What is leasehold (Erfpacht)?

In Amsterdam you usually buy the building but lease the land underneath it from the municipality. This is called erfpacht, or ground lease. You pay an annual fee (the canon) unless a previous owner bought the lease off permanently, which is known as afgekocht. Whether the lease has been bought off, and until which date the current terms run, can change a property’s value by tens of thousands of euros. Ground lease is the norm rather than the exception in Amsterdam, so always check the erfpacht status in the deed before you make an offer. We check this for every property we advise on.