Ground lease conditions

Ground lease (erfpacht) is the right to use land owned by the Municipality of The Hague. The municipality charges a fee for this and you are bound to legal conditions. These conditions are recorded in the act drawn up by the notary when you buy the right of ground lease. Within these conditions, you have the rights and duties of the owner. You pay an annual fee for this: the ground rent.

Leasehold is an agreement between 2 parties: the leaseholder and the landlord (in this case the municipality). The recorded conditions remain valid until both parties agree to a change or a new contract.

General and special conditions

The conditions consist of 2 main parts:

• General conditions. These are recorded in the general provisions or conditions under which your ground lease right is issued. You will find these in your act.
• Special conditions. These include the provisions which only apply to your ground lease right. The special conditions are also stated in your act.

You can read the conditions in the official documents:
Algemene voorwaarden AB Her 1993/2008 (RIS12991) (in Dutch)

Conditions and sale of leasehold

A leaseholder in The Hague can sell his ground lease right. It depends on the special conditions whether you need permission from the municipality. After it is sold, the provisions linked to the ground lease right still remain in effect. These are described in the act which you use to buy your rights.

Owner occupancy (anti-speculation) requirement

When new ground lease rights are issued for homes, the conditions may include a ‘Requirement of owner occupancy’ clause. You are then obliged to live in your new home yourself for a number of years. This condition is designed to deter property speculation with new homes.

In special cases you can request exemption from this requirement. Read more under Exemption from owner occupancy requirement.

Rates

Since the General Provisions of 1986, the municipality each year establishes a ground rent percentage as of 1 January of that year, based on interest rate developments. In addition to the ground rent, the municipality also charges for certain work.

The ground rent percentage for 2022 is 0.9 %.

The rates are as follows:

Ground rent percentage for 2023

The Hague Municipal Executive determined the new ground rent percentage for 2023 on 6 December 2022. The new ground rent percentage is 4% and applies to all applications as of 1 January 2023. Read more in the council decree Erfpacht: vaststelling canonpercentage 2023 en overige erfpachtkosten (RIS313864) (in Dutch).