Recovery of land costs: a land policy instrument missing in the Netherlands?

Abstract

Until recently it has been usual in the Netherlands for local authorities to acquire land for development, to prepare it for building, and then make building lots available through sale or leasehold. In the 1990s housing production shifted from social housing to owner-occupied housing. Project developers became interested in the ownership of land as the key to build dwellings. These land purchases changed the context in which local authorities had to operate in the development of land. Instead of making arrangements for the recovery of costs via a public monopoly, local authorities now have to revert to a set of statutory instruments, or enter negotiations with market parties to come to an agreement on a voluntary contribution to development costs. In this contribution, we report the current state of the discussion in the Netherlands on the recovery of costs and we analyse various alternative instruments.