 |
|
|
1. Foreign Buyers Currently it is possible for Foreign Nationals to own any number of properties in BG, however the land upon which they are built must be owned by a Bulgarian based company. I.e. if you want to purchase a house you must set up a company in Bulgaria. It is not necessary if you purchase an apartment. A minimum investment of 5000 Lev (around £1750) into your company's bank account is required at start up but this money can be withdrawn once the company has been fully established. You will also need to allow between £300 and £500 for charges relating to the formation and registration of your company, but this depends on the area and the lawyer. For example, a lawyer in Rousse (one of the cheapest areas) will charge 500 EUR (less than £350) and this may also include the solicitors and notary charges for the transfer of the property to your name. In other places, and for higher priced properties, this may be an additional fee which will be a small percentage of the country's value of the property (depends on property size, county etc, but is the country's value is usually much smaller than the sale price). Allow up to £1500 for higher price properties. Additionally you will need to pay the state & registrations court a free of 250 Lev (just over £70). All of our charges are included as commission within the property price, and although there is no charge for viewing properties, we do ask for the petrol costs if we collect you. 50% of our commission is payable with the deposit on the house (normally 10 - 20% of the price but may vary on lower priced houses), and the remainder is paid when the sale is completed. Balkan Dreams is happy to help you create your company and arrange all other legal requirements as part of our service, and make the whole process simple and easy. Paying a deposit will form a contract with the seller whereby they are not allowed to sell to anyone else and they cannot change the price. If they break this contract they will have to refund the deposit plus the deposit value once more to the buyer. Similarly the buyer will agree to purchase at the agreed price; if they break this contract the seller will keep the deposit. Unfortunately a deposit cannot be paid until your company has been formed. To this end we now offer a reservation system - for a fee of 100 Euro we will change a property's status to RESERVED and we will not sell to anyone else for a period of one month. This fee is only refundable upon completion of purchase*. Please note however that whilst this guarantees Balkan Dreams will not sell the property or change the price, the seller is not bound by these conditions (only a deposit will form a contract with the seller). *If the seller changes the conditions we will refund the reservation fee if you decide not to purchase. Please note that the official value of a property as stated by the country is for tax purposes only and does not represent the real price of a property. 2. Solicitor/Notary The legal side of purchasing property in Bulgaria starts with the solicitor. He/she is a vital link in the buying chain, as the solicitor collates all the information regarding the searches to Title and prepares the Contract of Sale. No property can legally be sold in Bulgaria without a "clearance of debt Certificate". A notary - a government appointed lawyer - oversees the work of the buyer and sellers solicitors and formally agrees the sale. We will provide you with solicitor and notary and most of the legal processes can be carried out without the need for you to be physically in Bulgaria. However you do need to be in Bulgaria for the final signing of the documents. 3. Language Barriers All transactions are in the Bulgarian Language together with any legal documents that are required (e.g. Title Deed). We realise that it isimportant for you to be able to understand what you are signing, therefore we will translate said documents verbally. If you wish for an official translator to be present, or for the documents to be translated into English, please let us know in advance and we can arrange this, however, an additional charge for the services of the translator will be made. 4. How secure is your purchase? Unfortunately, there is a known problem of foreign buyers purchasing property in Bulgaria, whereby the property turns out to be owned by several people (not just the individual they had brought it from). In such a cases the Bulgarian law states that the property still belongs to the original owners and it is virtually impossible (in Bulgaria) for the money to be tracked and returned to the buyer as all money handling is done in cash. It has been our main concern to ensure that cases like the above mentioned will not be able to happen when you are purchasing through Balkan Dreams. To achieve this, once a deposit has been paid, we will ensure that all title deeds are checked and that ownership transfer can be fully completed. Full contracts will be drawn up for paying both deposits and full payments. 5. How long does it take? The complete process can take between 2 to 4 weeks (usually). Once you have decided to purchase a property (with or without viewing) we can start the process. If you are not Bulgarian and a land purchase is involved (i.e. purchasing anything but an apartment) then a company will need to be established. Normally you will need to be in Bulgaria to do this (may be possible at a local embassy, or power of attorney can be granted to Balkan Dreams to perform on your behalf) and before a deposit can be made. You will also need to be present in Bulgaria for the final stage, when signing of contracts in front of the Notary occurs and ownership is transferred. I.e. if you decide that you wish to view a property before purchasing you will either need to visit Bulgaria twice within a 2 to 4 week period, or stay in the country for the duration of the process. Please note however that you cannot stay in the country longer than one month unless you have applied for a Visa. Please note that we cannot guarantee the length of the process. For more information on purchasing and deposits please refer to our terms and conditions or contact us. | |
 |
|