Material uncertainty on property valuations clears but fund suspensions likely to stay

RICS to remove MUC guidance

The path for suspended UK property funds to reopen has finally cleared with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) removing guidance on "material uncertainty" in the valuation of their underlying holdings.

A number of funds across the IA UK Direct Property sector remain suspended after independent valuers instigated Material Uncertainty Clauses (MUCs) in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, with billions of pounds of investor capital locked up in the vehicles since early March. While fund suspensions remain in place, RICS has today (9 September) said that valuation uncertainty no longer applies to a number of areas of the UK property market, having been gradually removing MUCs from certain subsectors since early summer. Recommending a "general lifting" of material valuation uncertainty...