Legal Stuff
According to the Bulgarian legislation foreigners aspersons can acquire only
buildings but not land. Only Bulgarian citizens and legal bodies (including
such with foreign owner) can obtain ownership of Bulgarian land. Therefore,
the most popular and preferred by non-residents way to become the owners
of the land is to set up a company that will be the owner of the property and
the land. Setting up a company in Bulgaria is very easy. All you need is a
good solicitor .
All foreign buyers must be aware that in Bulgaria there are such terms as
"tax estimation price" and "purchase price". The "tax estimation price" is
for the purposes of the transaction taxation and is muchlower than the actual
selling (purchase) price.Even if the the property buyer wishes that the
purchasing price is written in the property title deed we can not guarantee that
this will be accepted by the propertyowner.So due to this practice there might
be discrepancies between the price you are paying and the price written in the
title deed. This is because of the above reasons and The Bulgarianhousessite
can not be responisble for it.
Place a 10% deposit and sign a preliminary/initial contract to secure the
property and to withdraw it from the market . At this stage a commission
is due to us. If after this point you change your mind you will lose the deposit
and the commission (they are not refundable), however if the seller for any
reason withdrawsfrom the transaction they must refund your 10% deposit and
also pay you an additional 10%.
After you pay the deposit and reserve a property we will assist you to register
a Bulgarian company, owned by you, which will buy the chosen property. The
company can be owned by one or several people (like a married couple for
example). For company registration we charge 320 pounds (this includes all
state fees , registrations expenses, lawyer's and interpreter’s fees) . In addition
to these fees you will be required to deposit 5,000 BGN (about 2,000 GBP)
into your own company bank account in Bulgaria. This is your starting capital,
which can be withdrawn at anytime following completion and your company is
registered and operational (approximately 4 weeks after that). In order to
maintain your company you will require theservices of a Bulgarian accountant.
The whole procedure from reservation to signing the final deeds for your
property takes from 3 to 6 weeks .
This process may require you to visit Bulgaria in order to sign the preliminary
contract and when applicableto sign application form for registration of a
limited company, you will then be offered the opportunity to utilise power of
attorney . We will put you in touch with a bulgarian lawyer , who will do the
work for you and will represent you during your absence from Bulgaria to
completethe sale.
The governmental and notary fees vary according to the price of the property,
but usually come up to 150 pounds.
Once the property has been withdrawn from the market the seller will expect
the outstanding balance as soonas possible. It is important to ensure that all
funds are available prior to paying your deposit as the seller will not wait for
extra funds to be transferred or other property to be sold and you may lose
your deposit.
The next step is to negotiate a completion date with the seller. Once this is done
on the date you or your representative have to sign for your new property at the
government appointed notary office, at this point thefinal payment is due and the
notary fee, (approx 3 % of the taxable/book value of your new property) along
with municipal taxes of 2%.
The usual period for the old owners of the property to move out of it after
completion of the sale is one month.This could be negotiated if thebuyer requires
a shorter term. They should not expect the property to be emptyright after
signing of the final contarct.