Committees

Accounting Committee - now part of Finance Committee

To put forward to Government, Parliament and other official bodies the Federation's views and concerns on accounting matters; to respond to proposals for changes to the accounting regimes; to provide members with information about proposed and actual changes, and obtain information from them to assist in the preparation of representations.

Commercial Committee

The Commercial Committee: promotes discussion about potential improvements to the leasing process and advises the BPF on the practical impact of commercial lease issues; helps the BPF respond to proposed legislative change; anticipates potential future flashpoints and deals with these in ways that least encumber the property market and its participants.

The committee links in to the Policy Committee, with issues referred to and from it. Some of the subjects it covers include: commercial lease issues and potential legislation, property management issues (eg service charges, BIDs), property transaction issues (eg land registry), legal remedies (eg forfeiture, distress), the rent review process, and advising on good practice.

Construction Committee

The Construction Committee develops BPF policy on construction matters, oversees the work of the BPF's expert construction working parties and reports to the Policy Committee as appropriate.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee provides a forum to debate and recommend BPF policy on strategic financial issues affecting the property industry, including: taxation; accounting; regulation; financial structures for holding property; new products. The committee reports on its activities and makes recommendations on major policy issues to the Policy Committee. The Finance Committee decides BPF policy on financial issues other than major policy.

The Committee appoints permanent sub-committees and temporary working groups to consider and put forward policy on more detailed technical issues. Permanent sub-committees cover VAT and taxation, and temporary working parties are set up as required.

Insurance Committee

The insurance committee considers prevelant issues regarding insurance in the commercial and residential spheres. Current issues include ways to mitigate risk from flooding and good practice insurance clauses for the Commercial Lease Code.

Planning Committee

The Planning Committee is a sub-committee reporting to the Regeneration & Development Committee. Its principal purpose is to support the R&D Committee on all technical planning and development issues. It responds to planning and development related consultation documents issued by the Government and NGOs; ensures the committee develops and delivers relevant public policy campaigns that meet the needs of the planning and development sector; represents the BPF on internal and external working groups; and represents the planning and development sector on specific research projects and in steering analysis as required.

Policy Committee

This is the key committee that develops BPF policy on all commercial property matters; it oversees the work of the BPF's expert committees and working parties and decides all policy matters of strategic importance to the BPF.

Regeneration & Development Committee

The Regeneration & Development Committee is one of the BPF’s four principal committees, reporting to the Policy Committee. Its principal purpose is to work up BPF policy on all aspects of development, responding to Government proposals but also initiating propositions of its own. It looks in particular at: the provision of - and barriers to - funding for development projects, focusing on what the Government considers to be regeneration projects; the most suitable management/partnership structures for achieving complex development projects, particularly in the Government’s priority areas; the role of the planning system in driving forward developments; other barriers to successful development, such as infrastructure and utility provision; the contribution that the property industry can make to sustainable development; the overall impact of proposed Government regulations (building, health and safety, disability etc) on the construction of developments and their subsequent operation and use. The committee can create sub-committees and working parties where appropriate to consider aspects of its brief in more detail.

REITs Steering Group

To assist in the preparation of the response of the property industry to the March 2004 Consultation Paper on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) - also known as Property Investment Funds (PIFs).

Residential Committee

The main object of this committee is to set the strategic direction of the BPF’s activities on residential matters. Taking account of the organisation’s overall objectives, as set by the Policy Committee, this involves setting the priorities for the BPF’s work on residential issues and committing these to an annual business plan. The Committee also assists the secretariat in its relations with Government and other policymakers, helping to shape its policy and reacting appropriately to others’ interventions. To assist the Committee, two sub-committees report to it, focussing on small landlords' issues and those issues associated with residential property management and mixed-use development. The committee can establish ad hoc task-specific working parties and suggest issues for research.

Residential Management Committee

The purpose of this committee is to address issues which pertain to the practical management of property owned for leasehold within the residential tenancy sector.

Residential Property Committee

The Residential Property Committee develops BPF policy on residential property issues, with particular emphasis on the perspective of the smaller private landlord, and ensures regional representation through the involvement of affiliated local landlord associations.

Scottish Building Standards Committee

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Scottish Commercial Property Committee

This committee is concerned with ways of improving the regulation and practical functioning of the commerical property sector in Scotland, including leasing issues and ways of responding to proposed any proposed legislative changes.

Scottish Planning and Development Committee

This committee considers the implications of the reform in the legislative framework for planning in Scotland and how best to implement it with a view to maximising unencumbered commercial development.

Scottish Policy Board

Oversees the work of the BPF's Scottish branch, the Scottish Property Federation. Decides high level policy and lobbying issues as well as agreeing SPF membership initiatives.

Sustainability Committee

This committee was established to create the sustainability strategy for the BPF, with a primary focus to oversee the development and delivery of the means to measure and improve the energy performance of existing buildings, the Carbon Reduction Commitment and how the industry might agree to measure sustainability factors.

Taxation Committee

The aims of the Taxation Committee are to put forward to Government, Parliament and other financial regulators the BPF's views and concerns on taxation matters, and to offer assistance in formulating proposals for reform; to respond to proposals for change; and to provide BPF members with information about proposed and actual changes to the regulatory regime.

VAT Committee

The aims of the VAT Committee are to put forward to Government, Parliament and other financial regulators the BPF's views and concerns on VAT matters and to offer assistance in formulating proposals for reform; to respond to proposals for change; and to provide BPF members with information about proposed and actual changes to the regulatory regime.