[thiviost]

In Germany, too. A house and the land on which it stands do not form distinct properties but only one, the reasoning is they are physically connected and the house cannot be separated from the land while still being used as a house.

The GDR had in the years of its existence softened this doctrine due to its ideological despice for property in general and their conception of public property (sort of modern fief: delegation of usage rights) in particular. Under this conception it was possible to have separate ownership in buildings. This was more or less a incentive and financing game: let the populace build the buildings out of their own savings, and as long we have not abolished property altogether, they might as well own the buildings.

However the land registration (Grundbuch) normally includes the buildings. This was however handled differently for different types of buildings. Apartment houses were more properly documented, smaller buildings (holiday homes, garages) nearly never. This was a big problem after reunification, because buying a realty, one could not be sure if there remained rights from third parties to the buildings on the realty.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkseigentum#Sachenrechtsbere...