Property funds (PAIFs and REITs)

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis

Property funds come in different guises but, in each case, their primary purpose is to facilitate collective investment in real estate. Investment in real property is popular and often seen as lower risk than investing on the equity markets.

As with other fund-types, collective (as opposed to independent) investment in real estate offers many advantages. These include:

  1. •

    the ability to share investment risk—funds can afford to take greater investment risk because risk is spread more widely and, as a result, they can potentially access higher rewards

  2. •

    access to a larger and more diverse portfolio of property assets that an individual investor would be able to afford, and

  3. •

    professional investment management

Collective investment in real property has been widely encouraged. Developments in the UK's tax regime to ensure that tax does not hinder or dissuade collective investment in property funds have been rapid over the last few years. Central to the UK's regime has been the development of:

  1. •

    the UK real estate investment trust (REIT), and

  2. •

    the property authorised investment fund (PAIF)

REITs v PAIFs

There is a good deal of overlap

To view the latest version of this document and thousands of others like it, sign-in with LexisNexis or register for a free trial.

Existing user? Sign-in TAKE A FREE TRIAL
Powered by Lexis+®
Latest Tax News

Tax—publication of Finance Bill 2026

Tax analysis: The government published Finance Bill 2026, also known as Finance (No 2) Bill 2024–26 and Finance Bill 2025–26 (FB 2026), on 4 December 2025.

Tax weekly highlights—4 December 2025

This week's edition of Tax weekly highlights includes: (1) publication of Finance Bill 2026, (2) publication of the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill, (3) the delayed publication of the Overview of Tax Legislation and Rates (OOTLAR) setting out details of tax measures announced at Budget 2025 and of previously announced measures that are included in FB 2026, and (4) a reminder of our full Budget 2025 coverage and upcoming related news.

Private Client—publication of Finance Bill 2026

Private Client analysis: Finance (No 2) Bill 2024–26 (F(No 2)B 2024–26), also known as Finance Bill 2026 and to be enacted as Finance Act 2026, was published on 4 December 2025.

FTT stays the taxpayer’s appeal on exempt supply of land for service charges, provisionally siding with HMRC’s arguments (Places for People Homes Ltd v HMRC)

Tax analysis: In Places for People Homes Ltd v HMRC the First-tier Tax Tribunal (FTT) found in favour of HMRC that certain supplies made by maintenance trust companies were taxable, rather than exempt supplies under Schedule 9, Group 1 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA 1994) (exemption for supplies relating to land).

View Tax by content type :  
News
Practice notes
Precedents
Q&As

Popular documents

If a rentcharge is shown as being informally exonerated on title information, does this apply to the

If a rentcharge is shown as being informally exonerated on title information, does this apply to the current registered owner? Or does the informal exoneration only apply to the parties to the document which informally exonerated the rentcharge?This Q&A considers the situation where, at some

Strike out—making an application to strike out a statement of case

Strike out—making an application to strike out a statement of caseA strike out order can be made either following an application by the parties or on the court's own initiative. This Practice Note deals with the scenario of the order being made following a party's application.Making an application

Contributory negligence in personal injury claims

Contributory negligence in personal injury claimsContributory negligence is a partial defence which can lead to a discount in damages.Other defences may also be relevant. See Practice Notes: Did the claimant consent to the risk of injury? and Was the claimant involved in an illegal activity?If a

Can shares in a limited company that have not been paid-up at all be cancelled?

Can shares in a limited company that have not been paid-up at all be cancelled?A limited company having a share capital may not alter that share capital, except in the ways listed in section 617 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006). Shares in a company cannot simply be cancelled without following an
If a rentcharge is shown as being informally exonerated on title information, does this apply to the

If a rentcharge is shown as being informally exonerated on title information, does this apply to the

If a rentcharge is shown as being informally exonerated on title information, does this apply to the current registered owner? Or does the informal exoneration only apply to the parties to the document which informally exonerated the rentcharge?This Q&A considers the situation where, at some

Strike out—making an application to strike out a statement of case

Strike out—making an application to strike out a statement of case

Strike out—making an application to strike out a statement of caseA strike out order can be made either following an application by the parties or on the court's own initiative. This Practice Note deals with the scenario of the order being made following a party's application.Making an application

Contributory negligence in personal injury claims

Contributory negligence in personal injury claims

Contributory negligence in personal injury claimsContributory negligence is a partial defence which can lead to a discount in damages.Other defences may also be relevant. See Practice Notes: Did the claimant consent to the risk of injury? and Was the claimant involved in an illegal activity?If a

Can shares in a limited company that have not been paid-up at all be cancelled?

Can shares in a limited company that have not been paid-up at all be cancelled?

Can shares in a limited company that have not been paid-up at all be cancelled?A limited company having a share capital may not alter that share capital, except in the ways listed in section 617 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006). Shares in a company cannot simply be cancelled without following an