About Buying a Property - Bulgaria Property Investment

Setting Up a Company

Our Fees and Other Costs

To purchase a villa or house with land or land alone in Bulgaria requires you currently by Bulgarian law to register a Ltd company, this process is very commonplace and an average property or land purchase including company registration takes approximately 3-4 weeks from start to finish.........very refreshing.

You initially open a private Bank account in Bulgaria, which is then changed to a business account, we will do all this with you, it does take half a day or so.

If you see a property you like, you would need to place a negotiable deposit, normally about 10%, this can be sent when you get back to the UK.

Once you pay a deposit, it is non refundable, if you withdraw from the sale you lose it, if the vendor withdraws they have to pay you double, a much better system than in the UK.

The charges for the setting up a limited company are 750 euro (about £520) which includes all notary taxes, and solicitor’s fees, for the purchase, the registration of company in court, and the tax office, and include the cost of your Tax card, Bulstat card,and company stamp, in addition to these, you will be required to deposit 5000 Lev (£1,800) into your own company bank account within Bulgaria,this is the equivalent to the share capital of a UK Ltd Company which can be withdrawn anytime following completion of the process once your company is registered and operational. (Approx 3 weeks).

The purchasing process requires you to preferably visit Bulgaria in order to view the property and sign the initial contract; you will then be offered the opportunity to utilize power of attorney through our company, the solicitor or person of your choosing. This person will then represent you during your absence from Bulgaria and will be able to complete the purchase on your behalf, without you having to make another trip.

Other Costs

Once you have purchased a property, the transfer of ownership and purchase are subject to notary fees and property taxes, which in total are a little less than 3%** of the declared value of the property, (which may be less than the actual purchase price.)

Our Fees

Our fee is 3% of the full purchase price of any property or land with a minimum fee of 2000 euro (£1,380 GBP) which is due when the contracts are signed and a deposit is paid.

This includes:

Costs for finding the property

Organizing your trip to Bulgaria
Organizing the setting up of a Company for you
Organizing Independent Translator
Checking Ownership details
Organizing the preparation for preliminary contracts
Organising signing of final contract
Organizing the payment of the 2 % property tax to the Tax authorities(part of the 3%** mentioned above)
Organizing payment of Property Tax from your Bank Account
Declaration of the purchased property in the Tax office

Cost of Maintaining a Company in Bulgaria

In order to maintain your company you will require the services of a Bulgarian accountant to prepare your end of year accounts these are approximately £50-100 per annum for a small active company.

These services will be offered to you as an integral part of the buying process along with the opportunity to instruct us to look after your ongoing payments (water rates, electricity standard charges etc, details on request)

Apartments

Foreigners can purchase apartments in Bulgaria without the need to set up a LTD company, if no land is included in the sale.

When you buy an apartment, you buy a part of the building and as such there is no need to create a company, this part of the building is freehold and there is no lease, the apartment is yours forever, or until you sell.

Buying an ‘off plan’ apartment in Bulgaria is essentially the same as buying in the UK. There is an initial contract signed by all parties, which is basically an obligation to build on behalf of the developer and an obligation to buy on behalf of the client.

The sales contract will set out timescales, prices and any penalties for late completion and will be produced by the developers solicitors. It will have been checked by the agent and the client will also have the opportunity to obtain their own legal advice before signing.

The difference comes when the property is completed. In Bulgaria, there is a third party who basically acts on behalf of the government. This person is called the ‘notary’. It is the notary’s responsibility to ensure that the correct details are entered onto property deeds.