Dutch association joins European Property Federation

Dutch real estate association Vastgoed Belang has joined the European Property Federation (EPF).

Jan Kamminga and Co Koning, chairman and managing director of Vastgoed Belang, said joining the EPF made it easier for real estate owners in the Netherlands to influence important European Union (EU) policies that relate to the sector.

'In the Netherlands we have experience of EU real estate policy because the EU has been the catalyst for liberalisation of the Dutch property market,' Kamminga and Koning said. 'EU state aid rules have limited the freedom of social housing companies to use their accumulated subsidies to compete with private landlords for middle-income tenants and EU economic governance is targeting counterproductive rent controls. Our membership of EPF will enable active private Dutch real estate involvement in the making of EU policy.'

John Frederiksen and Reinhold Lennebo, president and chairman of the managing committee of EPF, said, 'Vastgoed Belang is the biggest representative of organised real estate interests in the Netherlands. We look forward to working with Vastgoed Belang and, through it, with the Dutch component of European government.'

Vastgoed Belang
The Vastgoed Belang association was founded - in its present form - in 1996. Previous institutional forms of the association go back to 1894. The main objective of the association is to create a sustainable investment climate in which a decent profit on investment can be achieved.

Vastgoed Belang is an organisation with six local departments - each with their own management board. The central board of Vastgoed Belang is formed by representatives from the six local departments - all together under the supervision of an independant chairman. The monitoring body of the association is formed by the Members Council.

In 2011 - under supervision of Vastgoed Belang - a separate foundation was established to unite the top segment investors among our members (Professioneel Platform Vastgoed). The establishment of a separate foundation for mid-section investors is still in progress. The Vastgoed Belang association has a total of 4,500 members.

EPF represents all aspects of property ownership and investment: residential landlords, housing companies, commercial property investment and development companies, shopping centres and the property interests of the institutional investors (banks, insurance companies, pension funds). Members own and manage property assets valued at €1.5 tln.