The Dutch version of the tax-efficient real estate investment trust (REIT) regime moved to a more equal footing with its European counterparts at the beginning of the year when the law changed to allow them to provide ancillary services to tenants, the EPRA Insight Amsterdam event heard earlier this week.

The Dutch version of the tax-efficient real estate investment trust (REIT) regime moved to a more equal footing with its European counterparts at the beginning of the year when the law changed to allow them to provide ancillary services to tenants, the EPRA Insight Amsterdam event heard earlier this week.

Opening the annual event at the Amsterdam offices of Loyens & Loeff, Ronald Wijs, a partner at the law firm, noted that listed Dutch REITs were instrumental in bringing about the amendment to the regime which came into effect on 1 January.

This was a response to investors and tenants who are increasingly seeking more value-add services from property owners, including REITs, Wijs said. 'That was not always possible under the old regime in place until the end of 2013. REITs could not always provide the services they wanted to provide.'

This changed on 1 January when the law was modified to allow REITs to expand the scope of their activities, alongside their main task of investing in real estate. They can now enter into certain types of ancillary activities such as in-house catering in an office building or marketing activities for tenants of shopping centres. All these activities can be carried out by a Dutch REIT via a taxable subsidiary.

Wijs: 'This is a major improvement. It gives more room to manoeuvre for Dutch REITs and goes some way to restoring a level playing field in Europe so that Dutch REITs are able in a better way to compete with the REITs in other countries.'