diff --git a/moses-chart-cmd/IOWrapper.cpp b/moses-chart-cmd/IOWrapper.cpp
index bd019cd99..db12dcfd6 100644
--- a/moses-chart-cmd/IOWrapper.cpp
+++ b/moses-chart-cmd/IOWrapper.cpp
@@ -412,9 +412,10 @@ void IOWrapper::OutputTreeFragmentsTranslationOptions(std::ostream &out, Applica
     OutputTranslationOption(out, applicationContext, hypo, sentence, translationId);
 
     const TargetPhrase &currTarPhr = hypo->GetCurrTargetPhrase();
+    boost::shared_ptr<PhraseProperty> property;
 
     out << " ||| ";
-    if (const PhraseProperty *property = currTarPhr.GetProperty("Tree")) {
+    if (currTarPhr.GetProperty("Tree", property)) {
       out << " " << property->GetValueString();
     } else {
       out << " " << "noTreeInfo";
@@ -438,9 +439,10 @@ void IOWrapper::OutputTreeFragmentsTranslationOptions(std::ostream &out, Applica
     OutputTranslationOption(out, applicationContext, applied, sentence, translationId);
 
     const TargetPhrase &currTarPhr = *static_cast<const TargetPhrase*>(applied->GetNote().vp);
+    boost::shared_ptr<PhraseProperty> property;
 
     out << " ||| ";
-    if (const PhraseProperty *property = currTarPhr.GetProperty("Tree")) {
+    if (currTarPhr.GetProperty("Tree", property)) {
       out << " " << property->GetValueString();
     } else {
       out << " " << "noTreeInfo";
diff --git a/moses/FF/TreeStructureFeature.cpp b/moses/FF/TreeStructureFeature.cpp
index 10578982a..b14b888b0 100644
--- a/moses/FF/TreeStructureFeature.cpp
+++ b/moses/FF/TreeStructureFeature.cpp
@@ -271,9 +271,10 @@ FFState* TreeStructureFeature::EvaluateChart(const ChartHypothesis& cur_hypo
                                    , int featureID /* used to index the state in the previous hypotheses */
                                    , ScoreComponentCollection* accumulator) const
 {
-  if (const PhraseProperty *property = cur_hypo.GetCurrTargetPhrase().GetProperty("Tree")) {
-    const std::string &tree = property->GetValueString();
-    TreePointer mytree (new InternalTree(tree));
+  boost::shared_ptr<PhraseProperty> property;
+  if (cur_hypo.GetCurrTargetPhrase().GetProperty("Tree", property)) {
+    const std::string *tree = property->GetValueString();
+    TreePointer mytree (new InternalTree(*tree));
 
     if (m_labelset) {
         AddNTLabels(mytree);
diff --git a/moses/PP/CountsPhraseProperty.cpp b/moses/PP/CountsPhraseProperty.cpp
index f7af18d5b..def07e5da 100644
--- a/moses/PP/CountsPhraseProperty.cpp
+++ b/moses/PP/CountsPhraseProperty.cpp
@@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
 #include "moses/PP/CountsPhraseProperty.h"
 #include <sstream>
 #include <assert.h>
-#include "util/exception.hh"
 
 namespace Moses
 {
 
-void CountsPhraseProperty::ProcessValue()
+void CountsPhraseProperty::ProcessValue(const std::string &value)
 {
-  std::istringstream tokenizer(m_value);
+  std::istringstream tokenizer(value);
 
   if (! (tokenizer >> m_targetMarginal)) { // first token: countE
     UTIL_THROW2("CountsPhraseProperty: Not able to read target marginal. Flawed property?");
@@ -24,7 +23,6 @@ void CountsPhraseProperty::ProcessValue()
     UTIL_THROW2("CountsPhraseProperty: Not able to read joint count. Flawed property?");
   }
   assert( m_jointCount > 0 );
-
 };
 
 } // namespace Moses
diff --git a/moses/PP/CountsPhraseProperty.h b/moses/PP/CountsPhraseProperty.h
index f633381b6..19382fe29 100644
--- a/moses/PP/CountsPhraseProperty.h
+++ b/moses/PP/CountsPhraseProperty.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include "moses/PP/PhraseProperty.h"
+#include "util/exception.hh"
 #include <string>
 #include <list>
 
@@ -28,9 +29,9 @@ class CountsPhraseProperty : public PhraseProperty
 {
 public:
 
-  CountsPhraseProperty(const std::string &value) :  PhraseProperty(value) {};
+  CountsPhraseProperty() {};
 
-  virtual void ProcessValue();
+  virtual void ProcessValue(const std::string &value);
 
   size_t GetSourceMarginal() const {
     return m_sourceMarginal;
@@ -44,6 +45,11 @@ public:
     return m_jointCount;
   }
 
+  virtual const std::string *GetValueString() const { 
+    UTIL_THROW2("CountsPhraseProperty: value string not available in this phrase property");
+    return NULL; 
+  };
+
 protected:
 
   float m_sourceMarginal, m_targetMarginal, m_jointCount;
diff --git a/moses/PP/Factory.cpp b/moses/PP/Factory.cpp
index 0cc891a82..45bdafe36 100644
--- a/moses/PP/Factory.cpp
+++ b/moses/PP/Factory.cpp
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ template <class P> class DefaultPhrasePropertyCreator : public PhrasePropertyCre
 {
 public:
   boost::shared_ptr<PhraseProperty> CreateProperty(const std::string &value) {
-    P* property = new P(value);
-    property->ProcessValue();
+    P* property = new P();
+    property->ProcessValue(value);
     return Create(property);
   }
 };
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ PhrasePropertyFactory::PhrasePropertyFactory()
 
   MOSES_PNAME2("Counts", CountsPhraseProperty);
   MOSES_PNAME2("SourceLabels", SourceLabelsPhraseProperty);
-  MOSES_PNAME2("Tree",TreeStructurePhraseProperty);
+  MOSES_PNAME2("Tree", TreeStructurePhraseProperty);
 
 }
 
diff --git a/moses/PP/PhraseProperty.h b/moses/PP/PhraseProperty.h
index a4353e634..36de46033 100644
--- a/moses/PP/PhraseProperty.h
+++ b/moses/PP/PhraseProperty.h
@@ -11,15 +11,15 @@ namespace Moses
 class PhraseProperty
 {
 public:
-  PhraseProperty(const std::string &value) : m_value(value) {};
+  PhraseProperty() {};
 
-  virtual void ProcessValue() {};
+  virtual void ProcessValue(const std::string &value) { m_value = new std::string(value); };
 
-  const std::string &GetValueString() const { return m_value; };
+  virtual const std::string *GetValueString() const { return m_value; };
 
 protected:
 
-  const std::string m_value;  
+  std::string *m_value;  
 
 };
 
diff --git a/moses/PP/SourceLabelsPhraseProperty.cpp b/moses/PP/SourceLabelsPhraseProperty.cpp
index 6f18480c5..bca5c9a30 100644
--- a/moses/PP/SourceLabelsPhraseProperty.cpp
+++ b/moses/PP/SourceLabelsPhraseProperty.cpp
@@ -7,14 +7,13 @@
 #include <queue>
 #include <assert.h>
 #include <limits>
-#include "util/exception.hh"
 
 namespace Moses
 {
 
-void SourceLabelsPhraseProperty::ProcessValue()
+void SourceLabelsPhraseProperty::ProcessValue(const std::string &value)
 {
-  std::istringstream tokenizer(m_value);
+  std::istringstream tokenizer(value);
 
   if (! (tokenizer >> m_nNTs)) { // first token: number of non-terminals (incl. left-hand side)
     UTIL_THROW2("SourceLabelsPhraseProperty: Not able to read number of non-terminals. Flawed property?");
diff --git a/moses/PP/SourceLabelsPhraseProperty.h b/moses/PP/SourceLabelsPhraseProperty.h
index 049d88f17..39b43ad3e 100644
--- a/moses/PP/SourceLabelsPhraseProperty.h
+++ b/moses/PP/SourceLabelsPhraseProperty.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include "moses/PP/PhraseProperty.h"
+#include "util/exception.hh"
 #include <string>
 #include <list>
 
@@ -43,9 +44,9 @@ private:
 class SourceLabelsPhraseProperty : public PhraseProperty
 {
 public:
-  SourceLabelsPhraseProperty(const std::string &value) :  PhraseProperty(value) {};
+  SourceLabelsPhraseProperty() {};
 
-  virtual void ProcessValue();
+  virtual void ProcessValue(const std::string &value);
 
   size_t GetNumberOfNonTerminals() const {
     return m_nNTs;
@@ -59,6 +60,11 @@ public:
     return m_sourceLabelItems;
   };
 
+  virtual const std::string *GetValueString() const { 
+    UTIL_THROW2("SourceLabelsPhraseProperty: value string not available in this phrase property");
+    return NULL; 
+  };
+
 protected:
 
   size_t m_nNTs;
diff --git a/moses/PP/TreeStructurePhraseProperty.h b/moses/PP/TreeStructurePhraseProperty.h
index f9acc38dd..45124973f 100644
--- a/moses/PP/TreeStructurePhraseProperty.h
+++ b/moses/PP/TreeStructurePhraseProperty.h
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ namespace Moses
 class TreeStructurePhraseProperty : public PhraseProperty
 {
 public:
-  TreeStructurePhraseProperty(const std::string &value) :  PhraseProperty(value) {};
+  TreeStructurePhraseProperty() {};
 
 };
 
diff --git a/moses/TargetPhrase.cpp b/moses/TargetPhrase.cpp
index ede16293c..141d3f387 100644
--- a/moses/TargetPhrase.cpp
+++ b/moses/TargetPhrase.cpp
@@ -248,15 +248,15 @@ void TargetPhrase::SetProperty(const std::string &key, const std::string &value)
   m_properties[key] = phrasePropertyFactory.ProduceProperty(key,value);
 }
 
-const PhraseProperty *TargetPhrase::GetProperty(const std::string &key) const
+bool TargetPhrase::GetProperty(const std::string &key, boost::shared_ptr<PhraseProperty> &pp) const
 {
   std::map<std::string, boost::shared_ptr<PhraseProperty> >::const_iterator iter;
   iter = m_properties.find(key);
   if (iter != m_properties.end()) {
-	const boost::shared_ptr<PhraseProperty> &value = iter->second;
-    return value.get();
+    pp = iter->second;
+    return true;
   }
-  return NULL;
+  return false;
 }
 
 void TargetPhrase::SetRuleSource(const Phrase &ruleSource) const
diff --git a/moses/TargetPhrase.h b/moses/TargetPhrase.h
index 5056d95c4..e87bf9c5c 100644
--- a/moses/TargetPhrase.h
+++ b/moses/TargetPhrase.h
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ public:
 
   void SetProperties(const StringPiece &str);
   void SetProperty(const std::string &key, const std::string &value);
-  const PhraseProperty *GetProperty(const std::string &key) const;
+  bool GetProperty(const std::string &key, boost::shared_ptr<PhraseProperty> &pp) const;
 
   void Merge(const TargetPhrase &copy, const std::vector<FactorType>& factorVec);