A paradoxical situation has unfolded at the Sirena garage cooperative in Ramenki. Garage box owners were instructed to vacate the territory and, additionally, pay 50,000 rubles each. The cooperative is already being dismantled, and owners report that looters are active on the premises.
Owners of garages in GSK Sirena contacted Business FM. The cooperative is located in Ramenki, near Moscow State University. It has housed over 900 garage boxes since the 1990s. A month ago, owners saw notices on their garages demanding the territory be vacated and the agreement with the cooperative terminated. In response to their outrage, a meeting was held with the GSK board chairman and a lawyer. It turned out that owners not only had to vacate the garages but also pay 45-50 thousand rubles per person. Further details emerged: MSU is demanding the land be cleared, with the first deadline set for May 4th. Rosimushchestvo (Federal Agency for State Property Management) is demanding the money from the owners, and some other project is planned for the GSK territory, says Alexey, a member of the Sirena garage cooperative since 2011:
This all started just about a month ago. Some demand came. Why we were only informed about this in June is unclear to us. There were court, arbitration cases. The GSK has a debt, Rosimushchestvo won. The court process was closed. They are pushing for us to voluntarily vacate the garages and hand over the keys. What happens next is unclear.
Besides that, `pay 45 thousand rubles`.
Yes, they are threatening that subsidiary liability is possible. Although this is illegal. And what they are planning to do here is unknown. Information from various sources suggests the project is not approved.
The chain of events, as members of GSK Sirena found out, was as follows: after several lease and sub-lease agreements in the past, the land plot became the property of Moscow State University, meaning the Russian Federation. On behalf of Rosimushchestvo, authorities filed a lawsuit to recover unjust enrichment, claiming that garage owners had not paid for the land for a long period. The arrears were calculated at approximately 45 million rubles. There are nearly a thousand owners. Thus, each person has a debt of about 45 thousand rubles. It is unclear why Rosimushchestvo is not demanding the money from the GSK board, to whom membership fees were regularly transferred. Meanwhile, people expected compensation, having paid fees until the very last moment. Currently, the GSK territory is in disarray – locks are cut, looters have settled in, as evidenced by video testimonies, says Natalia, whose father has owned a garage since the early 1990s:
Now there is liquidation. Locks are being cut, gates are open, looters are entering, electricity meters are being cut off. A metal overpass was dismantled yesterday. Everything is now lying on the ground. My dad found out that his garage was being demolished; he built this garage in 1991. He paid contributions constantly until last month, and four days ago, he learned that it`s being torn down. He is 86 years old. All his belongings are in this garage. This is state property, it is registered in Roskadastr, on the plan. It`s official. This `Sirena` has a Tax ID, we pay money, and now we are told that we owe 53 thousand for the demolition of the garage. Some kind of debt.
Is there any understanding of what they want to do on this site?
We found a bunch of plans suggesting there should be a `garden city`, construction of multi-story buildings. The second option is that nothing will be built, just green paths.
Business FM sent an inquiry to Rosimushchestvo, which is preparing a response. The lawyers we interviewed suggest that the issue lies in the expansion of the comprehensive territory development zone under the metropolitan program – old garages are being removed, and MSU is clearing the territory. The GSK is located just one kilometer directly from the main university building. Sergey Matyushenkov, Managing Partner of BGMP Law Firm, comments:
The situation doesn`t currently look hopeless, considering there are documents confirming the registration of this GSK. Garage owners need to gather documents proving their ownership of this property and apply for compensation. If, accordingly, the compensation amount offered by the city does not satisfy them, or they are refused because the documents are fundamentally flawed, then they will need to go to court and try to defend their rights in court. If the land belongs to MSU, these garages likely fall into some KRT (Comprehensive Development of Territory) zone. Garage owners, again, if their documents are properly processed, should be paid compensation. In practice, I have seen that garage owners are usually paid money.
According to lawyers, neither the garage amnesty, nor the fact that many owned the boxes for 30 years, nor the fact that many owners do not even live in Russia, plays any role in this case. MSU will demolish the garages in any case, and owners can only cling to compensation.
