Erfpacht: long lease of land in the Netherlands explained for buyers

If you are buying a home in the Netherlands, and particularly in Amsterdam, the particulars may say the property is op erfpacht. You are then not buying the land, but a limited real right over someone else’s land, on conditions written by that landowner, sometimes a century ago. Those conditions decide what you pay, for how long, and whether a bank will lend at all.

What erfpacht is in Dutch property law

Erfpacht is a limited real right (beperkt recht) entitling its holder, the erfpachter, to hold and use immovable property belonging to another (art. 5:85 BW). The landowner remains owner of the land. The erfpachter’s right is a right in rem, not a contractual one: it is registered at the Land Registry (Kadaster), it can be sold, mortgaged and inherited, and it survives a sale of the land.

The deed may oblige the erfpachter to pay a periodic sum, the canon or ground rent (art. 5:85 BW). A canon is not legally required, but almost all residential erfpacht carries one. Otherwise the erfpachter has broadly the use the owner would have had (art. 5:89 BW), including the fruits of the property and the right to let it, and repairs fall on him. What he may not do is change the destination of the property, or carry out works the conditions reserve to the owner’s consent.

Full ownership (volle eigendom) is perpetual, costs nothing to keep and answers only to the general law. Erfpacht is exercised on another’s land, governed by that owner’s conditions, and may be revised or may end. A flat on erfpacht with a running canon is normally worth less than the same flat in full ownership, and the gap is not always visible in the asking price.

Erfpacht, opstal and a lease of a building

• Erfpacht gives the right to hold and use another’s land (art. 5:85 BW). Buildings on the plot generally form part of the erfpacht right.
• Opstal, the right of superficies (art. 5:101 BW), gives the right to have or acquire buildings, works or plantings in, on or above another’s land, breaking the rule that a building belongs to the owner of the soil. It may carry a payment called a retributie, and is often granted as a dependent right alongside erfpacht or a lease — for a cable, solar panels — though it can stand alone. The statutory rules on erfpacht apply correspondingly to the right of superficies (art. 5:104 BW).
• Huur, a lease of a building or dwelling, is a contract, not a real right: no registrable interest, no mortgage, and the tenancy rules of Book 7 BW apply. A tenant pays rent for occupation; an erfpachter pays a canon for a property right he owns and can sell.

The deed and the general conditions

An erfpacht right is created by notarial deed and registered in the public registers. The erfpachtakte sets the individual terms — plot, term, initial canon, permitted use — and then almost invariably declares a set of algemene bepalingen applicable. Those general conditions are the substance of the bargain: revision mechanism, buy-off rules, consent requirements, compensation regime, termination powers.

The conditions of the year of issue govern

This is the point most often missed, and it is decisive. A municipality has not one set of conditions but a series, issued in different years, each governing the plots granted under it. Amsterdam’s are identified by year — among them AB 1915, 1934, 1937, 1955, 1966, 1994, 2000 and 2016, of which AB 1994, AB 2000 and AB 2016 are the series most often encountered today. The differences are not cosmetic: older sets can give the owner wide discretion on revision and narrow compensation rights.

The question is never “what are the erfpacht conditions in this city?” but “which set applies to this plot?” The answer is at the Kadaster: the deed of establishment and any later deeds of amendment name the conditions by year. Ask your notary to obtain the deed and the full text of those conditions and to read them — not a summary, not the agent’s paragraph.

The ground rent (canon)

The canon is the periodic payment for use of the land. The usual structure is a canon percentage applied to an assessed land value, derived residually, from a proportion of the property’s value, or from a schedule. In Amsterdam that factor is the buurtstraatquote, which expresses the land value as a proportion of the property’s value for the street concerned.

Between revisions, most modern conditions index the canon annually against a consumer price index. Indexation is not revision: it tracks inflation and is predictable, whereas revision resets the underlying land value and can multiply the canon. Non-payment can ultimately cost the leaseholder the right itself.

The three types of erfpacht

Voortdurend and eeuwigdurend are both rendered as “perpetual” in English particulars. They are not the same, and the difference is worth a great deal of money. A right perpetual in duration may also have a canon bought off only for a period: duration and buy-off are separate questions.

Revision at the end of a period: the largest financial risk

For continuing erfpacht, the end of a period is when the landowner may reset the canon to current land value. Because periods run for decades and Dutch urban land values have risen sharply, the new canon can be a large multiple of the old.

• It is not gradual. The increase arrives in one step, on a date fixed decades earlier.
• The mechanism sits in the old conditions. Under some older sets the owner’s discretion is wide and challenge is limited to a valuation procedure rather than a court.
• Lenders look ahead. A near revision date affects both your loan and the resale market you will face.

Before signing, establish the date the current period ends, the revision mechanism, and — where indicative figures are published — what the canon would be if revised today. If a revision is under way, the offer and any objection deadline must be seen.

Buying off the ground rent (afkoop)

Instead of paying a canon, the erfpachter may be able to buy it off for a capital sum. Afkoop for a period prepays the canon for the rest of the current period; when that period ends the obligation revives on revised terms, so a property advertised as “canon bought off” may be covered only until a date now quite close. Eeuwigdurende afkoop extinguishes the canon in perpetuity, with no future revision.

Buying off is not buying the land: the freehold stays with the owner, only the payment obligation ends, and the conditions still govern use and consent. Whether a buy-off must be offered, how it is calculated and whether it can be done mid-period are matters for the conditions, not general law. It is effected by notarial deed and registered. The tax treatment follows the distinction: where the property is the taxpayer’s principal residence the periodic canon is deductible in box 1, while the buy-off sum itself is not, although interest on a loan taken out to fund the buy-off is.

Amsterdam: from continuing to perpetual erfpacht

Amsterdam is why this topic matters to most international buyers: much of the city’s housing stock stands on municipal leasehold land, historically continuing erfpacht with periodic revision.

From 2016 the municipality began issuing perpetual erfpacht for new grants under a new set of general conditions, and opened a scheme allowing existing continuing leaseholders to switch (overstappen). The leaseholder applies for an offer stating a perpetual canon or a perpetual buy-off sum, calculated from land value at a reference moment; acceptance leads to a deed of amendment, registered at the Kadaster.

The financially significant point is the reference date and the discount. Applications made before 8 January 2020 were calculated on more favourable terms than later ones: that date is the reference date governing entitlement to the favourable switch-over premium and the discount on the land value, the land value itself being derived from the property value through the buurtstraatquote. Second-chance arrangements for those who missed that date have followed since, each on its own terms and with its own closing date, and they are set by the municipality alone rather than by statute. Whether a window is open for a particular property, and on what calculation, is therefore something to establish from the municipality’s own published scheme before you commit: ask the seller for any offer already issued, and check the current deadline directly with the municipality. The difference between one calculation basis and another runs to tens of thousands of euros.

Three practical points, correct as a matter of approach on 29 August 2026:

• Establish what the seller holds. Continuing erfpacht; continuing erfpacht with a switch applied for but not completed; perpetual erfpacht with an indexed canon; and perpetual erfpacht bought off in perpetuity are four different assets at four prices.
• An offer is not a switch. Until the deed of amendment is executed and registered, the property remains on the old regime. Whether a buyer can take over an outstanding offer, and by when, is a matter for the scheme’s terms.
• Municipal schemes change. Amsterdam’s erfpacht policy is contested and has been amended repeatedly; deadlines, discounts, land value factors and canon percentages differ from year to year. Nothing here is the position on the day you buy.

Private erfpacht: developers, corporations and institutional owners

Land is also let on long lease by developers, housing corporations, institutional investors, charitable foundations and private landowners. The law is the same; the conditions frequently are not.

Private conditions tend to be less favourable in recognisable ways: shorter or fixed terms with no continuation; revision at shorter intervals, sometimes every five or ten years; revision tied to property value rather than land value, so the leaseholder’s own improvements feed the increase; compensation excluded or capped; wide consent requirements over letting, alteration and sale. Some schemes marketed to first-time buyers, where the seller retains the land to lower the price, are erfpacht constructions of this kind.

A municipality is a permanent institution with political constraints and an interest in a functioning housing market; a private landowner holds an investment. Private erfpacht is not for that reason bad, but never assume its conditions resemble the municipal ones a buyer may have read about.

Compensation at the end of the leasehold

When an erfpacht right ends, the former erfpachter is in principle entitled to compensation for the value of buildings, works and plantings he erected himself or acquired from his predecessor against payment (art. 5:99 BW), and may retain the property until that compensation has been paid (art. 5:100 BW).

Two qualifications matter. The entitlement can be limited or excluded by the deed within the bounds the law allows, and older private conditions often do so. And it is compensation for the buildings, not for the gap between leasehold and freehold value: a leaseholder whose temporary right expires does not receive the market value of the home. Where the conditions speak of “the value of the buildings”, the valuation basis decides everything.

The mortgage lender’s position

An erfpacht right can be mortgaged and most Dutch lenders will lend on leasehold property. Whether a lender will lend on your property depends almost entirely on the general conditions. Lenders assess the type of right and, if temporary, the term remaining against the loan term; whether the canon is fixed, indexed or open to revision, and when the next revision falls; whether termination could destroy the security; whether the lender must be notified and allowed to cure a default; and whether compensation at the end survives.

Two things make this workable. The standard conditions of the large municipalities are generally accepted by the main lenders, so a purchase on them rarely raises a financing question. Private erfpacht is the harder case, because the conditions are whatever the landowner has drawn up. There the acceptability of the construction has to be established for that specific set of conditions, with the lender and, where it is involved, with the mortgage guarantor. Where a national mortgage guarantee (NHG) is sought, the position is published. Under the NHG conditions and standards in force from 1 January 2026, traditional erfpacht constructions are accepted, subject to the qualification that a lease granted before 1 January 1992 must still have at least half the term of the loan to run. A construction that is not traditional, and any form of buyer support (koperssteun), must have been accepted by NHG itself, and NHG publishes the list of the constructions it has accepted. One that is not on that list will not be financed with NHG.

A financing condition (financieringsvoorbehoud) protects nothing if the application never reached the lender with the leasehold conditions attached.

Selling: consent and arrears

An erfpacht right is transferable, but the deed may require the landowner’s consent to a transfer or division (art. 5:91 BW); where consent is refused, the law allows it to be replaced by authorisation of the court. With most municipalities consent is a formality, but never assume it: the timetable must fit completion, and conditions may require that there be no arrears and no outstanding breach.

Arrears follow the right: a buyer becomes liable, alongside the seller, for unpaid canon, but only for the two calendar years preceding the transfer (art. 5:92 BW). The notary should obtain a written statement from the landowner on the canon position, arrears, charges and alleged breaches.

Termination by the landowner

The landowner may terminate the erfpacht (opzegging) where the canon has gone unpaid for two consecutive years, or the erfpachter is in serious breach (art. 5:87 BW). The default must have run for at least two consecutive years, and art. 5:88 BW requires the writ of termination to be served on any registered mortgagee at least two months before the right ends, so a lender can intervene. Separately, once the right has run for a long period either party may ask the court to amend or terminate it for unforeseen circumstances (art. 5:97 BW) — a narrow route, not a remedy against a canon that has merely become expensive.

What a buyer must check before signing

• The registered deed of establishment and every later deed of amendment or buy-off.
• Which set of general conditions applies, by year, and its full text.
• Whether the right is temporary, continuing or perpetual, and the exact expiry or period-end date.
• The current canon, its indexation basis, and whether it is bought off — if so, until when.
• The next revision date and mechanism, and any revision or switch procedure under way.
• Whether the landowner’s consent is needed for the transfer, and how long it takes.
• A written statement from the landowner on arrears, charges and alleged breaches.
• Written confirmation from the lender that it will lend on these conditions.
• For flats: how the leasehold interacts with the owners’ association, and who pays the canon.
• For Amsterdam: the municipality’s current published position on switching, on the day of purchase.

Erfpacht is not a defect. With the deeds in front of you it is a more conditional way of holding property, and it can be perfectly sound. The mistakes are made by buyers who treat the leasehold paragraph as boilerplate.