Cuba: Private ownership of residential real estate and housing by Cubans, including the possibility of selling, renting or transferring it by wills

Various sources report that private ownership of property or residences by Cubans exists in Cuba. Response to Information Request CUB00001.INS of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service of the United States, available in the Refworld database, reports that

In general, individuals may own their residences in Cuba; however, the government may confiscate particularly desirable ones. If a person leaves the country and does not return, thus necessarily overstaying the Exit Permit, the government would take possession of that person's property unless other members of the family had been living there for some time prior to the departure of the owner.

Additional references to the holding of private property by Cubans temporarily or permanently living abroad can be found in previous Responses to Information in the Refinfo database.

An article published in the Miami-based dissident information service CubaNet News states that private titles to residential dwellings are given after having paid off a mortgage, that is, paying a price set by the government (18 Apr. 1997). This includes tenant-owners of apartment buildings; in cases where apartment buildings collapsed or were demolished, the tenant-owners had to wait to receive another residence from the state (ibid.). Residential dwellings can be expropriated by the state, at a rate set by the government, "when it becomes attractive to the state" for another use (ibid.).

Although "buying and selling private homes is illegal," in the early 1990s the state centralized the exchange of residential properties, "setting the prices at will and retaining the rights of the beneficiaries" (ibid.). This system reportedly resulted in buying and selling activities "under wraps" that provided profit to employees of the corresponding state authority and to "individuals who got involved as real estate brokers," a situation that the government attempted to stem (ibid.).

Another article published by CubaNet News states that "some 80 per cent of Cubans are home-owners, many of them having benefited from cheap purchases from the state of property nationalised after Castro's 1959 revolution," adding that "property dealing is illegal, although in fact widespread" (19 May 1997). The document reports that in 1997, the Cuban government legalized the rental of private homes and rooms to Cubans and foreigners. However, the rental of private residential space had "become common in the last two or three years," at least partly due to the growing tourist market (ibid.). Officials estimated that approximately one-fifth of the million annual tourists received by the island "chose to lodge in private homes rather than hotels" (ibid.). The decree legalizing this activity was published in May 1997, to begin taking effect two months later, requiring "private landlords to register with the authorities, pay taxes and report the identity of any foreign guests" (ibid.).

In September 1998 a news article reported that persons who offered food and rooms to tourists in their homes, "are now paying taxes" (CubaNet News 1 Sept. 1998).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

CubaNet News [Miami]. 1 September 1998. Andrew Cawthorne. "Tourism Boom Shakes Up Cuban Society." [Internet] [Accessed 29 Sept. 1998]

_____. 19 May 1997. Frances Kerry. "Castro Allows Private Home Rentals in Cuba." [Internet] [Accessed 29 Sept. 1998]

_____. 28 April 1997. Monike de Motas. "Pseudo Private Properties." [Internet] [Accessed 29 Sept. 1998]

UNHCR Refworld-Country Information. Refworld Database.