The military-financial monopoly GAESA and an Italian partner imposed on the minority owners of apartments in the Atlantic building in Havana the payment in foreign currency of maintenance and management expenses, with bank transfers from abroad, they revealed toCyberCubaseveral of those affected, who refused to be identified.
"Our situation, as minorities, is helpless and paradoxical, since whoever now imposes payments on us in foreign currency and from our accounts abroad has not paid us rent since 2020, despite recognizing the debt," they explained.
The majority shareholders of Atlantic are Inmobiliaria CIMEX, S.A. -subordinated to the military-financial-business complex of GAESA and owner of 28 apartments- and the Italian businessmanMichael Bizzi, which holds the ownership of 22, and who seem to have amicably resolved theirclaim for non-payment of rent, mutual claims and collections abroad.
The presence ofBizzi in a recent meeting of foreign businessmen with the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, could indicate that the waters have returned to normal between the two majority owners of the Atlantic building, butCyberCubaHe has not been able to confirm this with the Spanish lawyer Hermenegildo Altozano, who represents the interests of the Italian businessman in Havana.
In January 2022, Altozano described the events asrude maneuver against foreign businessmen, in a letter sent toCyberCuba.
At a recent owners' meeting, the majority members imposed, with their votes, that, soon, the management, administration and possible repair and maintenance expenses of the Atlantic will have to be paid by the owners in foreign currency, through transfers made from abroad to the account. of the property administration.
The decision reverses a 2021 provision that - under the influence of the Ordering Task - established that the rents and community expenses of the apartments could be paid in Cuban pesos and that the administration would pay the owners, depending on the availability of foreign currency. .
The Atlantic building, located on the corner of First and D streets, in Vedado, is managed by the mixed company Azul Inmobiliaria, S.A., which is in the liquidation phase, according to a source from Inmobiliaria CIMEX, S.A.
gloomy scenario
Azul Inmobiliaria will not continue to be the administrator of the Atlantic building, but a new joint company will be created, made up of the same partners; including Bizzi, linked to the property since its promotion and construction, specified the Cimex, S.A. source, who described real estate investments in Cuba as a "bleak scenario."
"There are hardly any apartments rented and much less sales of this type of property are made, which in addition to the purchase price include condominium expenses and the contributions that the owners must make for the improvements they decide to make and are agreed upon at the Meeting of owners, to which is added the deterioration of the buildings due to the lack of maintenance and the increase in the cost of materials," he explained.
A proposal by several owners to collect directly from the tenant and then pay the administrator has been rejected by the majority, said those affected.
"The formula for the administration of these properties, including payments and collections, traps the foreign owners in a legal trap that prevents them, for example, from rejecting the management's mandate and modifying the initial purchase and sale contract of the property, which is disproportionate and harmful to their interests," said a Cuban jurist, expert in foreign investments.
Real estate investment in Cuba is included within the state scheme of business with foreigners and, depending on the nationality of the investor, it finds protection in the bilateral promotion and protection agreements signed by Havana with other governments; that could be invoked by the owners in the event that they sue the Cuban State for infringement of the treatment they receive on the island, the jurist recalled.
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