Legal Advisor for Leasehold Property

The position

Would you like to use your legal expertise to help build a fair, livable, and future-proof city? Here’s your chance! As a Legal Advisor in the Leasehold and Issuance Department, you’ll have the opportunity to actively contribute to the implementation and further development of Amsterdam’s leasehold system. This dynamic and socially beneficial tool helps create a livable and affordable city.

You will work alongside professionals from a variety of disciplines—such as lawyers, policy advisors, and financial specialists—who support and inspire one another.

As a Legal Advisor, you will provide independent advice on complex ground lease cases. These may include politically and administratively sensitive cases, such as those involving “repentant leaseholders,” or legal issues related to the statute of limitations.

You will play a crucial advisory role within the department and contribute ideas on the implementation of policies, the development of work procedures, and the associated legal frameworks. For the Land & Development division, you will be the primary point of contact for leasehold matters.

We’re looking for a curious colleague who enjoys digging deeper. We regularly encounter issues that haven’t been addressed before. You’ll be eager to dive into them: you’ll gather information from colleagues both within and outside the department, draw connections, and translate your findings into clear recommendations.

A broad perspective and a willingness to look beyond departmental boundaries are important, because ground lease policy goes beyond legal rules—it contributes to a social, accessible, and future-proof city for all Amsterdammers.

Here's what you do on an average day

As a Legal Advisor, you’ll handle a wide range of meaningful responsibilities. You’ll serve as a key link between policy, implementation, and management—and your advice will directly contribute to Amsterdam’s future.

• You will develop policy proposals and recommendations for the alderman and the municipal government regarding the ground lease system. In doing so, you will translate legal complexities into clear options and sustainable solutions.

• You will advise colleagues and management teams within the Leasehold & Issuance Department, the Land & Development Division, and other municipal departments on a wide range of leasehold matters.
• You will serve as the primary point of contact for Legal Affairs and as the municipal attorney in ongoing legal proceedings.
• You share your insights and recommendations with the alderman, the Municipal Executive, and the City Council to ensure that decision-making is well-informed, transparent, and balanced.
• You remain curious and stay up to date. You keep abreast of developments in legislation, professional literature, and case law, and actively maintain a network of colleagues and policymakers.

In short: you combine legal expertise with social impact—and in doing so, you help shape a fair and forward-looking ground lease policy for all Amsterdammers.

This is where you get started

Leasehold and Land Allocation is part of the Land and Development Division. Within Leasehold and Land Allocation, we place a high priority on being a great employer, and every day we work to build a work culture where all colleagues feel seen, heard, and valued. We are proud of the diversity within our department and how it reflects our organization and the city. Openness, transparency, and learning from one another are central to our approach. Whoever you are: you are warmly welcome here!

Our overarching Land & Development division has the following mission: “To create more value for the city and metropolis of Amsterdam.” We work to build a sustainable and vibrant city for residents and businesses, and we oversee area and real estate development as well as the leasehold system. We grant land under leasehold and manage it, prepare lots for construction, transform and manage real estate, and manage project finances and the leasehold portfolio.

The Leasehold and Issuance Department is responsible for the careful, customer-focused, and transparent administration and management of Amsterdam’s leasehold system. The Leasehold and Issuance Department manages over 300,000 leasehold contracts, with annual ground rent revenues exceeding €100 million and a balance sheet total of approximately €8 billion. The department handles the administrative, legal, and financial management of these contracts and amends them as necessary. As a result, the organization has legal, financial, political, and business aspects.

The department has 280 employees divided into 7 teams. As a Legal Advisor, you will be part of the Advice, Policy, and Development team, specifically the Policy subteam.

The ABO Team (Advice, Policy & Development, approximately 30 people) provides advice, develops policy, and organizes development initiatives related to the ground lease system. The team also facilitates the implementation of innovations and improvements. The Policy Team, as a sub-team (approximately 10 people), is part of the ABO Team. The Policy Team focuses on shaping and monitoring the leasehold system with the goal of keeping the system clear and transparent in the long term. The Policy Team does this primarily by advising on complex leasehold issues and leasehold policy. The team advises, among others, the Leasehold and Issuance Department, the management, and the other departments of Land and Development, as well as the city administration (alderman, Municipal Executive, and City Council). The team also provides information on ground leases to intermediaries such as real estate agents and notaries, assists in responding to press inquiries, and offers substantive support in legal proceedings related to ground leases.

What you bring

• You have a bachelor’s degree in Dutch law or notarial law, with a specialization in private law.
• You have at least 3 years of experience as a private law attorney, preferably with experience advising on property rights and ground lease agreements.
• You have an affinity for the Amsterdam real estate market. Experience working with notaries in Amsterdam is a plus.
• You are familiar with the Amsterdam leasehold system.

You should have the following skills:

• Environmental Awareness: Demonstrates a solid understanding of professional, organizational, social, and political developments, as well as other environmental factors, and knows how to effectively apply this knowledge to one’s own role or organization.
• Results-oriented approach: Setting specific goals as a starting point for one’s own behavior and sticking to them until the goal is achieved.
• Analytical skills: Able to distinguish between main and secondary issues, break down a problem into its components, and establish logical connections between the various aspects.
• Persuasiveness: Reaches a well-considered and realistic conclusion based on information and analysis of a given situation.
• Collaboration: Makes a constructive contribution to a shared outcome, particularly to the atmosphere and relationships within the group or team.

What we offer you

As a Legal Advisor, you will join our team for a minimum of 32 and a maximum of 36 hours per week, and you can expect the following terms of employment.

• Depending on your education and work experience, the salary ranges from a minimum of €4,349 to a maximum of €6,193 gross per month (pay scale 11) based on a 36-hour workweek. A starting pay scale may be offered for a period of 12 months if it appears that not all requirements have yet been met (scale 10A, min. €4,023 and max. €5,805);
• A one-year employment contract, with the possibility of a permanent contract thereafter, if you do not currently have an employment contract with the City of Amsterdam, or if you have only a temporary one.
• If you already have a permanent employment contract with the City of Amsterdam, you will retain it and be transferred.
• Opportunities for professional development and training. Our in-house training center, the Amsterdam School, offers a variety of training programs, professional development tracks, and on-the-job coaching to help you continue to challenge yourself.
• An individual flexible budget (IKB) equal to 17.05% of your salary, which you can use for things like additional pension contributions or extra days off.
• A pension plan with ABP, the pension fund for the public sector and education.
• A travel allowance of €0.10 per kilometer for travel by car, €0.15 per kilometer for travel by bicycle, and €0.21 per kilometer for travel by public transportation. This applies to a one-way commute of up to 45 kilometers and for the number of days you work in the office.
• A monthly contribution toward health insurance.
• Hybrid work: In this role, you can work partly from home and partly in the office. We provide work equipment (for home use) to help you set up a safe and healthy workspace. For days you work from home, you will receive a work-from-home allowance of €3 net per workday.
• A close-knit team, a weekly group lunch, kayaking, and other activities outside the office.
• An office location in downtown Amsterdam.
• An (electric) rental bike that lets you travel between work locations in a sustainable and healthy way.

Want to know more about our employment terms and conditions? Check out theCity of Amsterdam Personnel Regulations(PGA).

Apply for this job

• If this job opening interests you, please submit your application as soon as possible using the“Apply Now”button.
• We would like to receive your cover letter, in which you explain, in no more than one A4 page, why your work experience and skills are a good fit for this position. Your cover letter will be taken into consideration during the selection process.
• The selection process begins immediately after the application deadline and consists of two rounds.
• If your resume meets the job requirements, we would be happy to invite you for an interview.
• The interviews will take place at our office located at Weesperplein 8 in Amsterdam.
• We require a recent Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG) from every colleague who joins our team.

We do not appreciate unsolicited solicitation from recruitment agencies, and such actions may result in exclusion from our other recruitment initiatives. We also consider the unsolicited submission of resumes by agencies to our employees to be solicitation. We will not review these resumes.

Do you have any questions about this job opening?

For questions about the position, please contact Maartje van Gils, Policy Team Manager, at m.van.gils@amsterdam.nl or call 06 – 23 03 04 95. For questions about the application process, please contact Wendy Homan at w.homan@amsterdam.nl.