Erfpacht in Den Haag: buying the ground for 700 to 6,980 euros

In The Hague the ground under a house can be bought from the city for less than the cost of the kitchen. It can also be a contract that runs out in twelve years and that only the seller is allowed to renew.

Den Haag erfpacht under the 1986 and 2024 terms is perpetual, and once the canon is bought off the leaseholder can buy the ground for a fixed sum by WOZ band, from 700 to 6,980 euros. Under the older 1923 and 1977 terms, a contract ending within 15 years needs a re-issue that only the leaseholder can request.

Which terms apply to the house?

The municipality's page on its terms lists them. The Algemene Bepalingen 1923 are temporary rights with an end date. The 1977 terms run for an indefinite period divided into 50 year periods. The 1986 terms are rights without an end date, perpetual erfpacht, and the 2024 terms are the new perpetual framework. Which set applies is written in the deed and shown in the MijnDenHaag portal.

The canon percentages are set every 1 January, by a decision of the city executive that the council publishes; the decision for 2026, taken on 16 December 2025, records the figures. For 2026 the 1986 terms carry 3.3 percent, while the 2024 terms use a ten year average that the city publishes as 1.9 percent for 2023, 2.0 for 2024, 2.1 for 2025 and 2.2 for 2026.

What does buying the ground cost?

The page on moving from erfpacht to owned ground sets the conditions: a perpetual erfpacht contract from after 1986, or a first issue, with the canon bought off for the whole duration. The purchase sum is a fixed amount by the WOZ value of the address: 700 euros up to 200,000 euros of WOZ value, 1,205 euros up to 300,000, 1,650 euros up to 400,000, 2,350 euros up to 500,000, 2,790 euros up to 700,000, 4,315 euros up to 1,000,000 and 6,980 euros above that. The price can be higher where the zoning plan allows extra building or other uses. On top come the notary, transfer tax and land registry fees, and the process takes about six weeks, or eight when combined with a re-issue.

A right from after 1986 whose canon is still running has to be bought off first. The municipality's afkoop page explains that the leaseholder pays the land value of the right once, plus a one off amount for the buy off of management costs, after a review that takes four to six weeks and a notarial deed at the applicant's expense.

What is the 15 year trap?

Older contracts. Where a right under pre 1986 terms ends within 15 years, the city's page on expiring contracts says the route is a re-issue on request, and only the current leaseholder, the seller, can file it. The request costs 750 euros, refunded when the offer is accepted, the offer arrives after about twelve weeks and stays valid for three months, and the city only makes one where there are no planning objections. A buyer who signs before the seller has done this inherits both the end date and a request they cannot make themselves.

The city is also rewriting the land value rules. Its page on the new calculation says the proposal would cap the land value at 11 percent of the WOZ value and is studying a canon percentage between 1 and 3 percent and an option of 30 years of fixed canon instead of a buy off, with the council deciding only once all studies are complete.

How Amsterdam prices the same problem is set out in our Amsterdam erfpacht guide, and the Utrecht rules, where the ground sale has largely closed, in our Utrecht guide. The other document a Hague buyer reads before the deed is the survey, covered in our guide to the bouwkundig rapport.

Find the year of the general terms in the deed before you find anything else, and make the seller file the re-issue if the contract ends within 15 years. AiMYNDi reads the deed and puts the terms, the end date and the buy off status next to the price.