“My sister left, she left her house closed and I take care of her, but if she doesn’t come back in 24 months, she loses it,” laments María Clara, a 65-year-old from Havana who also cares for a nephew’s apartment. The massive exodus has extended this phenomenon and also low-priced sales to be able to pay for travel expenses, a trend that could change with the new housing legislation that the Cuban government is studying.
“A commission of jurists, experts on the subject of housing, has been formed to suggest changes that adjust to the current scenario of large numbers of emigrants,” he tells 14ymedio a Law graduate linked to the Land Registry and who prefers to remain anonymous.
“Now we are in the proposal phase, but the guidance we have received is that it is about adjusting the current legislation so that it contemplates the possibility of making the issue of property and its conservation more flexible in the hands of those who spend some time abroad. We are still in the preliminary phase, although we have been told that everything could be approved very quickly.”
“The family member who remains in Cuba could assume ownership of the home and be able, in addition to taking care of it, to carry out all kinds of legal procedures on it”
Among the proposals made by some of the jurists involved in the commission, is that of allowing the same person to own more than one home, something that is only allowed now if it is a house in the city and another in rural or beach area. “In this way, the family member who remains in Cuba could assume ownership of the home and be able, in addition to taking care of it, to carry out all kinds of legal procedures on it.”
With an unprecedented exodus –nearly 200,000 Cubans have arrived at the southern border of the United States since January–, the Cuban real estate panorama shows the challenges that the massive departure of so many residents poses for the country. “The number of powers of attorney over homes, vehicles and other properties has multiplied significantly,” acknowledges an employee of the notary’s office on Calle 10, between 15 and 17, in El Vedado.
“They arrive at dawn and mark in the queueespecially to leave a power of attorney to a family member so that they can sell the house, rent it or donate it, as the case may be,” adds the same source. “These are people who have not decided to get rid of their property because they do not know how migration or people who, although they have tried to sell their house, have not been able to, because the real estate market is saturated with offers”.
“Normally they leave the power to a relative or a friend, but there is already the case of a person who has several powers of attorney from several relatives and, on top of that, he must physically take care of those homes that have been left in his charge, which he does everything more complicated”, laments this notarial worker. “We must find a solution to all this, and making the 24-month time that the person can stay outside the country more flexible without losing their properties, is a first step.”
The perception that the two-year barrier has become increasingly narrow is widespread, especially on an island where the numbers of migrants may continue to grow as many commercial flights halted or cut by the pandemic are restored.
“The market is marked by the rush, the rush of those who want to leave and must sell before getting on the plane,” says Liuba, 35, who acts as an intermediary between home sellers and buyers.
“The market is marked by the rush, the rush of those who want to leave and must sell before getting on the plane,” says Liuba, 35, who acts as an intermediary between home sellers and buyers. “But she also has more and more to do business not with the owner but with the person to whom he left the power to decide on the home. It is an increasingly common phenomenon.”
Authorizing Cubans to stay abroad longer without losing their residence on the island and allowing them to have more than one property would be a way of “somewhat alleviating this problem and, above all, encouraging people who are leaving not to feel that it is forever, that here they have a place to return to,” Liuba considers.
Recently, Ernesto Soberón, general director of Consular Affairs and Attention to Cubans Resident Abroad of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced, during a meeting with emigrants from the island in Uruguay, that Cuba was working on a citizenship law. The official assured that in the next Legislature of the National Assembly, which begins in 2023, a passport and immigration law will be approved.
Although the announcement has caused much speculation, it should not be surprising, since the adjustments in this legislation were already expected since the approval of a new Constitution in 2019. However, the current migratory context seems to be speeding up the pace and forcing deeper relaxations.
“We are working intensely and sending broad proposals that connect not only the issue of home ownership with migration, but also facilitate many procedures related to property to be carried out from abroad,” explains the jurist linked to the commission that prepares the new roadmap.
“But of what is proposed, what is finally legislated is no longer up to us. That is decided by Up there”, recognize. “I have several colleagues, excellent lawyers, who were proposed to be part of the commission and declined, because on other occasions they have sunk to the ground, countless documents and laws have been studied, but in the end their proposals have not been accepted” .
For this expert on property issues, “there is an urgent need to make the right to various properties and the time frame abroad more flexible, but I don’t know if the Government is aware of the urgency.”
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