THE CUBA R E \' I E W 



19 



CUBA'S LAND TITLES AND TRANSFERS 



A well-known real estate man in Havana, 

 IMr. J. L. Head, has written an interesting- 

 letter on the subject of Cuba's laws gov- 

 erning land titles and transfers to the 

 Atlanta (Ga.) Journal. He says in part: 



"In Cuba no one can make a deed, mort- 

 gage or other paper based on lands and 

 land securities other than a notary public. 

 This notary public must be a lawyer, well 

 versed in all laws pertaining to land titles, 

 mortgages and all classes of securities 

 based on land. He is required to give 

 a heavy bond, generally from $50,000 to 

 $100,000, and he and his bondsmen are 

 liable for any errors or mistakes that are 

 made in his office. It is his duty to ascer- 

 tain, before signing papers, t];at the deeds 

 to the party, claiming to own the lands, 

 are in good shape, properh^ registered and 

 that there are no liens or other incum- 

 brances on the propertA% or if any, he must 

 give the proper notice. 



"In buj'ing a tract of land, both the 

 buyer and the seller must produce to the 

 notary two good witnesses, with whom he 

 is acquainted and willing to vouch for, 

 identifying the buyer as well as the seller. 

 These witnesses can be the same for both 

 or act separately for the buj-er and the 

 seller. 



"The necessit\^ for this is very obvious 

 when one considers it carefullj^ 



"The notary's books are his personal 

 property, and his office is for life or good 

 behavior. When copies are requested of 

 any past transaction, he can demand a 

 small fee for said copies, but he is under 

 bond to keep all books in a good and 

 secure safe. 



"In making a transfer or a mortgage, 

 he is required to make three copies — the 

 first or original, which all parties con- 

 cerned, both as principals and witnesses, 

 have to sign, not only at the bottom of 

 the document, but on the margin of each 



•sheet. This original the notary keeps in 

 his office. He gives both the buyer and 

 the seller each a copy, and sends a copy 

 to the public recorder in the city of Ha- 

 vana, there being kept in this city, at, the 

 national capitol, a public record for every 

 province in the island of Cuba. 



"The buyer sends a copy to the capitol 

 of the province in wdiich his land is 

 situated, and that is recorded there in the 

 archives for the province, and he there 

 pays the transfer tax, which is very 

 small, and gets a certificate for the record- 

 ing of this as well as for the paying of 

 the transfer tax. 



"All of these different copies that are 

 so filed in the different archives of the 

 government are kept secured from all 

 harm, tire and otherwise, as well as pos- 

 sible. 



"You can see from this that in case of 

 a deed being destroyed or lost it is an 

 easy matter to prove ownership, and as 

 the notary is responsible for making good 

 or bad deeds, it is very unusual for a deed 

 that is not correct to be made in Cuba. 



"A deed can be made in Havana for 

 any section of Cuba. Before signing a 

 deed, the notary obtains from the recorder 

 of the province and district in which the 

 land is situated a certificate as to the last 

 registration of ownership, mortgages or 

 any other registration pertaining lo said 

 lands. If found allright he makes deed. 

 If he finds the deed to seller is not regis- 

 tered he refuses to make deed. As a rule 

 abstracts go back only to last registration. 

 Xo abstract companies in Cuba. 



"The charges on transfers are exorbitant 

 the government allowing charges which 

 are in a great many cases almost pro- 

 hibitive to a land transaction, still they 

 are not so heavy as they are in some parts 

 of the United States." 



COLON CEMETERY CUSTOMS 



Colon Cemetery, outside of Havana, was 

 opened in 1878 and since that time, with 

 the exception of the fe*/ burials in the 

 Baptist and Chinese cemeteries, has been 

 the only cemetery of the city. That the 

 cemetery has not been filled up long ago 

 is due to the fact that the greater portion 

 of the graves are rented only for a period 

 of five years, after which time, unless rent 

 is again paid, the bones are cast into a 

 bone pile and room made for other bodies, 

 says the Havana Post. 



Graves are, however, sold with per- 



petual titles to those who can purchase 

 them. Poor persons who cannot afford 

 to rent a grave for five years are placed 

 three in a grave and remain there the 

 same length of time. 



A movement has been started to close 

 this cemetery because it is too close to 

 Havana, and that a more distant location 

 be selected. 



The exports of Porto Rico in the fiscal 

 year of 1910-11 to Cuba aggregated nearly 

 $3,000,000, in large part. The balance con- 

 sists of cattle, cotton good, vegetables, etc 



