Suffolk Life has made a raft of changes to its Sipp property fees to help advisers move dissatisfied property investors away from other providers.

The firm said it has consistently highlighted Sipp exit fees as a barrier to investors who want to change Sipp provider, and it stressed that commercial property can attract the highest of these fees.

To support advisers and their clients who want to move yet find these exit fees daunting, Suffolk Life has reduced its own fees for the transfer of in specie properties as well as contributing towards legal costs.

Suffolk Life's in specie Sipp property pricing changes include:

· Waiving the Master Sipp establishment fee – normally £300
· Waiving all cash transfer in fees - £75 to £300
· Halving the property acquisition fee to £725 – normally £1450 (when a panel solicitor is used)
· Paying Sipp legal fees if Suffolk Life's choice of solicitor is used (Birketts LLP)
· The total cost saving per property will not be less than £1,400.

Greg Kingston, head of marketing and proposition for Suffolk Life, said: "High exit fees are putting off advisers from recommending a change of provider, and Sipp property investors often baulk at the cost of making the change, even from a provider who's no longer providing the service they need.
"Controlling overly-high exit fees is a matter for the regulator rather than us, but we can help by reducing our own costs as much as possible to lower the overall cost of a transfer."

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Dominic Savage, Suffolk Life's property director said: "In specie Sipp property transfers are infrequent, doubtless due to fear of high cost.
"However, having recently transferred in excess of 500 commercial properties in specie through our Sipp acquisition strategy, combined with putting in place a highly effective panel of solicitors, has meant that we're able to manage the process smoothly and efficiently at a lower cost."
Suffolk Life will trial the new fee structure until the end of June 2014.