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About us

How we work

The best time to influence new legislation and regulations is when it is being considered and drafted by civil servants and officials.

We have built excellent working relationships with government departments and other regulatory bodies that deal with issues that affect property, providing them with the industry view.

We are consulted by these bodies and work with them to produce legislation, regulations and policies that are helpful to the industry, and to improve or change those that aren't.

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How we work with government

To achieve our lobbying objective we work with government in a number of different ways.

We:

identify, and build relationships with, key decision makers in government, and in non-governmental organisations, that take decisions affecting the property industry
create opportunities to represent the views of our members with such decision makers, both formally and informally
consult with government about proposed legislation affecting the property industry, through frequent meetings with officials and with ministers and advisers, and through written submissions to consultations
are consulted by government to provide advice on specific issues and are invited to take part in working groups
use the goodwill and understanding generated through this participation to achieve active involvement in setting the policy agenda for property
work closely with organisations representing other aspects of the property industry to provide a co-ordinated voice for the industry as a whole
work collaboratively with NGOs and other professional and trade bodies in developing the guidance and tools necessary to meet emerging regulation
participate in policy-based research to inform and influence those who create policies.

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Our lobbying successes

We have had success in recent years in a number of areas. These include persuading the government to:

introduce real estate investment trusts (REITs), and to allow them to pay their dividends in shares
adopt the idea of tax increment financing - a method of kick-starting regeneration - and to allow pilot schemes
keep non-residential properties out of the scope of its new 5% rate of stamp duty
scrap planning gain supplement and include virtually all of our suggestions on its alternative - community infrastructure levy
encourage institutional investment in the private rented sector, particularly through the Homes and Communities Agency
introduce, and retain, exemption from empty property rates for properties with small rateable values
inject realism into its energy performance and carbon reduction policies relating to property
not abolish upward only rent reviews or introduce legislation on commercial leases.

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Raising the property industry's profile

In addition to lobbying, we also use a range of different means to build awareness of our campaigns and to raise the profile and reputation of the industry.

Although we mainly work directly with government officials, ministers, MPs, MSPs and peers, it is useful if a wider audience - including key non-governmental organisations, local and regional decision makers, the professions and the wider public - are aware of our activities and the positive things occurring within the industry.

We work very closely with the trade, national and local media to get our messages across to a wide audience, issuing press releases and giving interviews on a very regular basis. We heavily rely on our members to provide us with data, case studies, examples and spokespeople to support our campaigns.

We also organise our own conferences and seminars, and take part in other organisations' events to enable us to communicate with people who we would not normally reach.

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Working with other organisations

We also work closely with other trade bodies in the UK and with similar organisations to the BPF in countries around the world, where there are advantages to be gained from pooling our resources or from lobbying in a collective, co-ordinated way.

They include:

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