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? Now’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 independently provide advice on complex ground lease cases and analyze legal issues related to ground leases, often in conjunction with other property rights. You will delve into case studies, balance competing interests, and translate your insights into clear, legally sound positions that contribute to sound decision-making.

Issues related to ground leases frequently give rise to administrative debates and political developments. This creates a dynamic environment in which your advice must not only be legally sound but also administratively feasible. Furthermore, your advice has a direct impact on the development of the city and its residents.

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 regulations. 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 will handle a wide range of meaningful responsibilities. You serve as a key link between policy, implementation, and governance, and your advice directly contributes to the future of Amsterdam. 
• 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, thereby contributing to a fair and forward-looking ground lease policy for all Amsterdammers.

This is where you get started

You will be working in the Leasehold and Issuance Department, part of the Land & Development Division of the City of Amsterdam. Within the Leasehold and Issuance Department, we place a high priority on being a good employer, and we work every day to build a work culture where colleagues feel seen, heard, and valued. We are proud of the diversity within our department and how it reflects the city. Openness, transparency, and learning from one another are central to our approach. Whoever you are: you are warmly welcome here. 

The mission of the Land & Development Department is to create greater value for the city and metropolitan area of Amsterdam. We work to build a sustainable and vibrant city by overseeing area and real estate development and the leasehold system. In doing so, we grant and manage leasehold land, develop and manage real estate, and oversee project financing. 

Leasehold and Issuance plays a key role in this. The department manages over 300,000 leasehold contracts, generating annual ground rent revenue of more than €100 million and a balance sheet total of approximately €8 billion. This makes Leasehold and Issuance a dynamic work environment where legal, financial, administrative, and social interests converge. 

You will be part of the Advice, Policy & Development Team (ABO), a team of approximately 30 colleagues working to develop and monitor Amsterdam’s ground lease system. Within ABO, the Policy Team focuses specifically on the quality, coherence, and future-proofing of ground lease policy, in close collaboration with the organization and the city government. 

What you bring

• A bachelor’s degree in Dutch law or notarial law, with a specialization in private law. 
• At least 5 years of experience as a private law attorney.
• You have an affinity for the Amsterdam real estate market. Experience working with notaries in Amsterdam is a plus. 
• Experience advising on commercial law and ground lease agreements is a plus.

You should have the following skills: 

• Environmental awareness: You are well-informed about professional, organizational, social, and political developments, as well as other environmental factors, and know how to effectively apply this knowledge to your own role or organization. 
• Results-oriented: You set specific goals as the basis for your own behavior and stick to them until the goal is achieved. 
• Analytical skills: You can distinguish between main and secondary issues, break down a problem into its components, and establish logical connections between the various aspects. You are able to form a well-considered and realistic judgment based on information and analysis of a given situation. 
• Persuasiveness: You communicate clearly and confidently. This allows you to naturally build support and gain acceptance.
• Collaboration: You make 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 €4,465 to a maximum of €6,343 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. €4,132 and max. €5,947); 
• 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 that you can use flexibly, for example for additional leave, extra pension contributions, and tax-efficient repayment of your student loan through the Education Executive Agency (DUO).
• 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 applicationby March 15, 2026, usingthe application formon our website.
• We look forward to receiving your resume and a cover letter explaining, 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 of interviews. The first interviews will take place on March 23 or March 24.
• 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?

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Iris Brandenburg–de Liefde, Manager of Consulting & Development, at i.brandenburg@amsterdam.nl or 06-22651035. If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Godelief Wösten, recruiter, at g.wosten@amsterdam.nl.