Buying Property

Buying a property in Bulgaria is a simple and straightforward process. We are here to help and guide you through every stage of your purchase. There are several important steps that must be made to purchase a property in Bulgaria and our friendly staff will be always ready to guide you and to give you and expert advice.

Buying in Bulgaria is easy and is not more or less difficult than buying in any other foreign country. There is only one specific thing that is to be taken into consideration and it is that according to the Bulgarian Constitution and legislation foreign persons currently are prohibited from owning land and can acquire only buildings but not land on which the buildings are built.

This is easily overcome by forming a Bulgarian registered company with you being a sole owner and director.

This law is due to be removed before EU membership in 2007 and it is one of the main reasons that property prices are so attractive compared with Western Europe.

Setting up a company in Bulgaria is very easy and our solicitors will do this for you. The preferred form of business is a Limited Liability Company /OOD/. It is a commercial company with share capital owned by its members whose liability is limited to the amount of the capital subscribed. One or more persons, including foreign nationals may found a private limited liability company. The minimum foundation capital is 5000 Bulgarian leva /2600 Euros/. You need to open a bank account and to deposit the initial company capital. This money can be withdrawn once the company has been formed. It usually takes up to 4 weeks for a company registration. You do not need to be present while your company is being registered as our solicitors will do this for you. All you have to do is to sign all relevant documents in English. You will be explained in details all steps and all documents that you will be signing. Charge for setting up a Ltd. Company is about 500 Euros which includes all state’s, legal and solicitor’s fees.

Please find bellow the summarized steps for buying a property:

Find and reserve a property with a property agent
Determine whether the sale is with land. If the sale is with land a company needs to be incorporated to hold the land. If sale is without land no company is needed.
When you are completely satisfied and sure that you really want the property sign the preliminary generally of sale with the agent (similar to 'Sold subject to contract' in the UK) and give 20% deposit to the agent to secure the property for you exclusively. The deposit is nor refundable in case you pull out of the deal. The Euro is generally the favored currency and of course most convenient for European investors.
If the property is already built, do the standard checks on the property using a reputable Bulgarian solicitor and structural engineer. If buying land you may wish to carry out a drilling analysis of the soil and subsoil to verify the suitability to build on this land in future.
Then we do detailed checks on title documents, building permissions, debts on title, etc. If the property that you like to buy comes with land we start setting up a company for you.
Sign the Notary Act (Contract of purchase) in front of a Bulgarian Notary either in Bulgaria or at the Bulgarian embassy in London. You will have to pay a translator to be present and this costs approximately 20 euros.
Please note that the final Notary Act is not signed until the building is completed in the case off plan developments.

The relevant taxes that investors purchasing property in Bulgaria will be liable for will vary from person to person due to a number of factors including your tax domicile, the extent of your business activities in Bulgaria, the nature of the property transaction and more. Transfer the remainder of the funds and get the title deeds transferred to your name.

Please also note than in Bulgaria there is a Tax estimation price /similar to ratable value in UK/ which is usually several times lower than the sale price. Because of various reasons most vendors prefer that this lower price rather than the real sale price is written in Title deeds. Due to this practice there might be discrepancies between the price you are paying and the price written in title deeds and Euro Home Company - Real Estate Agency can not be held responsible for that.