have with us. Please read the update carefully and take any necessary steps to ensure you continue to comply with the requirements of pension scheme property ownership.

As you are aware, you are the property manager of any property held in your scheme (unless you employ a professional property manager to manage your scheme property). You are ultimately responsible for the day to day management of the property and for meeting any property ownership requirements.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) – changes from 1 April 2023 requiring all let properties to have an EPC grade A – E

As you may already be aware from 1 April 2018 it became unlawful to let a commercial building with an energy efficiency rating of F or G unless one of a small number of exemptions applied. That was brought in under the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007. So any new lettings completed since 1 April 2018 must have an EPC grade of A-E.

From 1 April 2023 this will be extended to apply to all existing leases. This means that by 1 April 2023 all let properties in schemes must show a valid, in date EPC with a rating of A-E.

Please check what EPCs you currently have for your property(/ies). If they are out of date, or you do not have one then one must be obtained. For any that are a grade F or G, the necessary recommendation steps must be taken to improve the grading to an A – E.

If you have not already done so, please provide us with a copy of any EPCs that you have so we can update our records. Please also contact us if you have any issues obtaining an EPC, or where the grade is below an E.

Insurance (increased rebuild costs) – make sure you check your cover

Following on from our last Property Mailshot (in May 2021) we highlighted the hardening of the commercial property insurance market. We had seen insurers increasing the amount of information required to provide quotations, delays in obtaining quotations and increased premiums.

We are all aware of the current high rates of inflation. Our block policy insurance broker, Lockton, have also made us aware that there have been significant increases in the costs associated with property building works. As a result, please make sure that you are satisfied that the level of your existing insurance cover for rebuild/reinstatement costs are sufficient.

All members (whether under our Lockton block policy or where your own chosen insurance is in place) should review cover and check to make sure that the declared values / reinstatement / rebuild level of cover is correct – bearing in mind the increased costs at present. As always professional advice should be sought and a valuation obtained if you are unsure about the level of cover required.

If you hold insurance with Lockton please contact us if you wish to make any updates to your cover in light of this. If you have your own insurance please provide us with a copy of any updated policy if you do make any changes.

HMRC – rules regarding rent payments from connected parties – a reminder

Where a pension scheme lets its property to a “connected party”, such as the member’s own business, then there are strict rules that apply. These rules include the requirement for rent to be set by an independent red book valuation, for the tenant to pay its rent in full and on time, and the rules prevent the pension scheme allowing outstanding rent to be deferred or written off.

However, during the first phase of the pandemic, HMRC recognised that some businesses were encountering significant hardship and some allowances were made that relaxed the usual connected party requirements. For example, if a connected tenant was able to evidence that they were unable to meet their rent payment obligations, then rent deferrals were permitted in some cases.

However, HMRC have now issued guidance reminding providers and members of the usual pre-pandemic requirements regarding connected party transactions. Therefore connected party transactions must be treated as if they are on an arm’s length basis, with rents set by independent red book valuation, and all rent due to the scheme must be paid in full (this is the case in all cases, bar very few exceptional situations).

Scottish Property – be aware of this change if you have a Scottish property in your scheme

Under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land) Regulations 2021 (‘the Regulations’), from 1 April 2022 a change to the Scottish property title register came into force. It requires all property to have (controlling) interested parties noted on the title with the aim of it being clear from the title who owns or controls a particular building or piece of land.

Any member who holds Scottish property in their scheme is being asked to review their title to ensure ownership is properly noted. Legal advice may be required to ensure the new title requirements are met.

Property Regulations/Legal Requirements – please be aware of responsibility for these

Where a property is let, the Lease usually specifies that compliance with laws and regulations in respect of the property fall to the tenant. However that is not always the case, it depends on the terms of the Lease/Licence and if there are any shared or communal areas these generally remain the duty of the property owner. If a property is vacant then regulations will remain with the owner.

The type of regulations that need to be considered and met are Fire Risk Assessments, Gas and Electrical Safety, Asbestos management, Legionella (water) management, and many others may also apply. It is your responsibility to ensure you establish what is required for your property and make sure any requirements/regulations are met.

There is also a duty on property owners to be forthcoming with information to their insurers, with details of reports or regulations in place so we would also urge you to provide any such details to your insurer. If your insurance is under our block policy with Lockton please contact us with the relevant information and we can forward this on to them.

Vacant Property – what happens where there is no tenant?

It remains the case that there are a higher than usual number of vacant commercial properties across the country. If your scheme is holding a vacant property at any time (unless it is being developed or there is an imminent plan to sell) you must actively market the property and keep us and any relevant insurer up to date with the occupation of the property and you must adhere to any relevant vacant property insurance conditions.

When the property is vacant the pension scheme will be liable for business rates (once any empty property rate relief period has ended) and will also be liable for any service charges and standing charges for utilities etc. You must make arrangements for these to be directed to the pension scheme for payment whilst the property is vacant.

It is also important to be aware that if the property is vacant all responsibility for compliance with regulations such as fire safety and asbestos fall to the pension scheme. You must ensure that these are fully complied with.

Once a new tenant is found and you have notified us, we will provide you with our Property Letting Guidance Notes and Letting Form for completion.

Residential property – you must not hold residential property in your pension scheme.

We always like to take the opportunity to remind members that taxation rules still make holding residential property in your pension scheme prohibitive (bar a very few exceptions).

Generally speaking schemes cannot invest in taxable property . Taxable property consists of residential property and most tangible moveable property. In respect of property the list includes:

• a building or structure that is used or suitable for use as a dwelling.
• any related land that is wholly or partly the garden for the building or structure,
• any related land that is wholly or partly grounds for the residential property and which is used or intended for use for a purpose connected with the enjoyment of the building,
• any building or structure on any such related land,
• in limited situations a hotel, which includes an inn, or similar accommodation, will be counted as taxable property though this will only be where it provides accommodation rights such as timeshare. See https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual/ptm125200
• a beach hut
• any building specified in Regulations as residential property.

Pensions Tax Manual on taxable property is at: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual

Please contact us if you have any concerns or queries regarding the above.

About this document

This update is based on our understanding of pension’s law and regulation.

Every care has been taken to ensure that it is correct. It is issued by DP Pensions Ltd for use by our pension clients and their advisers.

Please note that DP Pensions Ltd are not authorised to give financial advice. We do not know all of your circumstances or details of any other pension schemes of which you are a member. You should contact your financial adviser for help on how this legislation may affect you personally.

No responsibility to any third party is accepted if this information is used for any other purpose. The legislation and HMRC practice may change in the future.

If you have any queries regarding the information in this update and how it affects your circumstances then please contact your financial adviser.

We wanted to make you aware of a couple of changes to processes that we have bought in due to changes in legislation:

1. The Stronger Nudge

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has finalised it’s rules regarding “The Stronger Nudge” which became effective from 01/06/2022. The rules require us to encourage a retail client to take pensions guidance if they have not be advised by a regulated financial adviser. The rules also apply when an application is received from the member directly, regardless of whether the member is advised or not.

The processes that this new legislation covers include when a member takes benefits from their plan, transfers in another plan to their SIPP in order to take benefits from it, transfers out from their SIPP or when a beneficiary elects to set up a pension plan.

We have updated our member benefits form, application forms and additional transfer form accordingly and these can be found on our website or can be obtained directly from your dedicated account manager.

2. Transfers out

As you know new rules on transfers out came into force at the end of November 2021. The Pensions Regulator requires us to complete specific due diligence on the receiving arrangement and the investments within it before a transfer out can be finalised. The level of due diligence required depends on the type of receiving scheme.

Carrying out this due diligence may result in us having to call your client to ask questions about how funds in the receiving scheme will be invested eg in overseas investments, and the costs and charges of the new arrangement and investments. Unfortunately we have to make these enquiries directly with the client rather than through yourselves as we normally would. Depending on the answers your client gives we may also need to refer them to the Governments MoneyHelper for guidance before we can process their request to transfer.

As all providers have to carry out this due diligence it may impact the time taken for transfers in to us to be processed as well whilst the transferring schemes complete their due diligence.

We will endeavor to continue to process transfers smoothly and with as little disruption as possible and will copy you in on any correspondence that we send to your client with regard to the transfer.

As you may be aware the government has indicated there will be some relaxation of planning rules and we understand that this may include making it easier to obtain permission to convert some vacant commercial properties to residential.

With this in mind we wanted to contact you to remind you about the very strict HMRC rules surrounding property ownership within your pension scheme, in particular the fact that residential property must not be held within your scheme.

What property can your pension scheme own?

The following lists are not exhaustive but aim to give a brief overview.

You pension can own:

• Freehold/Leasehold commercial land and buildings like offices, shops, factories.
• Land for development.
• Agricultural land.
• Hotels, care homes, halls of residence – subject to certain restrictions.

Your pension cannot own:

• residential property like houses, flats, holiday homes, buy to lets or holiday lets
• any land that is wholly or partly the garden or grounds of a residential property
• Residential Ground rents – which are a type of long leasehold – held in relation to residential property
• Overseas property

Development

If, during the pension scheme’s ownership of a property any type of development is intended, please let us know immediately so that we can discuss proposals with you to ensure no breaches of HMRC rules.

Although your scheme can apply for residential planning please be aware that no form of the residential development can be carried out by a pension scheme and, the property would have to be sold before any residential development was physically commenced.

The property must be legally classed as commercial throughout the pension scheme’s ownership. As such Business Rates should be paid in respect of the property – not Council Tax (which applies only to residential properties).

If you have queries regarding development then please request a copy of our separate Property Development Guide in the first instance.

Consequences of failure to adhere to HMRC rules

If a scheme directly or indirectly acquires or holds taxable property (residential property or tangible moveable property) this will create an unauthorised payment charge on the member personally (or in some cases on the sponsoring employer) whose scheme acquires the asset. The unauthorised payment tax charge is 40% of the amount of the unauthorised payment (i.e. the purchase price/property value).

There is also a scheme sanction charge of 15% and if the investment exceeds 25% of the fund value then an additional tax charge of 15% applies which would take the total tax charges to 70% of the value of the property purchase price/value.

It is these significant tax charges that makes the holding of residential property prohibitive.

Full details of the consequences for failure to adhere to the HMRC rules can be found in the Pensions Tax Manual:

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual/ptm134000

We hope this proves a helpful reminder of the rules, if you have any queries at all please do contact us.

Elaine Turtle, Director at DP Pensions, discusses how these last 10 months have been difficult for everyone, one way or another, but for pension schemes with property it has been a particularly difficult time.

https://www.sippsprofessional.co.uk/comment-and-blogs/item/4229-elaine-turtle-difficult-times-for-landlords-and-tenants

It seems as if the SIPP sector has been waiting for the judgments on a number of court cases in recent years. As we get clarity on one, we still await another and these can have implications for not only how a SIPP firm operates, but on advisers and their clients.

https://www.sippsprofessional.co.uk/comment-and-blogs/item/4161-elaine-turtle-staveley-case-highlights-advice-need

Elaine Turtle, Director at DP Pensions Ltd, looks at how business owners have used the flexibility of their self-invested pension schemes to keep themselves in business during the current crisis and lockdown.

https://professionalparaplanner.co.uk/case-studies-pensions-keep-businesses-solvent-during-c-19-crisis/

We confirm we have complied with the government’s guidance on managing the risk of COVID-19.

For more information please see our Five Steps to Safe Working Together

Elaine Turtle, Director at DP Pensions, looks at what happens when a scheme pension member dies and how to safely navigate the arrangement’s quirks.

https://www.retirement-planner.co.uk/239016/elaine-turtle-quirky-scheme-pension-death-benefit-rules-explained

Dear all,

In line with Government advice and to look after the wellbeing of our staff, their families and all our clients and advisers, we have an increased number of staff working from home.

Firstly, we want to reassure you that we have the resource, systems and technology in place to continue working in the usual way, and to support any of your requests. While there will clearly be some changes to our ways of working in the coming weeks and months, it’s important to stress that we are here, and available, when you need us. Our utmost priority remains delivering a high standard of service for you.

Our adaptable internal processes mean that all our staff are able to work remotely and securely. Any reduction in office staff should have minimal effect on us answering your calls or acting on any instructions, but please bear with us.

Remember we are also available via email, so please get in touch with us using this method where possible during this period. Your dedicated account manager will gladly call you back so don’t forget to leave your number if we don’t already have it.

Secondly, any face-to-face meetings or popping into the office is now cancelled or postponed to protect you and our staff – some of whom will have vulnerable relatives.

To ensure you can continue to talk to us, should you feel the need, we are more than committed to hosting meetings online and remotely. We can hold these if you have a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet and we will be happy to arrange a video meeting. Or simply pick up the phone and speak to us.

We hope you are well and stay safe.

We thought it would be helpful to provide you with information regarding our deadlines for our processes in relation to the tax year end. If you have any queries please let us know.

Contributions

For existing clients wishing to make an ad hoc contribution we can accept completed contribution application forms and funds by either electronic transfer or by cheque up to and including the Friday 3rd April 2020. If the contribution application form is not fully completed the date of the contribution will be the date we receive all the information required to be able to process the contribution, which means that the contribution may fall into the 2020/21 tax year. We are happy to accept scanned contribution application forms by e-mail and will confirm if we require any further information. Note that payment must have been received by close of business on Friday 3rd April 2020 for it to count in this tax year. Please do not arrange for a contribution to be made without the contribution application form having been completed and signed by the client first.

New SIPPs

Due to the high volume of SIPPs received at the end of the tax year we would ask that all new SIPPs with supporting contributions are received by the Wednesday 1st April 2020. We are happy to accept scanned forms. If you have an urgent SIPP to be set up within the tax year but after this date please contact us to discuss the details.

Pension Payments

Pension Payments are paid on the last working day of each month, which will be Tuesday 31st March 2020 for this month. Please ensure that cleared funds are in your client’s SIPP bank account by the Tuesday 24th March 2020. If any changes are to be made to a client’s level of pension payments or any clients want to start receiving pension payments for the first time please provide us with the completed paperwork by the Tuesday 24th March 2020. We are happy to accept a scanned copy of the paperwork.

Taking Benefits

We receive a high volume of requests for clients to take benefits from their pension schemes towards the end of the tax year. We may need to obtain valuations from third parties to process a request and this may affect the length of time it takes to complete the process. To be able to make a tax free cash payment or pension payment there needs to be cleared funds in the SIPPs bank account and pension payments will be subject to a cut of date of the Tuesday 24th March 2020. Again, we are happy to accept scanned forms.

If you have any urgent cases please contact us and we will endeavour to get anything processed before the end of the tax year.