Cuba Relaxes Some Housing Regulations

Cuba Relaxes Some Housing Regulations
September 9, 2014
by Cafe Fuerte

HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban government has announced a series of measures
aimed at restructuring the country's current housing system and
authorizing the building of dwellings on roofs, empty lots and
State-owned land by the population.

The special issue of Cuba's Official Gazette published this past Friday
made public Council of State Decree Law 322/2014, a new legislation that
substantially modifies the General Housing Law, in effect since 1988,
and seeks to simplify the legal norms governing applications by citizens
to request changes of address, the transfer of properties and individual
construction work.

The legislation, signed by President Raul Castro on July 31, aims to
"improve State housing services and reorganize housing-related
activities, reassigning these to entities responsible for work hitherto
governed by the National Housing Institute (INV)."

Urban Planning Control

This restructuring will involve the transfer of the INV's chief
functions to the Urban Planning Institute (IPF), presided by General
Samuel Rodiles Planas, and to other State entities, such as the
Ministries of Construction, Justice and Labor and Social Security and
the Provincial and Municipal People's Court system.

Following this government decision, the INV has become subordinate to
the Ministry of Construction and is now tasked with directing, executing
and enforcing State and government housing policy.

The Official Gazette also published seven complementary resolutions
aimed at making the issuing of permits to the population more efficient,
improving regional and urban organization and combatting illegal
practices and construction work.

The legislative package will come into effect on January 5, 2015.

Assigning State lands to individuals or entities who request these for
the building of homes, certifying that completed dwellings are
habitable, approving procedures for technical reports used to value
properties and transfer ownership of empty lots and flat roofs, are
among the functions now taken on by the IPF.

Land Assignation

The new provisions will regulate the sale, purchase, donation and
exchange of empty State lots.

The IPF will be empowered to assign State lots to individuals in need of
these for the building of homes. The lot assigned will have to meet
basic urban planning requirements, such that individuals may begin
construction on these immediately.

"The Municipal Urban Planning Office, in cases approved by the Municipal
Administrative Council and in accordance with the priorities established
by the State, will be authorized to transfer ownership of State lots to
individuals through the pertinent payments, giving these full rights
over these properties, so that they may build homes in their
jurisdiction, through the procedure to be established by the President
of the Urban Planning Institute," the Council of State Decree points out.

People who are assigned a State lot will be required to begin
construction there within a year from purchase. Failing this,
authorities will either extend the building permit for an additional
year or decide to terminate the agreement, returning the amount paid.

Building on Flat Roofs

Those affected by natural disasters, people living in precarious
conditions, welfare cases, those residing in State shelters or in
earthquake or disaster-risk areas will be prioritized in the assignation
of State lots.

Similarly, the transfer and use of flat roofs for the expansion of
homes, through purchases and other mechanisms, will also be made more
flexible.

"The owners of individual dwellings, dwellings located in buildings with
several stories (where each story constitutes a single dwelling) and
dwellings that are part of an apartment building, may, of mutual
agreement, grant the owners of dwellings on the top floor the right to
expand their homes, or grant a third party the right to build a new
dwelling, in the flat roof of the building in question, provided it is
technically feasible and does not violate any urban or regional
regulations, following authorization from the Provincial Urban Planning
Office," the regulations specify.

The measures are aimed at alleviating Cuba's housing deficit, calculated
at 600,000 dwellings, and at encouraging individual construction
efforts. According to official figures, a mere 26,634 new homes were
built last year, the lowest figure registered since 2004. The most
significant detail, however, is that nearly half (12,217) were built by
the population, unaided by the State.

Source: Cuba Relaxes Some Housing Regulations - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=106049