Lease agreements

To lease (pachten) is to rent agricultural land and/or farms with the intention of farming. Do you lease a piece of land or agricultural buildings larger than 1 hectare? You should determine the lease through an agreement between the owner (lessor) and the lessee. You must have the agreement assessed. In the Netherlands, the maximum lease prices are set by law.

Have your lease agreement checked

You should have your lease agreement checked by Dutch Agricultural Tenancies Authorities (Grondkamers, in Dutch). Do this within 2 months of entering into the agreement. How you send the lease agreement (in Dutch) depends on the type of lease:

• A lease agreement with an agreed lease of less than 6 years should be sent online via My RVO (in Dutch). You need to register with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) for this.
• Other lease agreements should be sent in writing, by post, or by email (in Dutch).

The Dutch Agricultural Tenancies Authority checks if the agreements in the lease comply with the laws and regulations. In some cases, you do not need to have your lease assessed. This is not necessary for:

• detached land (piece of land without a farmhouse used for agriculture), smaller than 1 hectare
• garden land (used for greenhouse cultivation or as grassland, arable land, or orchard), smaller than 0.5 hectare in the provinces of North Holland and South Holland (Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland)

Agricultural Tenancies Authorities

The Dutch Agricultural Tenancies Authorities (in Dutch) play an important role in leasing. These authorities are involved in, for example, the testing and registration of lease agreements. Various charges apply.

If you have any questions about leasing or regarding an application submitted by you to one of the Agricultural Tenancies Authorities, please contact the Netherlands Enterprise Agency service desk.

Maximum lease prices

The maximum lease prices (in Dutch) are set annually on 1 July, based on a set of standards. To find out which prices apply in your situation consult the webpage Calculating lease standards and prices (Pachtnormen en pachtprijzen berekenen, in Dutch).

Do you have an ongoing lease as a lessee? Then you and the lessor must calculate the new lease price for the coming lease year. The lessor can decide not to do so, except if the lease price becomes lower according to the new standard. The maximum lease price applies to all forms of lease, except:

• liberalised lease (in Dutch) for 6 years or less
• cultivation lease (for 1 or 2 years for detached land, in Dutch)

You do not need to have the changed lease price assessed by the Dutch Agricultural Tenancies Authorities.

Changing or terminating a lease agreement

Do you as a lessor or lessee want to change or dissolve (stop) a current lease agreement (in Dutch)? For instance, to change the conditions or because of a death? In some case you need to ask Dutch Agricultural Tenancies Authorities for permission. To do so you send in an amending agreement (wijziging pachtovereenkomst, in Dutch).

Please note that you do not state the yearly change in lease price in an amending agreement.