Berlin (dpa/sn) - Owners of a garage with a contract concluded in GDR times will still not have to pay sales tax in the coming year. This applies despite a change in the law that is to come into force on January 1st, the Association of German Property Users (VDGN) announced on Thursday. This stipulates that municipalities and other legal entities under public law as well as private landlords must levy sales tax if they rent out garages or parking spaces. Leases for garage properties based on a contract concluded before October 3, 1990 are not affected.
The special position of those owners is a legacy of the past. Although the individual garages are privately owned, the land on which they stand belongs to the municipalities. According to East German law, this was once allowed. The purchase of the land was not possible for the garage owners - they pay a lease.
Applicable law stipulates that there must be no distinction between land and building owners. Due to a law that came into force in 1995, this legal deficit has not been a problem so far.
Due to the end of the transition period in the past few weeks and months, many municipalities have felt obliged to make a decision on the future of the property on which the garage courtyards are located. In the case of old contracts, however, VDGN Vice President Peter Ohm sees no reason to act: "Even after the transition period has expired, there is a secure legal basis here that you don't have to screw with. Unless you want to improve your situation as a property owner," he said the German Press Agency in October.
