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Commission Regulation (EC) No 2238/2004 of 29 December 2004 amending Regulation (EC) No 1725/2003 adopting certain international accounting standards in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards IASs IFRS 1, IASs Nos 1 to 10, 12 to 17, 19 to 24, 27 to 38, 40 and 41 and SIC Nos 1 to 7, 11 to 14, 18 to 27 and 30 to 33 

Content

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1. The objective of this Standard is to prescribe the accounting treatment for investment property and related disclosure requirements.

2. This Standard shall be applied in the recognition, measurement and disclosure of investment property.

3. Among other things, this Standard applies to the measurement in a lessee’s financial statements of investment property interests held under a lease accounted for as a finance lease and to the measurement in a lessor’s financial statements of investment property provided to a lessee under an operating lease. This Standard does not deal with matters covered in IAS 17 Leases, including:

(a) classification of leases as finance leases or operating leases;

(b) recognition of lease income from investment property (see also IAS 18 Revenue);

(c) measurement in a lessee’s financial statements of property interests held under a lease accounted for as an operating lease;

(d) measurement in a lessor’s financial statements of its net investment in a finance lease;

(e) accounting for sale and leaseback transactions; and

(f) disclosure about finance leases and operating leases.

4. This Standard does not apply to:

(a) biological assets related to agricultural activity (see IAS 41 Agriculture); and

(b) mineral rights and mineral reserves such as oil, natural gas and similar non-regenerative resources.

5. The following terms are used in this Standard with the meanings specified:

Carrying amount is the amount at which an asset is recognised in the balance sheet.

Fair value is the amount for which an asset could be exchanged between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arm’s length transaction.

Investment property is property (land or a building—or part of a building—or both) held (by the owner or by the lessee under a finance lease) to earn rentals or for capital appreciation or both, rather than for:

(a) use in the production or supply of goods or services or for administrative purposes; or

(b) sale in the ordinary course of business.

Owner-occupied property is property held (by the owner or by the lessee under a finance lease) for use in the production or supply of goods or services or for administrative purposes.

6. A property interest that is held by a lessee under an operating lease may be classified and accounted for as investment property if, and only if, the property would otherwise meet the definition of an investment property and the lessee uses the fair value model set out in paragraphs 33-55 for the asset recognised. This classification alternative is available on a property-by-property basis. However, once this classification alternative is selected for one such property interest held under an operating lease, all property classified as investment property shall be accounted for using the fair value model. When this classification alternative is selected, any interest so classified is included in the disclosures required by paragraphs 74-78.

7. Investment property is held to earn rentals or for capital appreciation or both. Therefore, an investment property generates cash flows largely independently of the other assets held by an entity. This distinguishes investment property from owner-occupied property. The production or supply of goods or services (or the use of property for administrative purposes) generates cash flows that are attributable not only to property, but also to other assets used in the production or supply process. IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment applies to owner-occupied property.

8. The following are examples of investment property:

(a) land held for long-term capital appreciation rather than for short-term sale in the ordinary course of business.

(b) land held for a currently undetermined future use. (If an entity has not determined that it will use the land as owner-occupied property or for short-term sale in the ordinary course of business, the land is regarded as held for capital appreciation).

(c) a building owned by the entity (or held by the entity under a finance lease) and leased out under one or more operating leases.

(d) a building that is vacant but is held to be leased out under one or more operating leases.

9. The following are examples of items that are not investment property and are therefore outside the scope of this Standard:

(a) property intended for sale in the ordinary course of business or in the process of construction or development for such sale (see IAS 2 Inventories), for example, property acquired exclusively with a view to subsequent disposal in the near future or for development and resale.

(b) property being constructed or developed on behalf of third parties (see IAS 11 Construction Contracts).

(c) owner-occupied property (see IAS 16), including (among other things) property held for future use as owner-occupied property, property held for future development and subsequent use as owner-occupied property, property occupied by employees (whether or not the employees pay rent at market rates) and owner-occupied property awaiting disposal.

(d) property that is being constructed or developed for future use as investment property. IAS 16 applies to such property until construction or development is complete, at which time the property becomes investment property and this Standard applies. However, this Standard applies to existing investment property that is being redeveloped for continued future use as investment property (see paragraph 58).

(e) property that is leased to another entity under a finance lease. 10. Some properties comprise a portion that is held to earn rentals or for capital appreciation and another portion that is held for use in the production or supply of goods or services or for administrative purposes. If these portions could be sold separately (or leased out separately under a finance lease), an entity accounts for the portions separately. If the portions could not be sold separately, the property is investment property only if an insignificant portion is held for use in the production or supply of goods or services or for administrative purposes.

11. In some cases, an entity provides ancillary services to the occupants of a property it holds. An entity treats such a property as investment property if the services are insignificant to the arrangement as a whole. An example is when the owner of an office building provides security and maintenance services to the lessees who occupy the building.

12. In other cases, the services provided are significant. For example, if an entity owns and manages a hotel, services provided to guests are significant to the arrangement as a whole. Therefore, an owner-managed hotel is owner-occupied property, rather than investment property.

13. It may be difficult to determine whether ancillary services are so significant that a property does not qualify as investment property. For example, the owner of a hotel sometimes transfers some responsibilities to third parties under a management contract. The terms of such contracts vary widely. At one end of the spectrum, the owner’s position may, in substance, be that of a passive investor. At the other end of the spectrum, the owner may simply have outsourced day-to-day functions while retaining significant exposure to variation in the cash flows generated by the operations of the hotel.

14. Judgement is needed to determine whether a property qualifies as investment property. An entity develops criteria so that it can exercisethat judgement consistently in accordance with the definition of investment property and with the related guidance in paragraphs 7-13. Paragraph 75(c) requires an entity to disclose these criteria when classification is difficult.

15. In some cases, an entity owns property that is leased to, and occupied by, its parent or another subsidiary. The property does not qualify as investment property in the consolidated financial statements, because the property is owner-occupied from the perspective of the group. However, from the perspective of the entity that owns it, the property is investment property if it meets the definition in paragraph 5. Therefore, the lessor treats the property as investment property in its individual financial statements.

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