Blog series apartments and renovations Part 4 (final part): leasehold & apartment, apartment & leasehold

An apartment and renovation plans? First check the deed of division and click here.

Do you want to know more about the 80% rule? Click here.

If leasehold is at stake read on.

Sometimes the renovation of an apartment requires both the approval of the meeting of owners and the amendment of the deed of division.

Leasehold apartment

Has the apartment been built on leasehold land? In that case the checklist is slightly longer. Below you can find an overview, with the municipality being the owner of the land:

  1. On basis of the law approval from the municipality is required for the amendment of the division.
  2. On basis of the leasehold conditions:
  • generally a written exemption or approval from the municipality is required for a renovation.
  • the leasehold has to be amended and sometimes the ground rent too, the value of the leasehold land and – if applicable – the buy-out sum.

Practical advantage =>

It is very likely that the municipality:

  • will grant approval for amending the division, and
  • will grant approval for the renovation at the same time and make an offer for changing the leasehold.

In Amsterdam this option has even been stipulated by decree.

Leasehold on an apartment

Did apartments come about because the land was divided and was the leasehold established per apartment afterwards (on the private part, as the law states)? (A flexible option because the leasehold can be modified per apartment and not only for the whole building at a time.)

In that case, only item 2. of the aforementioned checklist applies but, please note…

Pursuant to law approval is required from all those who have a leasehold on an apartment in order to amend the division.

This just goes to show, even if:

  • the leaseholders have a right to vote on the basis of the regulations (as is usually stipulated), and
  • if on the basis of the regulations they can decide with a 4/5 majority, i.e. 80% of all the votes to amend the division,

pursuant to law approval from all the leaseholders is required.

In that respect leasehold on apartments is not all that flexible after all…

 

Please feel free to contact me for more information on this topic.

 

This is part 4 of four blog posts about apartments and renovations.

Click here for part 1.

Click here for part 2.

Click here for part 3.

 

(Picture: Stuart Frisby, Unsplash)

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