One Stop Commercial Property Partnership

A strategic professional partnership has been formed by property investment advisers McEwan Fraser, Clydesdale Bank, independent financial advisers Coggans Wood and Warners the solicitors to help property investors take advantage of the generous tax advantages available when purchasing commercial property through a pension.

For a variety of reasons, many people have turned their back on traditional equity-based pensions. It may be that many people have simply lost confidence in pensions to fund their retirement because of the recent poor performance of the stock market and the pension mis-selling scandals. The blunt truth, however, is that people need to wake up to the fact that if they don't make provisions for their retirement, no-one else will.

As a result, many people have turned their attention to property investing to fund their retirement. With the new simplified pension rules they can do this - but in the much more tax-efficient wrapper of a self-invested personal pension (SIPP). McEwan Fraser has already helped a number of clients source commercial properties for a SIPP and are one of only a few property companies in the UK that specialise in this market place.

Working out what type of commercial property is best suited to your SIPP depends upon a number of different factors. Investors will need expert professional advice on how best to achieve their target pension income from commercial property when they retire.

Although financial advisers can make recommendations about how your pension fund should be invested, they don't have the experience or authority to make recommendations on what type of commercial property would be best suited to their client's pension fund, nor do they have the ability to source such properties.

This is why forward-thinking financial advisers are forming strategic partnerships with professional property companies with experience in the commercial property market to offer their clients a solution in this market place. We believe it is imperative that clients have the opportunity to either invest in retail, industrial, offices or hotels depending upon their personal circumstances.

The main advantage of a commercial property SIPP is that your rental income grows tax-free in the fund. When you come to sell it, you will be free from capital gains tax as long as you own property in the United Kingdom.

The new rules also mean you don't have to buy a compulsory annuity when you reach the age of 75 and, under the proposed new legislation, you will also be able to pass on pension assets to your heirs.

The problem most people face is where to find an organisation that can:

1. Find and recommend the right type of commercial properties suitable for a SIPP;

2. Find an IFA who is regulated by the FSA to give advice on pensions - and who can also set up a SIPP;

3. Find a bank that can offer borrowing against a SIPP and who fully understands SIPPs;

4. Find a legal firm which has the expertise in commercial SIPP conveyancing.

The simple answer is no single organisation can offer investors a total solution to all of the above, and this is why we set up our partnership.

We offer investors easy access to a one-stop solution to setting up a SIPP and each of the participating companies work together on your behalf to ensure that your property SIPP is set up with the minimum of time and complications". McEwan Fraser can of course work with other partners you may already have existing relationships with.