How it starts
You bought an apartment in a complex, usually near the sea, usually years ago. The contract had a line about maintenance that looked reasonable at the time.
Today the figure is different. Who set it is unclear. What it covers is unclear. The general meeting, if there is one, happens without you, because you are in another country.
This is one of the most common problems for foreign owners in Bulgaria, and almost nobody expected it when they bought.
The first question: what did you sign
Everything starts from the documents. What gets checked is what exactly you took on, for how long, and by what procedure the fee may be changed.
Sometimes it turns out the obligation is smaller than the demand. Sometimes it turns out the contract does allow the increase, but not in the way it was made. Sometimes it turns out the company writing to you is not the one you contracted with.
What can be challenged
The amount, where it was set outside the agreed procedure. The period, where sums are claimed for time you no longer owe for. Interest and charges added on. Services invoiced but not performed.
It also matters whether the fee is for genuine common parts or for things outside them.
What cannot be done to you
Threats are part of the pressure, and people often give in to them because they are far away and cannot check.
Blocking access to your own property, changing the locks, removing your belongings, and cutting off utilities you hold a separate contract for are not methods of collecting a debt. If someone is doing that, it is a separate matter, and it is also dealt with.
If it has already happened to you, document it with photographs and dates.
If you are not in Bulgaria
You do not need to come. Correspondence, negotiation and, if needed, proceedings are handled through a power of attorney.
A practical point: do not simply stop paying before you have established what you owe. Stopping without a basis can weaken your position. First it is established what is due, then it is decided.
What I will need
The purchase contract and the maintenance contract, if they are separate. The invoices and reminder letters. The correspondence, emails included. Minutes of general meetings if there are any.
If all you have is a letter demanding payment, we start from there.
This page provides general information and does not constitute legal advice on any specific case. Rights and deadlines depend on the facts and the applicable law.