leasehold

noun · Erbbaurecht

A leasehold is a time-limited estate in land that reverts to the freeholder when it ends, so it is not ownership. A long leasehold comes closest to the German Erbbaurecht, a hereditary building right; a short one is closer to a lease, a Miet- or Pachtverhältnis. Rendering it as Eigentum is the mistake to avoid.

Which translation, when

kein Eigentumthe core: a leasehold, the term of years absolute, is an estate held for a fixed period that falls back to the freeholder at the end; the leaseholder does not own the land, so rendering leasehold as Eigentum treats a temporary, reverting interest as outright ownership.

lang oder kurzwhich rendering: a long leasehold, running many decades against a low ground rent and bought for a premium, is functionally close to the Erbbaurecht, the hereditary building right under the Erbbaurechtsgesetz (itself a grundstücksgleiches Recht); a short leasehold is closer to a German lease, a Miet- or Pachtverhältnis, §§ 535 ff. and 581 ff. BGB, so no single German word fits every leasehold and the term should be rendered by length and function.

Why

Leasehold is the trap of this pair, because the natural but wrong instinct is to treat an estate as ownership. A leasehold, the term of years absolute, is an estate in land granted for a fixed period; when it ends the land reverts to the freeholder, so the leaseholder holds a temporary interest, not Eigentum. How to render it depends on length. A long leasehold, of many decades or even centuries, carrying a low ground rent and acquired for a premium comparable to a purchase price, functions much like the German Erbbaurecht, the hereditary building right under the Erbbaurechtsgesetz, which lets the holder have a building on another’s land for a long term against a ground rent and is itself treated as equivalent to land, a grundstücksgleiches Recht. A short leasehold, by contrast, is closer to a German lease, a Miet- or Pachtverhältnis under §§ 535 ff. and 581 ff. BGB. Neither German institution is an exact match, and the choice turns on the term and the commercial function. The one rendering to avoid throughout is Eigentum: a leaseholder does not own the land. So render leasehold by its length, Erbbaurecht for a long one and a lease relationship for a short one, and never as ownership.

Typical mistakes

A leasehold is a time-limited estate that reverts to the freeholder, not ownership, so rendering it as Eigentum turns a temporary interest into outright ownership.
A long leasehold is close to the Erbbaurecht, a short one to a Miet- or Pachtverhältnis, so a single German word for every leasehold misfits either the long or the short case.
The Erbbaurecht itself is a grundstücksgleiches Recht, quasi-ownership, so it is only a functional match for a long leasehold, not a literal one.

What matters

Rendering an English leasehold, the translation should turn on the term: Erbbaurecht for a long leasehold that works like a hereditary building right, and a Miet- or Pachtverhältnis, §§ 535 ff. and 581 ff. BGB, for a short one. Rendering any leasehold as Eigentum is the error to avoid, since the leaseholder holds a reverting estate, not ownership.

Authority

ErbbauRG
§ 535 BGB

What the machine misses

Machine output may render leasehold as Eigentum or Eigentumswohnung, treating a time-limited estate as ownership. It loses that a leasehold reverts to the freeholder, that a long leasehold matches the Erbbaurecht while a short one matches a Miet- or Pachtverhältnis, and that no single German word fits every case. The rendering turns a reverting estate into outright ownership, the central mistake with leasehold.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

a long leasehold	ein langfristiges Erbbaurecht
the leasehold reverts to the freeholder	das Erbbaurecht fällt an den Grundeigentümer zurück
a leasehold flat	eine im Erbbaurecht gehaltene Wohnung
ground rent under the leasehold	der Erbbauzins

More notes on these sections

lease Mietvertrag