Question: What are your goals for your presidency of the BPF?

Ian Coull: The BPF has for the last four years, under the leadership of Liz Peace, really redefined itself as being the organisation that represents members who are investing in or developing real estate.

So my goals are to deliver what is best for that membership, during the course of the year.

Clearly the biggest single issue we have on the agenda is the introduction of real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the UK. In my year of presidency, we have put a great deal of commitment and effort into this and we are going through the final consultation process.

It will be in the Finance Bill in March and will be debated in the House of Commons. Other than this my goals have been to deal with other developmental matters which impact on ownership of property: the Planning Gain Supplement and the Commercial Lease Code of Practice.

We are also conscious that the public view of owners of real estate is, at best, mixed. Some of the stories that people read about in the press really don't reflect the overwhelming majority of the property industry.

What we need to do, and are trying to do, is promote some of the many positive benefits to the economy and the community arising from the work of industry.

Question: Property issues have risen up the government’s agenda. What are the big issues facing the industry?

Ian Coull: As I already touched upon, the biggest single issue is the introduction of REITs into the UK.

The government has also said, back in their pre-Budget statement in November, that they are looking at introducing a Planning Gain Supplement which is another form of development land tax.

The third is that two years ago the government was very keen to legislate for a number of changes to the existing landlord-tenant relationship in the UK and, in particular, they were concerned about upward rent reviews. We managed to persuade them not to legislate and, in fairness, most of the other organisations who had an interest in this were also against legislation.

However, they are monitoring this and it is still on the back burner. We are working very hard to change how we operate within the industry so that the government will realise that there is no need to legislate.

Question: One of the BPF's key lobbying campaigns has been for the introduction of REITs. Should the Treasury implement a REIT regime that meets the industry’s requirements, how will that change the landscape of the UK commercial property industry?

Ian Coull: The REITs issue is moving forward at a pace and we are now assured that the government is going to include legislation for REITs in the Finance Bill.

They issued the draft legislation for consultation just before Christmas and that consultation is still is continuing.

I think there is a widespread view throughout not just the UK but the global economy too, that we in the UK must have a REIT regime in place very soon.

The only other major economy in the world which does not have a REIT regime is Germany, and they are also working their way through REIT legislation.

If we don't have it in the UK we could end up being the only major economy without REITs and what that would mean is that the global capital which is so fundamental for the creation of the space that leads to enterprise and job creation, and all the good things our economy needs, will dry up.

The global capital will move to other areas where they can get better returns. So we in the BPF believe that a REIT is an essential platform for us going forward, and it will lead to more development and redevelopment, more flexible opportunities for tenants.

Buildings and space are at the sharp end of enterprise, and the opportunity for the UK to be able to innovate and be entrepreneurial will depend to a very large extent on the ability of capital to provide the space.

Question: Are you optimistic that in the coming years the commercial property industry will become more widely understood and recognised as integral to a strong economy and an important delivery agent for government policies?

Ian Coull: I am cautiously optimistic. I think we have made massive progress and there is a wider recognition of the role that real estate has to play in the UK economy at government level and also within the public at large. We do, however, really need to continue to promote the message of what we are doing and what we can do.

I am optimistic, but it is a cautious optimism, because we are a huge industry, the biggest companies and organisations who are involved in real estate are very responsible and have standards of behaviour that are alongside the best in the world.

Of course there is a very long tail of people involved in real estate who build, develop and own sometimes just one building or flat and all the good work done by the big companies can be undone by one story of an absentee landlord mistreating a tenant.

Question: Do you think the BPF's relationship with government has improved over the last four years?

Ian Coull: Our relationship is dramatically better, Liz Peace is an ex-civil servant and understands the working of government far better than anyone who has ever been at the senior levels of the BPF before and that has been a revelation for us.

She has guided us in engaging with government in an entirely different way to the way we did four years ago.

We are now much more focused on finding ways to help the government deliver their agenda, rather than constantly being in conflict with what we perceived as government initiatives that were damaging the real estate industry.

We are now much more in the frame of mind that the government, by and large, want to see a healthy real estate industry, and they recognise it has real benefits for enterprise and the economy as a whole.

They want to see fairness for landlords and tenants, and flexibility which will make us competitive internationally. So we are now more prepared to work with government to find ways to solve problems. Our relationship is much better today and I think it will continue to grow and evolve.