Relocation to Bulgaria

The main pitfall for Brits post Brexit is getting residency! Unfortunately the D Visa which is the first step to residency is not easy to get.

If you have a military, work, or private pension, the easiest way to get the D visa is retirement. It's not based on age, but on showing proof of a pension that pays at least the Bulgarian minimum wage. If you don't have a pension and need to apply on other grounds, it's a lot more challenging. Not impossible, but challenging for sure!

I'm sure you will enjoy your visit!

@sryan4824

For me: No pitfalls, it's tip-top. :-)

Lovely country with friendly (usually) locals, and very affordable in terms of property and cost of living.

If you want to be really picky: Residence not as easy as it used to be (as @janemulberry says), language barrier can complicate things, property (and groceries) going up in price. Salaries are very low, so if you want/need to work, it can be a challenge.

Hi,

I'm a retired UK citizen in receipt of state pension. I'm currently on a VLS-TS living in France. This is a one year visa, which is renewable every year, for the first 5 years. After that you get a 5 year visa, then 10. No idea what happens after that. I bought my house here 17 years ago, as a holiday home, with the intention of retiring here. Sadly Brexit made it much more complicated and I'm really struggling with bureaucracy now. Not just the paperwork, but the cost of everything. I applied to convert my loft and they want to charge 953 euros tax, for the privilege. The visa is 200 euros every year, the handholders are a couple of hundred euros, to do anything, including the annual tax return. I didn't come here to be skint, so I'm considering Bulgaria. I have enough pension to live on comfortably, but my house is a work in progress and on top of everything else I'm constantly paying out. its beginning to drag me down.

The crux of this is, is there any advantage to me, to currently being on a temporary French visa?

What would be the best, reasonably rural area to live, considering I have lots of pets and don't like hunters?

How expensive are builders and building materials?

Has anyone moved out post Brexit, who can tell me the pitfalls? Sorry for the 20 questions, but the best people to ask, are the ones who've already done it. Cheers.

Elaine.

@sryan4824

Hi..i live 15 minutes from bourgas airport..in.Pomorie...there are 2 parts to this town.

If going by bus..just outside the airport

Is a bus stop..on the other side of the large roundabout..last bus around 8.30pm...the first part of the journey stops in 'new town '..the final stop is old town..or 'centrum..centre '

Is where i live..most of the time.

The fare is 4 lev..do not change more than you need at the airport...banks offer the best rates..or Crown exchange in the town itself.

Service charge 100 lev per yr

Council tax 80 lv per yr

Property is around 45.to 50 thousand euro for a 1 bed.here...5 minutes to the town centre..same to the beaches

Beer is  2lv..a meal around 20 lv

Take away cheaper..beer in super mkt from 1 to 150 lv a can.

We have a spa..a hosp..dentist. a few super mkts..etc..enjoy your stay.

Good luck.

@grumpyoldbird

Hi Elaine,

Firstly, very sorry to hear of your plight in France. It's sad, because France was such a beautiful country - Macron has destroyed it.

As you're probably aware, it's not much better in the UK either. Hence I left the UK in August 2020, when things were about to get a lot worse with lockdowns etc.,

I've now been in Bulgaria 2 years and eight months and I'm married to a Bulgarian lady I met here in Bulgaria, with two step kids.

Now to answer your questions...

In relation to visa advantages, if you can only get one year visas in France, then Bulgaria would be more advantageous... Firstly you need to understand that Balkan countries are very bureaucratic, but please don't let that put you off!! If you do everything by the book, you'll be able to get a five year, longterm residency, after one year.  I need to ask you, what nationality passport do you hold? Because it makes a difference. I'm assuming you have a UK passport? If so, it means just a couple of extra hoops to jump through...

First you must apply for a D Visa, which you need to apply for, either in London or in France, at the Bulgarian Embassy. You will be able to apply for this visa on the grounds you are retired, with a pension.  The D Visa, if granted, will allow you a stay of 180 days. During this time, it is essential you get to work on obtaining a residency card...

To obtain a residency card, you need the following...

The D Visa.

Your passport.

Proof of income.

Proof that you have a Bulgarian bank account

And...

You will need to deposit around £1,000 into the account and show a statement that you have.

Proof of your address in Bulgaria - if you are renting, you'll need to show a notarised document, proving the landlord is allowing you to rent and stay at the address. If you have purchased a property, you'll need to show the notarised deeds and, may be, the municipality tax bill (council tax equivalent).

You will also need health insurance, which you should buy a private health insurance policy in Bulgaria, from an insurance broker. (You cannot register for the public health system, until you have a residency id card).

I strongly advise you to seek the help of a local translator, to obtain the residency card. Depending on which area you want to settle, there are many around Bulgaria who can help at a reasonable rate.

Where to live??  Bulgaria is extremely diverse in landscape! You really need to come to Bulgaria, enter on a tourist visa (valid 90 days) and explore different regions, you think you might like. We have mountains, forests, agricultural regions, lakes, rivers, small towns, big towns and thousands of villages.

I'm going to be frank... Think twice about moving to a remote village - not all villages have good infrastructure! Some can have poor Internet, poor transport service's to towns and bear in mind, that if you get ill, an ambulance can take a long time to reach you.

However, if you don't see those things as issues, then village life can be rewarding. Picking the right village is a matter of either going to a village, exploring and asking locals, or, some will advise you on here, or Facebook has a Bulgaria expats group. Because you're retired, my own view would be, to find a village near to a large town or city, that is served by buses and or a railway service, which is also likely to have good Internet and a few shops. You'll find many villages have at least one shop, one bar and a church. Some have a pharmacy.

You say you have dogs. If you're buying a house with a large garden, then this is not a problem. As for hunting, as far as I know, most hunting is illegal here, so you shouldn't get a problem with hunting; that said, I would say, if it's going to happen, you'd probably see it near forest.

It's also a good idea to find a village where others expats live and avoid villages where there's a significant Roma (gypsy) population.

I should add, I live in a city - Varna, but we are looking at buying a house in the country, at some point in the future.  We will become looking either near Varna, or Dobrich / General Toshevo region.

Buildings costs have escalated over the last few years, as materials have become significantly more expensive. Whilst labour is cheaper here than compared to France, the overall cost will not be as wide between both countries, as one would like.  Employing local labour in villages and small towns is generally cheaper than in big towns or cities. But, in Bulgaria, you get what you pay for! So local labour isn't always good! It can be trial and error!

Bulgaria certainly has a lower cost of living compared to Western European countries. This is down to things like utilities, telephone Internet and TV services, transport and health, all costing much less.

Property prices have increased significantly, especially in the large cities, as there has been a large influx of Ukrainian migrants, many of whom have money and, due to demand, have pushed the prices up.

The cheapest houses in villages are now around 20,000 euro, but, at that price, you'll need to do work on them. For one that's ready to move in, expect to pay 30,000 euros plus.

Having been here for over two and a half years, I would say you'll have a better life in Bulgaria, compared to France. The only country in Western Europe I would ever consider now, would be Portugal, which also has problems, with things like health service waiting times.

I strongly suggest you come here on a tourist visa first and explore this diverse land, to get a feel for it, before you commit.

Hope this helps Elaine and feel free to ask any more questions!

Ian.

@cyberescue1 Thanks for that Ian. I appreciate that as I get older its not wise to be too remote, but I really don't want neighbours on top of me. The edge of a village would be fine. Ive just found something online that said, as a French resident  I would need to apply for a visa in Bulgaria, not sure if that's true or not. Its such a vast country, its difficult to pin point an area that would suit me best. In fairness though, I haven't heard anyone say anything negative about Bulgaria. I do have a UK passport and UK pensions and I pay tax to the UK not France. I'm not sure how that would work in Bulgaria, but I understand that you pay a flat rate of 10%, which would be more expensive for me. So it's back on with the area research and see where that takes me. It's difficult to get away, with so many animals and I would have my house here to sell, but it's certainly of interest. Thanks again

@wtruckyboy thank you. The fact that you have a dentist is a miracle! In France they're almost impossible to find. I eventually found one via word of mouth, but it took 4 months to get an appointment. They remove teeth, fit implants and dentures, but that's about it. Heaven forbid you should ask for a scale and polish 😂

The prices sound good. I would need something to renovate, which I enjoy anyway. Obviously things like roofing, wiring and plumbing would be left to specialists. One thing I would like to ask is about water. I get the impression that not all houses are connected to mains water and no one has mentioned septic tanks, I'm sure must be a requirement is a more rural location. Can you shed any light on those for me?

Hi Elaine! Yes, septic tanks or older style cesspits are the norm in most villages. Only the largest will have a sewerage system. I'm not living full time here yet, waiting to get my pension so I can apply for a D visa.

To be honest, I'm not sure what my house has. I think a cesspit right beside the house wall! Not ideal, but there don't seem to be any issues so far.

My place is in a smallish village, Krasen  about 90 minutes from Varna airport and 25 minutes from the nearest town. It has a shop, snack bar/ cafe, active cultural centre, and a part-time medical centre. Three buses a day to General Toshevo, but only on weekdays. It's a very rural agricultural area. No hunting that I'm aware of, but I believe it's very common in mountain and forest areas.

Unrenovated houses here sell for between 10,000 and 20,000 EUR, and are likely to need a fair bit of work. My house cost £9000, nearer £10000 when the purchase admin expenses are factored in. I just spent £7,500 getting it reroofed as the old roof was in a poor state. I haven't had any other work done yet so don't know costs for electric or plumbing. It needs so much more doing before it's truly liveable! I hoped to get away with spending less than £30,000 in total, but it will almost certainly cost more than that.

But I love it here. The people are friendly and welcoming, there's no crime, things left in the garden here that would have been stolen from our UK garden are untouched. I lost my purse and wondered if it had been stolen as I'd left the house unlocked. My neighbour was horrified that I'd think there was a their in the village! (Turned out my purse was on the bed under a blanket)

Are you sure you want to put yourself through renovating another house? That makes a big difference to what you're looking for. If may be possible to find something already renovated, but there don't seem to be many on the market in this area.

@wtruckyboy thank you. The fact that you have a dentist is a miracle! In France they're almost impossible to find. I eventually found one via word of mouth, but it took 4 months to get an appointment. They remove teeth, fit implants and dentures, but that's about it. Heaven forbid you should ask for a scale and polish 😂
The prices sound good. I would need something to renovate, which I enjoy anyway. Obviously things like roofing, wiring and plumbing would be left to specialists. One thing I would like to ask is about water. I get the impression that not all houses are connected to mains water and no one has mentioned septic tanks, I'm sure must be a requirement is a more rural location. Can you shed any light on those for me?
-@grumpyoldbird

Unless you are interested in a particular dwelling, Im not you can get a straight answer. 

As for your comment about France, it depends on where you live. My French family has no trouble visiting dentists.

@janemulberry Hi, well if I'm selling my house here it will be unfinished anyway. I think the last straw was when  I received a letter telling me I'd be charged 953 euros for the privilege of converting my loft. That money would have paid for materials to convert the loft. I feel like its one step forward and 2 steps back here. I would prefer to have an intact roof, but I'm happy to do most of the other stuff myself.  How did you find an area that suits you? That's my biggest concern. I would like to be next to open countryside, if not actually living in the middle of it. My animals are important to me, so a large, fenced garden and no roads for my cats would be ideal. I just don't know where to start looking!

@SimCityAT Im assuming they live in or near a big city. Doctors are equally difficult to find here.  The local medical centre has one doctor on long term sick and the other one isn't taking patients. I have to drive to a doctor 45 mins away to fill my prescription. Don't get wrong, the hospitals are pretty good, as some friends of mine have found out recently, but it's a worry when you can't find a doctor, even more so as you get older.

@janemulberry I've been looking at different provinces and it's a minefield, because I have no idea what I'm looking at 😂 Dobrich appears to have a pretty good climate. Not too hot in the summer, not too hot in the winter. Apparently I can get a D visa from France, without having to go back to the UK, which is a bonus. It's difficult to know which area is best to settle, especially because the country is so vast. More research to do, but when you're back again I'd be grateful if you see anything cheap on the edge of the village. Speak soon 🙂

@janemulberry I've been looking at different provinces and it's a minefield, because I have no idea what I'm looking at 😂 Dobrich appears to have a pretty good climate. Not too hot in the summer, not too hot in the winter. Apparently I can get a D visa from France, without having to go back to the UK, which is a bonus. It's difficult to know which area is best to settle, especially because the country is so vast. More research to do, but when you're back again I'd be grateful if you see anything cheap on the edge of the village. Speak soon 🙂
-@grumpyoldbird

I would take a holiday and visit the area first if need be make a short list.

Elaine, @SimCityAT is right, the sensible thing to do is to come and look around first.

Of course, I didn't. I'd been to Bulgaria multiple times but not this region. I bought a £5000 old wreck online before Brexit kicked in, because I loved the look of it and hoped to come over the following year to sort out residency. COVID killed that plan, and though there were ways to arrange residency after the deadline for that passed, they involved using an immigration lawyer, more money I just didn't feel able to spend at the time. We decided to wait until I was eligible for the retirement visa.

Then I saw the house I'm in now for sale from the same agent, said to need "no immediate work", and bought it to use as a base while I did up the first house. That plan didn't work out either! The second house did need immediate roof repairs. But I found the village centre location was far more practical than the village edge house because a health issue has stopped me driving, and there are fabulous neighbours here.

The smaller older, adorable wreck house is edge of village, but unless someone has a 4wd car or a sturdy donkey and cart it's unfortunately not a workable place for hubby and I to live. Many villages are very spread out, especially in this region as they tend to have at least 1/2 acre of land. Something to consider it you don't drive. It looked a decent walk on Google Maps, but I didn't realise just how far, especially when I'd need to carry in all my supplies. And a good helpful neighbour is a must for a non-Bulgarian speaker, the neighbour here has been enormously helpful.

Though Bulgaria is famed for bureaucracy, with good reason, in most villages things are very relaxed. There wouldn't be any tax or need to get a permit to extend into the loft. Extensions that alter the house footprint officially yes but unofficially unlikely to be an issue unless it's something big and very different. That depends on the mayor, though, some places may be more by-the-book than others.

@SimCityAT of course I need to see some of the areas,  but its knowing where to start because its so huge. I'm trying to research first, to narrow down areas I think might suit me, then I'll have to pay a visit.

@grumpyoldbird

Hi Elaine,

I replied to your question on tax in detail, on the other thread.

You do not pay any tax on your UK pension in Bulgaria. Both countries have an agreement of only one tax. This was continued after Brexit. So you'll go paying UK tax to the Inland Revenue, which presumably, in your case, is taxed at source (PAYE).

In relation to applying for a visa, I find it strange that Bulgaria would stipulate on French residency.  I think they would be much more interested in your nationality and passport status.  Either way, you would be applying for a D Visa, so, personally, I would apply using my British passport.  Also, they will need to stamp the passport relating to the visa, so I'm not entirely sure they could do that with a residency card?

As for the area to live, many choose the Veliko Tarnovo region.  There are a lot of British expats in the villages around Veliko Tarnovo.  When I first arrived in Bulgaria, I settled in Veliko Tarnovo, renting a one bed apartment in a quiet street, in the city centre, to get me started. I knew British people who lived in Pchelishte, Arbanasi, Polikraishte and Dobri Djal.  The area is hills and rolling countryside.  Most villages have a bus service and there is also a railway at Debelets and Samovodene, which runs through Veliko Tarnovo and Gorna Oryavitsa.

Veliko Tarnovo is beautiful, nestled on hillsides, with the Yantra River running at the bottom of the steep valley.   The Veliko Tarnovo area, certainly has all you need to live comfortably.  That said, as I'm finding out, when it comes to medical services, it's not so much what you know, it's who you know!  I live in Varna, but next week we're having to travel to Burgas (two and a half hours away) to visit a private hospital, as I require a full colonoscopy.  We were advised by a top gastroenterologist in Varna, that she didn't recommend anywhere in Varna to carry out the colonoscopy, as I have high risk problems.  Hence we're going to Burgas.  So bear in mind, if you ever require medical treatment, you may need to travel to another city.  We have also had to travel to Sofia, for my step daughter's epilepsy, which involved flying one way, train the other.

In relation to moving with animals, there are special animal transportation services available.   Back in 2004, I moved from Golders Green, North West London, to Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. I had five cats and an African Grey Parrot.  At the time British Midland Airways existed and I flew all five cats on one trip and the parrot on the second.  It was hilarious sitting in Café Rouge, at Heathrow Airport, at 6am, with the parrot secure in a wooded box, with him wolf whistling at the waitressses!  Caused a lot of intrigue, when both the cats and parrot all arrived at Aberdeen Airport, baggage reclaim!

@grumpyoldbird

On a geographical note, unless you're into mountaineering lol, I would avoid the mountain areas, which are the Rodope Mountains in the far south, along the Greek border (snow/skiing in winter)  The Rila and Pirin Mountains, South, South West of Sofia, also parts of the Stara Planina, along the centre of Bulgaria.

The areas in the south central part of Bulgaria, such as Stara Zagora, Dimitrovgrad, Yambol and Burgas are flatter.  In the north and north east the areas of Dobrich, Shumen, Razgrad, Silistra, Ruse are flat or undulating. The Dobrich area, right down to the Black Sea Coast is very fertile and a lot of crops are grown.

The south is hotter than the north in summer.  That said, the north can have harsher winters.  I was in Veliko Tarnovo, on a visit, in January 2020 and the snow was 3 feet deep, with temperatures as low as minus 15°C at night!   That said the winters are short - mostly January and February and the summers are long, May to September / October.

Also, buying a house next to a river, risks flooding!  There have been floods in the past in various rivers.

Bulgaria has an extensive transport network - a large rail network BDZ.  Four Aiports - Sofia, Varna, Burgas and Plovdiv.  A large network of private bus and coach operators, linking most towns and cities and, of course the road network, using your car.   The roads are generally in poor condition and there are only three main motorways, one linking Burgas to Plovdiv and Sofia, with a spur to Svilingrad. The second is still to be completed, but will eventually link Varna to Sofia, via Veliko Tarnovo / Gorna Oryavitsa.  The third is from Sofia to Blagoevgrad and the Greek border.

Rail travel is incredibly cheap - Varna to Sofia, an eight hour journey in First Class is around 32 Leva (€16.40).  Bus travel is a little more expensive than rail, but generally shorter journey times.  At present there is only one domestic air route, between Sofia and Varna, which operates twice a day, at around €75 each way, with a journey time of 40 minutes.

Sofia has a tram and metro system, which, again is very cheap to use - around €2.50 per day.

@grumpyoldbird

Deciding where to live is rather a wide-open issue, and as many have suggested you could easily come here for a month or two and spend your time exploring the country. And perhaps that's the approach that appeals to you.

I have a slightly different perspective, as, personally, I did very little physical exploration prior to buying here.

My view is that there are many village houses available in lots of nice villages. And that the key issue is to be fairly close to a good-sized town where you will have supermarkets, restaurants, hospitals and other services. Our house is in a lovely village 10km from Kazanlak which has a population of about 50,000. Kazanlak has a train station, bus station, and one each of the main supermarkets here (Lidl, Billa, Kaufland), so I know civilization is not far away. It also has an annual Rose Festival, a UNESCO-listed Thracian Tomb, a large lake (Koprinka), and mountains/National Parks nearby. So that's extra bonus points. :-)

We have a car, and the roads are very good, so it's only 10-15 minutes to Lidl. I don't like to drive longer than that, but some are happy to drive 30-45 minutes for their weekly shop. If you won't be driving, and need to use buses, then probably better to be even closer, if possible. Looking at it this way, there are lots of large towns / small cities that could be considered, not just the main cities like Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas and Varna. Some nice towns are Veliko Tarnovo, Stara Zagora, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Shumen, Ruse, Harmanli, Elhovo, Blagoevgrad and more.

In addition, it often comes down to money. Sofia and Plovdiv and Varna and Burgas (the largest cities) are great, and it would be ideal to be a few km from them. But they're very expensive, so a village house in such locations will probably be far outside your budget. We preferred to be 10km from a small city, rather than 60km from Sofia!

I would start by doing some property research to see what kind of properties are available for my budget. Ebay usually has some very interesting property offers in Bulgaria, and there are a couple of "pay monthly" sellers who are very popular (BulgariaDirect and Paul Hawtin/Emerge). BulgarianProperties (dot com) is a very large and reputable property agent, and they have properties for sale (and rent) all over Bulgaria. Their listings are in English, and they usually have plenty of info and photos, and sometimes videos or 3D room views too. They have both unrenovated and renovated village houses, and there's a very wide range of prices depending on where it is, and what work has already been done.

Google Maps (Street View) is all over Bulgaria now, so it's usually easy to have a virtual viewing of a particular village and its surroundings. However, most villages only have the main street mapped, so you probably won't be able to find a particular house, like one might be able to do in the UK. Google Maps will also show you if the main town in your area has a Lidl or a train station or a hospital. A lot of the village imagery can still be old (often 10-15 years), but there also plenty that was done in the 2020s. The newer stuff gives a much better idea of the state of the village, and you can see if there are lots of renovated houses (it's very easy to tell from the outside that a Bulgarian house has been renovated, while French and UK villages have the exterior look more tightly controlled).

@gwynj Thank you. I have been trawling the internet for some time. I don't want to be close to a large city, a small city or large town would be my preference, but I need to be on the edge of countryside, or at leadt close proximity. At lot of houses that look interesting to me, too often have very close neighbours and I'd prefer to be a few hundred yards from everyone else. Mostly because of the dogs. The dogs are another reason why I can't just up sticks and go out there for any length of time. I all fairness when I bought my French house, I did loads of online research and came out for a week to look. I'd already made appointments with varios agents. I didn't have quite so many dogs then though. I'll keep looking and see what comes up. Thanks for the advice.

@grumpyoldbird

In most Bulgarian villages, the countryside is very close. :-) You can be a house on the edge of a village, but there are not many houses on their own a few hundred yards away from its neighbours.

Our village house is on a good street (asphalt, street lights, mains sewer, nearly all houses renovated), and has neighbours on both sides. And the neighbours are wonderful, I've never had such nice neighbours before! However, our back gate opens towards the river, and the trails start outside. Like most Bulgarian village houses, we have a large garden, and it's fully-walled so it's extremely quiet and private. I would certainly have no worries about keeping a couple of dogs (and/or cats) here, and my neighbours have all sorts of animals (cats, dogs, ducks, hens, rabbits, pigeons, goats, etc.). One neighbour has a non-stop barky dog so that's a bit annoying. But if yours are well-behaved, I doubt there's much problem with being near others.

@gwynj  I have 9 dogs and 4 cats, so this is why I didn't want close neighbours. They can be a bit noisy when they're first let into the garden, because they want to run around and play. I leave them out and let them bark, because I don't want to listen to it and I'm sure my neighbours. Sometimes I think I make more noise than them, by shouting at them to shut up! The main problem is they will bark at anything that's going outside the garden. So if they hear the neighbours in their garden, or anyone walking past, they'll bark. That's why its preferable to be a bit out of the way. I will keep looking out and see what I find. In the meantime I've got plenty to keep me occupied here. If I'm gonna sell my house I need to make it look as good as I can before I adverise.

@cyberescue1 that's good information. Thank you. I have my trusty old Citroen Berlingo, who comes everywhere with me, but when things go wrong, like my starter motor recently, its nice to know there's good public transport. Thankfully a friend lent me her car, otherwise in rural France its like having your legs cut off.

@cyberescue1 😂😂 It was you really, you're just too embarrassed to admit it 😉

If I have to travel to get decent medical treatment, that's not an issue. I like driving and more so when its not on UK roads. Because most of my dogs are Romanian rescues I know a few transporters, so I could bring some myself and transport the others by road. I'm sure they'd be happy to earn money on the return journey from the UK. It's less than a year since I moved here, so its not going to be easy to up sticks and start again, but if that's what I have to do, then so be it.

@janemulberry hi Jane, just read your reply to Elaine with great interest.  My wife and I have been looking on and off in the General Toshevo area, to perhaps buy a house in a few years time.  We are currently living in Varna in a 3 bed maisonette (penthouse) which we purchased in April last year.  We also own a studio apartment, which we rent out and a couple of garages and a parking space.

On the subject of plumbing and electrics, when we moved to our apartment we needed both.  The plumber completed the following :    new toilet in the kids' bathroom, new tap/shower hose unit, in the kids' bathroom shower, new hot water tank (80 litres) in our bathroom.  New mixer tap on the kitchen sink.  He completed the work over two days and charged us 180 Leva; we gave him 20 Leva tip, so total 200 Leva, which is around £90.   We had to buy the hot water tank (Eldom, actually made in Varna) which from memory, was about 320 Leva.   The toilet was paid for by the previous owner, as their tenant broke it, but, again from memory, we paid around 475 Leva, although this price would have increased now to around 600 Leva.  The kitchen mixer tap was around 300 Leva, but you can get cheaper - we just preferred an Ideal Standard one.

I thought I'd try some plumbing myself and bought two new taps for our lower bathroom (bath and basin). We bought them from Praktiker, a Polish brand.  I'd watched another plumber fit a tap, so felt pretty confident.  The key to a good job, is using Plumber's tape, a white, silky, very fine fabric on a roll, that you wrap around screw threads, where the taps / hoses screw on.  I have to say, the theory was easy, in practise, a little tricky, because of limited access behind the basin, but I completed both in  two and a half hours, with the most difficult thing, being the removal of the old basin tap.  I reckoned I shaved myself 80 Leva, doing it myself.  My wife was a little gobsmacked that I'd done such a good job!

On the electric front, we had the following done :   replace / repair six electric sockets, reinstall LED recessed, living area, lighting system, replace three light switches, remove old hob and replace with new, fit illuminated bathroom cabinet, repair extractor fan in lower bathroom, replace extractor fan in upper bathroom.  We spaced the work out, using two different electricians - total cost for the the two electricians was about 400 Leva; they supplied the light switches, sockets and LED lighting.  We bought the hob, extractor fans and bathroom cabinet.  Extractor fans were around 30 to 45 Leva, depending on size and wattage. 

We found all the contractors did a satisfactory job, although the plumber was a little messy!   

Word of warning about electrics...  We've found that some circuits are not earthed properly and can, therefore, give a small live current to the exterior of appliances.  This is the case in our kitchen, the toaster, microwave and oven, give a mild electric shock when touched - less than static shocks, just a nip, especially if you have wet hands.  It's virtually impossible to do anything about it in our case, as we'd have to knock the walls down, but, as you have a house, you could definitely remedy this, if needed.  For a complete rewire, you'd probably be looking at 3,000 Leva (around £1350). But I would consider that money well spent in an old house!  That price ought to include basic sockets and light switches.  Light fittings and appliances would be extra.

Ian

@sryan4824 Have a good trip to Bourgas. I will be there next week, as I have to go into hospital there, for a colonoscopy. Bourgas is a well presented and leafy city, although, in truth, I found the people there a little too serious for my liking and they lacked a sense of humour! I asked my wife (who is Bulgarian) why she thought that might be, but neither of us could work it out; my wife even asked her cousin. In comparison, people in Varna seem more relaxed and can laugh!

On the work front, I think you'd find it very difficult getting a job in the electricity industry. Most Jobs in Bulgaria are kept for Bulgarians only. There is also the language barrier and Bulgarian is not an easy language, especially as the alphabet is Cyrillic.

However, I hear many do find work in call centres, where they require English speakers and there's also possibilities as a n English language tutor.

You should be able to acquire a D Visa, if you have a pension, applying as retired. There's no restriction on you working in Bulgaria, if you can find the work but be aware, that salaries are very low, compared to Western European countries - train drivers here, are on a mere 700 Leva per month! My Wife, as a GP, can only command a mere 1100 leva per month (£495). 

Personally, to make extra money, we have invested in property to rent out - we have a studio apartment, that brings in around 1,200 Leva per month and two garages that command 250 Leva each.

I keep myself busy with DIY projects! I've also gone and given a talk (in English) at my step kids' school.  My wife is also retraining as a manicurist and pedicurist, in which there is far more income!  She will be self employed.

I hope you find your home here in Bulgaria, it's a wonderful country and a far cry from the quality of living in the UK!

Ian

@cyberescue1 Hi Ian, it was interesting to read your reply to Jane. The tape you refer to  is called PTFE tape by the way. The comparison to prices for trades people in France is staggering! House rewire (mine will only be 80m2 when I've converted the loft) 3500 euros. Plumbers, electricians etc all seem to charge 200 euros a day labour. Tree surgeons and men with mini diggers 350 euros a day upwards. I was quoted 11k euros to do my roof 15 years ago, then someone else told me it doesnt need doing. Needless to say, I wont be doing it. The difficulty for me is that I love my house, even though it's a work in progress and I love its location. I have to own up that me and my dogs are quite a noisy bunch. I could send you a video of these idiots chargjng around the garden growling and barking at each other and me shouting at them to shut up. Thankfully I only have 3 neighbours and the nearest is about 100 yards away.  I'd feel guilty subjecting neighbours to all that. There in lies the dilemma.

@grumpyoldbird Good morning Elaine,

You'll definitely find a suitable house here, it just might take a little searching.  So long as the fence / wall around its garden is high enough and secure, you'll be fine with the dogs.  There are a huge amount of pet dogs in Bulgaria and there's also quite a number of street dogs.  Varna, where I live, is dog and cat city!  Outside, just 50 metres from us, are three street dogs, who are looked after by people next to them.  We have six street cats that have territories within 150 metres of our apartment - again, all are looked after.  We have three cats, all originally street cats - I'm a cat expert, as I ran a boarding cattery in London for 12 years.   In our small block of apartments (6 apartments) there's two dogs and four cats.  Most own small dogs here, as Varna is mostly apartments, but house owners have bigger dogs, huskies and labradors being very popular.

So long as your dogs can't escape, you'll be fine.  When I lived in Veliko Tarnovo for a short time I met a lady who had around 6 dogs and was in the process of rescuing more.  She lived in Lyaskovets, up a side road, off the main street, in a largish house with a large garden, swimming pool and bbq. One of the dogs did escape, because of its ability to jump high, but most of the neighbours were okay about it, there was only one complainer. 

We even tried taking two dogs on ourselves, one only temporarily, which we rehomed to a family in Sofia, with a big house and the other proved to much for us - she was too highly strung and was part Gonche breed, which meant she was going to grow too big for us.  When we took them on, we'd judged their future growth from the mother's size.   We found a perfect home for her, with a family in  a large house, in Southern Germany.

I was actually very astounded as to how many dogs there are in Varna, if you go for a walk in the Sea Garden, you'll see why!  As I write this, I'm listening to our neighbours dog, who lives in the house behind our block.  I don't mind him barking, as he does it when strangers are around and my wife and I find a sense of security from him.

Are yes PTFE, I did use that abbreviation, when I went to the hardware shop - I stuck it into Google translate and showed the two old dears behind the counter, which launched into a discussion about what I meant - they pulled out four different items that had absolutely no relation to what I wanted lol, I then got an image up on Google, of the tape, which sorted it!  Great stuff it is too, works a treat!

I cringed when I read those prices for labour, it's the same in the UK now - my aunt in Weston Super Mare has a nightmare getting anybody reliable and, whoever she gets, always rips her off.

Would there not be a way to rent the house you have in France and move to Bulgaria, borrowing the money for a house here, if necessary?  That way,, you could keep your house there and live here.  The rent may well pay for the loan?   Just a thought.

Ian

@cyberescue1

1,200 leva for a studio? That is one mighty fine rent! :-)

I've just finished a very fancy studio in a brand-new luxury building in central Plovdiv... and I reckoned I'd be lucky to get 800 leva on a fully-furnished LT rental.

But I agree with your cunning plan: having one or two rental properties seems a very good way of supplementing the pension here. When I was teaching in downtown Plovdiv (2 jobs, mathematics in the morning at a private high school, English in the afternoon/evening at a language school) I was barely scraping together 400/500 euros most months. Renting out a studio is certainly a lot easier than working!

@grumpyoldbird

I think others have commented that dogs should be fine here, even in the village. It's good that you're concerned about the noise, but there really is a LOT of barking in our village. At night in summer, there is a chorus of howling from all across the village going on for hours! I walk a lot, and I pass many houses where the dogs inside will start barking loudly as I walk past. One guy has 3 large dobermans, and he doesn't have a wall, just a fence... and they launch themselves at the fence in a frenzy, it's quite scary. :-) If you get a walled place, you really do have a lot of privacy. And I've definitely noticed that the dogs that can SEE me walking past get a lot more aggravated that ones behind walls who only hear the pitter-patter of my hiking boots.

In my experience, most dogs will bark at a new person walking by... maybe even the neighbours coming out of their house. But usually they get used to the neighbours and don't bark constantly when they come out to work in the garden. Similarly, it's natural for them to be excited and barky when you first let them into the garden. If they really bark constantly, and you keep them outside (rather than inside the house) then that could be an issue. But there is very little enforcement in Bulgarian villages.

As I mentioned, all my neighbours are great, no problems at all even with their menageries. Except for one old boy, and his dog is a CONSTANT barker! By which I mean he is kept chained 24 hours (so no surprise that he's miserable), and he will keep the barking up almost non-stop from wake-up, to early hours of the morning when he starts howling at the moon. And if I (or anyone else) walk past, he goes absolutely nuts. He made my life a misery, I must say. My understanding is that this did exceed the tolerance level of Bulgarians, and my immediate neighbours eventually had a quiet word with him about his dog's antisocial behaviour. He moved him to his paddock on the other side of his house (away from us all), and put him with his cows so that he always has company. He still barks excessively, but he's much better than before. Plus, I plan to put external shutters on our bedroom windows this summer.

@cyberescue1

Thanks for those prices you quoted. How long ago did you get the electrical work done?

3000 leva for the house electrical rewire is around what I was thinking it would cost. It's a small house, three rooms, kitchen, and bathroom. A waterproofed outdoor socket at the back of the house would be useful too. Now the roof is done, rewiring is the next job on my list.

The kitchen and bathrooms are both huge messes in need of a complete overhaul. The old ceilings, which were in terrible condition and far too low anyway, came down with the roof replacement. The walls above where the ceilings were are unplastered raw cob, and then some rough brickwork where the roofers raised the wall height.

But getting the electrics in place should come before worrying about putting in suitable ceilings, replastering walls, and levelling lumpy earth floors!

@cyberescue1

Hello,

I will buy a house in 15 days near Varna in Vasilevo.

I read your email concerning an electrician have the phone that I can contact him to completely redo my electricity.

Thanks.

Cordially

Sophie

@janemulberry It sounds like you've taken on a big project Jane. Good for you. I thought my French house was bad, but yours might be worse!

Cheap Bulgarian village houses can be very basic, Elaine, and estate agents' listings invariably fail to tell the entire story.

Two rooms have wooden floors, one bedroom plus the kitchen and part of the bathroom have lino over earth. I'm not that bothered living with earth floors, but because the roof has leaked so many times over the years, the floors are very bumpy and need levelling and tamping down well.

Plus a big part of the mess is that I had the ceilings in the kitchen and bathroom taken down when the roof was done, as they were semi-falling down and attached to the roof beams, anyway. The original older Bulgarian residents were very short so the ceilings in the back section, designed for winter living, were made far lower than the rest of the house. It makes sense -- less space to heat. But I'd like hubby (5'8" - average height UK man) to be able to stand up at the kitchen sink without stooping! So the unfinished walls above the old ceiling height will need plastering. And the shower needs a hot water system that actually works and better waterproofing than the current vinyl wallpaper on the walls!

I only paid 9,000 GBP last year for this one, with 2/3 acre of land. It's a little worse than I anticipated, but more or less a case of getting what I paid for!

It was lived in until 2 years ago, but sadly not maintained as the older widow was on her own. It's certainly okay to stay in now the roof is fixed. But for our long-term retirement home, I want things set up in a way that will be easy to live with when we're older.

@janemulberry earth floors are very common in France, but they're tiled, so it can be difficult to spot that they're just earth underneath. I have an earth floor in my living room, which is currently a living/kitchen. I was gonna take it up and concrete it, buy I don't even think about it now, so I probably won't bother. When I look at a lot of Bulgarian houses, they're so badly built and look as though they're about to fall down. I saw one the other day that had 1983 written in the render and it was a wreck! 40 years old and looked like a stiff wind would blow it down. I'm just gonna carry on renovating mine and re-assess when Ive finished and had it valued. I'm still very much undecided. It's a shame I cant post photo's on here, because you'd see why it's such a difficult decision.

@cyberescue1 Hi Ian, it might be an option, when I've finished my house. Currently I don't have a shower or a bath, so it's not rentable. It might be an option to rent something there for couple of months, assuming they don't object to so many dogs. At least that would give me a chance to dip my toe in, before making a permanent decision. Trouble is I'd end up coming out there with 9 dogs that would turn into 15.

@grumpyoldbird I'm not sure I'll get ours concreted, either. They need something doing, but dumping in a load of sand, tamping it down hard to fill the hollows and level it, and tiling over the top might do the job without concrete.

It sounds as if you really love your current house.

@gwynj we rent it on Airbnb, which commands a daily rent, so it's much higher than longterm renters.  Airbnb, so far, has been great.  I use the app and it works well.  Airbnb take the money, when the guest books, then pays us the money, after the first 24 hours of the guest's stay.  Transfers of funds from Airbnb to my bank account takes around 48 hours and is paid in BGN, so no exchange fees.

@janemulberry I do love my little house and the location is perfect. I have neighbours about 200 yards away at the back, with a field in between

They keep themselves to themselves, but they're very pleasant. We don't get too involved in conversation because of the language barrier. I have a young couple at the other end of the track. They speak English and we get on really well, but don't live in each others pockets. Next to them is the farmer and his wife. They're lovely  but don't speak, or understand a word of English. I'm on Duolingo every dsy, so I do try and my French has improved a lot since I moved here.

I'm down a country lane, about a mile from the nearest town, which is Aigurande. I'm in a hamlet of 4 houses. I'm at the far end of a lovely little track, which ends after my house, with a large field. The only people who come past are farmers in tractors sometimes. I have fields on 3 sides and my next door neighbours garden is massive, so I'm not particularly close to anyone. Its safe for the cats too. Apart from when the tractors are out, or the occassional hunters in winter, all I hear is birdsong. Its just not cheap to be here.

It sounds lovely. I'm getting the feeling you might regret selling and moving away. Are there any ways you xcan stay where you are and reduce costs and/or increase your income?