- In much of Amsterdam you own the building and lease the land from the municipality.
- There are two systems: older continuous lease and the newer perpetual lease.
- Your lease deed records the permitted use and often the floor area.
- Interior renovation rarely touches the lease. Adding floor area or changing use often does.
- The lease is a separate track from the building permit. A permit does not imply lease consent.
International buyers in Amsterdam usually meet the word erfpacht during the purchase, file it under "something the notary handles" and forget about it. That works until you want to add space. This guide explains what the lease actually is, how to read the parts of your deed that matter for a renovation, and how to fit the lease into your planning so it does not stop the work halfway.
What erfpacht is
Erfpacht is a Dutch property right that lets you use land owned by someone else, in exchange for a ground rent called the canon. In Amsterdam the landowner is almost always the municipality, which has issued land this way since the late nineteenth century. As a result, a large majority of homes in the city stand on leased land.
In practice that means:
- You own the house or apartment right, and you hold a lease right on the land beneath it.
- The lease right is registered with the Kadaster and transfers with the property when you sell.
- The deed sets out what the land may be used for and, in many cases, how much floor area may be built on it.
- Either a ground rent is paid periodically, or it has been bought off for a period or for good.
Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and other cities also issue land in ground lease, each with its own system and conditions. This guide focuses on Amsterdam, where it affects the most homes. Elsewhere, check the deed and the municipality's rules for your address.
Continuous and perpetual lease
Amsterdam has two lease systems side by side. Which one applies to your property is stated in the deed.
| Continuous lease (voortdurende erfpacht) | Perpetual lease (eeuwigdurende erfpacht) | |
|---|---|---|
| In use since | The older system, for most existing leases | The system for new issues since 2017 |
| Ground rent | Fixed for a period, then recalculated at the end of that period | Fixed for good, adjusted only for inflation, or bought off permanently |
| General conditions | One of the older sets of general conditions (Algemene Bepalingen), by year | The general conditions for perpetual lease |
| Uncertainty | The recalculation at the end of the period | Mostly removed, once the terms are fixed |
Owners on continuous lease have been able to switch to perpetual lease. The terms of switching have changed over time; check the current conditions with the municipality.
For a renovation, the system matters less than you might think. Both record a permitted use and, usually, a permitted floor area. Both can require consent when you change either. What differs is how a change is priced and processed.
What to look for in your deed
The lease deed and the general conditions it refers to are long. For renovation planning, four things matter:
- The permitted use (bestemming). Usually "dwelling". Turning a ground-floor shop into a home, or part of a home into an office, is a change of use.
- The permitted floor area. Many deeds state the gross floor area the lease allows. Adding a roof storey, a rear extension or a basement increases it.
- The general conditions that apply, identified by year. They set out what needs consent and how changes are handled.
- The ground rent position. Whether it is paid annually, bought off until a certain date, or bought off permanently.
If you own an apartment, the lease is attached to your apartment right, and the deed of division sets out what belongs to you and what is communal. Both documents matter for anything that adds space.
What the deed of division says, how to read the drawing and what the house rules can require.
Which renovations touch the lease
| Plan | Lease usually involved? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New kitchen or bathroom | No | No change to use or floor area |
| New layout within the existing walls | No | Same use, same floor area |
| Insulation, glazing, a heat pump | Rarely | No change to use or area; check the deed for rules on installations outside |
| Rear or side extension | Often | Adds floor area |
| Roof storey or dormer that adds floor area | Often | Adds floor area, and in an apartment building often changes what is private |
| Digging out a basement | Often | Adds floor area below ground |
| Splitting one home into two, or merging two | Yes | Changes the number of dwellings, and needs separate housing consent in Amsterdam |
| Shop, office or workshop to dwelling, or the reverse | Yes | Changes the permitted use |
General guidance. The deed and the general conditions for your property decide.
The pattern is simple: if the plan changes what the land is used for or how much is built on it, assume the lease is involved until the deed or the municipality says otherwise.
Adding floor area: extensions, roof storeys and basements
Additional floor area is the most common way a renovation runs into the lease. When the built area grows beyond what the deed allows, the municipality as landowner usually has to agree to an amended lease, and that can come with an adjustment of the ground rent or a one-off payment for the extra area.
Three practical consequences:
- It is a separate decision from the building permit. A permit tests the plan against planning and building rules. The lease is the landowner's consent. You can have one without the other.
- It affects the business case. The extra area has value, and the landowner may want part of it. Know the outcome before you commit to the design.
- It takes time. Plan the request in parallel with the structural design and the permit application, not after.
A rear extension can be permit-free under national rules and still need consent under the lease, because it adds floor area. The two systems do not talk to each other.
For a roof extension or a rear extension, we treat the lease check as part of the feasibility stage, alongside the structure and the permit route.
Changing use, splitting and merging
Amsterdam regulates its housing stock closely. Changing the number of homes in a building, or the use of a space, typically involves three separate things:
- The lease, because the permitted use or the number of dwellings changes.
- Housing consent under the municipality's housing rules, which restrict merging, splitting and converting homes.
- The building permit, for the physical work and the building regulations that apply to a new or changed dwelling.
In an apartment building, add the owners' association and often an amendment to the deed of division at a notary. None of these is impossible, but each has its own process and timescale, and the slowest one sets your start date.
How to fit the lease into your planning
The order that keeps the lease off your critical path:
- Read the deed early. Establish the system, the permitted use and the permitted floor area before a designer draws anything.
- Test the idea, not the drawing. Ask whether the principle is acceptable to the landowner while the design is still flexible.
- Make the structural and permit drawings. They are also what the lease request needs.
- Submit the lease request, the permit application and, in an apartment, the owners' association request in parallel.
- Book the contractor against the last approval to land, not the first.
Where the months actually go in a Dutch renovation, and which decisions set your start date.
Buying a property you want to extend
If an extension or a roof storey is part of the reason you are buying, check the lease before you bid, not after you sign:
- Which system applies, and for continuous lease, when the current period ends.
- Whether the ground rent is paid annually or bought off, and until when.
- The permitted use and floor area in the deed.
- In an apartment, whether the attic or roof is private or communal in the deed of division.
- Whether earlier extensions were ever regularised in the lease. Previous owners did not always ask.
Your notary and your mortgage adviser deal with the lease as part of the purchase. Neither of them will tell you whether your renovation plan fits it unless you ask.
Summary
Erfpacht means you lease the land under your Amsterdam home from the municipality, under either the older continuous system or the newer perpetual one. The deed records the permitted use and usually the floor area. Interior renovation almost never touches it. Extensions, roof storeys, basements, changes of use and splitting or merging homes usually do, and the lease is a separate consent from the building permit. Read the deed before you design, test the principle early, and run the lease request in parallel with the permit and the owners' association.
Next: do I need a permit? or renovating an apartment in Amsterdam.