Buying property in Bulgaria - the process

Place a 10% deposit and sign a preliminary/initial contract to secure the property on sale and to withdraw it from the market. At this stage a commission charge 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 withdraws from the transaction they must refund your 10% deposit and also pay you an additional 10%.

This process may require you to visit Bulgaria in order to sign the preliminary contract and when is applicable to sign application form for registration of a limited company, you will then be offered the opportunity to utilise power of attorney through our representative in the area or person/lawyer of your choosing. This person will then represent you during your absence from Bulgaria to complete the sale.

Once the property has been withdrawn from the market the seller will expect the outstanding balance as soon as possible.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 the final payment is due and pay the notary fee, (approx 3 % of the taxable/book value of your new property) along with municipal taxes of 2%.

Please note A Home In Bulgaria have no control over Notary Deals on properties.

This is enforced by local government offices in order to attempt to keep the Bulgarian property market affordable for all.

As we have mentioned earlier in Bulgaria there are terms as "tax estimation price" and "purchase price". The "tax estimation price" (similar to "book value" in UK) is for the purposes of real estate taxation and is much lower than the actual selling (purchase) price.
Most of the Bulgarian property owners  wish that the "tax estimation price" (book value) is written in the title deed, and not the selling (asking) price which the buyers are paying, so due to this practice there is discrepancies between the price you are paying and the price written in the title deed in order to minimise transaction fees and subsequent taxes on the property. 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 property owner.
We would recommend that you allow 6% of the property price to cover all commission, taxes and fees.

Setting up your Bulgarian company

In order to purchase a villa or house Non-Bulgarian citizens are required by Bulgarian law to set up a limited company, however this process is very straight forward for EU citizens but still takes up to 1 month.

The cost for setting up a limited company in Bulgaria is about 340 GBP, which includes all notary, taxes, and set up 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 anytime following completion of the purchasing process and your company is registered and operational (approximately 1 month after that). In order to maintain your company you will require the services of a Bulgarian accountant.

The above services can be offered by A Home In Bulgaria to you as an integral part of the buying property in Bulgaria process.

Our UK services price list could be found here. If you are paying in BG please see here.