Property in Europe: : Law and Practice

Citation

Lou Downie, M. (1999), "Property in Europe: : Law and Practice", Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 109-112. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpif.1999.17.1.109.2

This book is a useful and impressive addition to the collections of European property information which have proliferated during the 1990s. We already have accounts of property markets, planning and valuation systems and urban regeneration. Now we also have an account of property law in no fewer than 19 western European countries, a wider spread than that of any of the other comparable texts. These books have been provided in response to our ignorance about how other countries operate their property markets. They seek to meet a need for information which was created by the development of the single European market in goods and services, and by the globalisation of property occupation and investment. This book, following a tried and tested model, uses experts in each country to contribute an account of their home system of property law.

The editor’s aim was to provide “a basic guide, which enabled a business or professional to enter any country in the EU, and its neighbours, with a preliminary understanding of the issues and with confidence that they were not in totally unknown territory”. He intends it for everyone in industry, commerce and the property business and not professionals alone.

There are probably two main challenges in fulfilling this remit. The first is deciding how much detail to include and what to sacrifice. Considering the possible scope of such a text, and the limitations of a single chapter, this decision must have been difficult.

The outcome is a common chapter format devoting about five pages to each country’s system of ownership, interests in land, title and its registration. A very practical three‐page account follows describing how a transaction proceeds and the law involved. This is so far tuned to the reader’s practical interests as to provide percentage estimates of the fees, not only of the lawyer or notary involved, but also of the agent or broker. There is a section on leases, which covers the usual lease details and extends to comments on security of tenure, other legislative restrictions and methods of floor area measurement for rent calculation. In some cases the arrangements for residential and commercial leases are distinguished. An interesting two to three pages are devoted to outlining finance sources, the types of investors active in the market and the law relating to mortgage security. Although the comments on the active investors are up to date, they are descriptive only and not supported by data on their relative importance or the volume of their investments. Since the relative influence of different types of investor varies over time, this analysis is likely to date.

Despite its critical importance to property users and investors, the planning and building regulation system warrants a mere two to four pages in each chapter. Within this are sections on the planning authorities, plan making and zoning, development control, building control, building conservation and compulsory purchase. The input on the latter two subjects is variable and rather disappointing, in some cases being a single sentence alerting us to a hidden iceberg. Some chapters helpfully name the main items of relevant legislation, to provide readers with a pointer for future research, whereas others leave us without any directions.

Environmental matters are afforded two to three pages per country, reflecting their growing importance. Once again some authors provide names and dates of the legislation, others are more vague.

The section on development opens with a short summary of the normal vehicles and structures and then describes contract forms, their usual terms, the parties involved, remedies for defects, fees, taxes and copyright of the building design. These sections provide an interesting comparative study of the control of the construction phase, since each one describes where responsibility lies in dealing with the usual problems of construction defects, delay and budgeting.

The four pages devoted to taxation can only hope to highlight the main areas of property‐related taxation. Inheritance tax, for instance, merits a single sentence in the chapter on England and Wales. Comparing this section between the countries, the coverage of various taxes appears to be rather uneven, with VAT featuring strongly.

A short section on grants and incentives is followed by a description of companies and other business entities, notably partnerships, co‐operatives and joint ventures, and finally by a section on international issues. These include any restrictions on inward investment, operating a business, repatriation of income and profits from property, withholding taxes and double taxation relief. The latter two issues can offer little information of practical use due to the individual treaties between the countries involved, which are too numerous and varied to list.

The balance between the different sections, and the amount of space devoted to each, vary relatively little between the countries. Overall, the editor’s emphasis is sensibly on ownership, leasehold arrangements and the process of a transaction, which is undoubtedly of prime interest to the stated readership.

Some readers, whose particular interests are barely touched on, will wish for more detail. The format, a single book covering so many countries, means that they must be disappointed. However, they might have felt the disappointment less keenly if the authors had given some leads to further reading. Obviously there may not always be English language material available on issues of minority interest, but there are some which are not referred to. Overall the lack of references, for instance to books such as Volhard and Weber’s on German real property law, to the translations of some German legislation prepared by the Association of German Mortgage Banks, and in some cases to the titles and dates of the critical items of legislation, is a serious omission and detracts from the usefulness of the text.

Apart from deciding what to include and to exclude, the second challenge to the editor in this type of book is to co‐ordinate the contributors, to provide that level of information, no more and no less, and to update it all to the moment when the manuscript is submitted to the publisher. Insofar as can be judged, this has been achieved brilliantly. The consistency in treatment of the subject areas is an editorial triumph. So too are the quality and consistency of the English language employed. I found very few instances of inappropriate or awkward translations and generally the text reads easily and clearly. Some chapter authors provide their own terminology, alongside the English version. Others give very little of their own language, which seems to be a missed opportunity. There is an adequate index for each country, but referring to English words only.

This text is a valuable contribution to the slow progress of international property understanding. Apart from its stated audience it will be useful for students of property‐related subjects via their university library. As with any law text, time will make it obsolete and the editor will have an unenviable task if he decides to update it with further editions. It is, however, to be hoped that he will think it worthwhile.