The top 7 reasons clients choose IPM over the competition

As regular followers of our content will note, we often share articles that talk about commercial property ownership in a SIPP.

This is a big part of what we do, and we own more than 1,100 properties on behalf of our clients. In fact, in 2023, 58% of the SIPPs IPM established invested in a commercial property.

Some commercial property-focused articles you may find useful:

Over the past few years, as well as helping adviser firms of all different sizes with commercial property transactions within SIPPs, we are also pleased to have been appointed to various panels or approved lists of larger, national IFA firms and networks.

We enjoy the whole “no one size fits all” approach to this work and helping advisers deliver solutions to their clients.

We regularly receive feedback from our advisers as to why they like working with IPM and, in particular, why they choose IPM as their SIPP provider of choice for commercial property purchase over all the other providers in the market.

So, here are the top seven reasons why advisers choose IPM over the competition.

1. Cost

When an adviser is considering a SIPP provider for a property purchase, one of the two main things they ask us about is cost.

Like in any other circumstance, cost is an important factor. When it comes to SIPP property transactions, the charges applied by providers can vary significantly. The third scenario here shows how IPM’s approach can benefit clients.

Our approach to charging is that we like to keep things simple:

We charge a flat annual fee of £580 + VAT regardless of fund value
We do not charge for setting up a SIPP, most transfers in, contributions, or making non-property investments
For property, we charge a one-off fee for buying a property (£550 + VAT)
There are also additional fees where borrowing is required or where a property is VAT-registered.

Where we differ from many of our competitors is that we do not charge an annual property fee, an annual group fee or an annual borrowing fee.

Over the lifetime of a commercial property SIPP, which can be many years and also apply to any nominated beneficiaries of a client, this can have a significant impact as demonstrated in the above example.

Furthermore, where a property is being acquired by more than one SIPP, any charges we apply on the property are split between the clients involved. For example, where two SIPPs are buying a property, we divide the property purchase fee by two, so £275 + VAT per SIPP.

2. Service

The second question advisers often ask us relates to our service. Although difficult to quantify, as a bespoke SIPP provider the level of service we provide is what sets us apart from other providers. This is never more important than when purchasing a property within a SIPP.

Unlike other traditional SIPP investments, property purchase can usually be more emotive and involve many moving parts. This is especially true if there is a connection between the property being acquired and the client’s business.

You need to be able to build relationships with the people handling the purchase to resolve any complications that may arise during a transaction.

Given the number of properties we hold, we employ a dedicated property team and they represent more than a third of our total staff numbers.

Half of the team handles the purchases we undertake, meaning that we allocate an individual member of the team to a transaction as a personal point of contact. The remainder of the team provides additional support throughout the purchase and beyond.

Unlike large insurance companies, we do not have automated phone systems. So, when your call is answered, you can ask for the individual you would like to speak to and be put through to them directly. You can also email individuals as opposed to generic mailboxes. Our team will always respond to you as soon as they can.

3. Experience

For us, experience boils down to two key issues.

The first is the number of years our team have been working in SIPP property and with IPM. Almost half of our property team have at least 20 years’ experience in SIPP purchases, most of those years with IPM.

This gives comfort that the people you are building relationships with remain with the IPM for the long term and are familiar with not only IPM processes, but the HMRC guidance that govern SIPPs.

The other point is that, while no two property purchases are ever the same, this combined experience means we rarely find ourselves in a situation that we have not previously experienced.

Like with any property transaction, things can sometimes not go according to plan or require a solution to be found. While we cannot guarantee that we can resolve every issue we encounter, the background of our team combined with our tailored approach to each scenario gives us the best chance of finding a resolution to any problems that may arise.

4. Few panels

IPM’s approach to our SIPP is to give people as much flexibility as possible when it comes to the third parties that clients work with.

That said, for ease of administration of the SIPP, there are times when we defer to the use of third parties and this will have beneficial outcomes for all concerned. When it comes to property purchase, this will include:

Panel Solicitors

It should be remembered that, during a purchase, it is IPM that is the buyer (as opposed to the SIPP beneficiary). As the property is being bought in a SIPP, there are various HMRC guidelines that must be followed to ensure that the SIPP does not fall foul of any tax charges.

This is most important at the point of acquisition, which is why we prefer for our panel solicitors to act for the SIPP. Clients can appoint their own solicitor to act for the SIPP if they wish, but IPM will require a member of our panel to oversee the transaction, to protect the SIPP’s interests.

Insurance

Ensuring that properties within our Scheme have adequate insurance cover is imperative to IPM as trustees. Consequently, we operate a block policy to ensure that all the properties we own are fully covered at all times.

Operating this way gives security to IPM that the property is covered and ensures that we can keep our charges competitive. This is because we do not have to follow up on each property individually to ensure it is insured.

In other instances we are happy for clients to appoint whichever third parties they wish to provide services to the SIPP, including:

Surveyors – any RICS surveyor can provide IPM with a valuation.
Banks – if a purchase needs borrowing, clients are able to approach whichever bank or broker they wish to negotiate terms of the loan.
Property managers – IPM will require a property manager to be appointed. However, we do not operate a panel clients must select from and, in some instances, clients can appoint themselves to manage the property.

5. Full bespoke SIPP offering

While, in many instances, a property will take up a significant portion of the SIPP’s value, there may also be residual funds left in the SIPP bank account that need investing. Then, there is also the regular rental income that the SIPP will receive.

As a bespoke provider, IPM does not offer any default investment solutions. We also do not operate panels of platforms, cash solutions, DFMs or bond providers.

All this means you can put in place your preferred investment solution alongside the property within the IPM SIPP.

Furthermore, we do not levy any additional charges for holding other investments within the SIPP.

Once the property has been bought, the annual administration fee will cover the majority of work IPM undertakes in respect of the SIPP including any other investments and the regular investment of any rental income.

6. The people

We mentioned earlier about the service we provide and the wide experience of our team.

This is not limited to our colleagues who deal with properties on a day-to-day basis. Many of our colleagues have been with IPM for more than a decade, and we are increasingly seeing people reach the 20-year milestone!

Keeping our staff turnover low is beneficial for advisers and their clients. When you need to contact IPM, more often than not people you may have previously dealt with will still be with us.

At the other end of the scale, we have recently welcomed our newest member to the property team.

7. Support

You’ve read a lot about the service IPM provides and the pride we take in our team that delivers this.

We are also working hard in other areas to ensure that the IPM SIPP continues to offer advisers and their clients all the support they need.

For example, we maintain an extensive back catalogue of content on our site, with many useful articles covering:

SIPP property purchase including case studies
Examples of properties IPM has bought
Tips for if you are looking at transferring a property in-specie from another SIPP or SSAS.

Head here to browse the full repository of valuable content.

In addition, we have recently introduced two new features to our online offering to advisers.

Get in touch

If you want to have a chat about the potential of SIPPs for your clients, or any other aspects of pension planning, please contact us. Email info@ipm-pensions.co.uk or call 01438 747151.