The Council of State of Cuba approved the , which amends four articles of Law 59 "Civil Code" of 1987 regarding real rights of usufruct and surface rights, published this Thursday in the .
The regulation, signed in Havana on July 28, 2026, by Juan Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, affects articles 208, 215, 218, and 222 of the Civil Code and will take effect seven days after its publication, that is, around September 10.
The most significant change pertains to Article 215, which increases the maximum term of usufruct that can be granted to legal entities from 25 to 99 years, extendable for the same period.
According to the approved text, "the usufruct is granted to legal entities for a term of up to ninety-nine years, extendable for the same period of time at the request of the rights holder, made within two years prior to the expiration date."
The same article states that "land is granted in usufruct to legal entities for an indefinite period," and adds that when the usufruct is granted for a period shorter than the maximum, it may be extended up to that limit at the request of the holder before the expiration.
Article 208 expressly includes that "the real right of usufruct can be granted either free of charge or for a fee," a specification that was not present in the previous wording, and establishes that the rights and obligations of the usufructuary are those determined by the constitutive title.
Regarding the right of superficies, Article 218 extends the authority to grant it beyond the State: "owners of vacant lots may grant surface rights for building housing or carrying out other constructions."
For its part, Article 222 states that "the State may also grant perpetual surface rights to state-owned lands through payment of the corresponding price."
The decree also repeals articles 470 and 473 of the Civil Code, which penalized Cuban emigrants in matters of inheritance by declaring their incapacity to inherit due to "permanent abandonment of the country" and transferring their corresponding inheritance share to the State.
As a complementary measure, the Final Provision Second orders the Minister of Justice to publish, within 30 business days following its entry into force, an updated, revised, and agreed version of Law 59.
The Council of State justifies the reform in the "Economic and Social Transformations approved," which "advise the modification of certain regulations regarding usufruct and surface rights in the interest of the country's development," and acts based on the exceptional authority granted to it by Article 263 of Law 131 of 2019 to amend existing laws.
The Cuban Civil Code was approved on July 16, 1987, and had been previously amended by Decree Law 358 of 2018 regarding idle state lands, and by Law 156 "Family Code" of 2022.
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