Most foreign owners in Bulgaria discover the same three things too late. That the advert and the title deed describe different things. That the land under a house is treated differently from the house itself. And that a company set up years ago to hold that land still has obligations nobody has been meeting.
All of it is fixable early and expensive later.
What this covers
Before you buy. Title checks: who actually owns it, and whether there are mortgages, charges, injunctions, pending claims or restitution claims against it. Checks on the construction status and on whether the property is what the listing says it is.
The transaction itself. Review of the preliminary contract and protection of your deposit. Representation before the notary, including when you are not in Bulgaria.
While you own it. Disputes with the complex management company over fees. Accumulated local taxes and refuse charges, which continue whether or not you visit. Unlawful construction and legalisation. Co-ownership and partition. Boundaries, easements and access. Letting and managing the property remotely.
When it goes wrong. Hidden defects. Rescission of a purchase. Third parties occupying the property. Disputes with an agent over commission.
The land rule
This surprises almost every non-EU buyer.
Citizens of countries outside the EU may acquire ownership of land in Bulgaria only through a Bulgarian company that carries out the transaction and of which they are the sole owner. Buildings are treated separately from the land beneath them.
In practice this means that a house with a garden usually involves a company, and that company carries obligations every year. If nobody has explained that to you before you paid a deposit, that is the first thing to look at.
There is a separate page on property held by a company.
When to instruct a lawyer
Before you pay anything. Not after.
Most foreign clients call after the deposit has gone and something has started to look wrong. At that point we are working with what was signed, not with what could have been signed.
When you probably do not need me. If you are buying a new flat from a large developer, with a clear completion certificate, no mortgage, and you are financing it with a Bulgarian bank loan, the bank runs its own check. It is not there to protect you, but it covers the basics.
One thing people get wrong
The listing and the title deed often describe different things. A terrace that has been enclosed. A cellar that was never registered. A garden that on paper belongs to someone else.
The difference surfaces years later, when you sell, and by then it is your problem.
That is why the check is done before the deposit, not before the notary.