Maintenance Fees

Hi, Unpaid maintenance fees will cause trouble in the future because the maintenance companies usually distraint the property. In that case, you will not be able to sell, or rent the property. Of course, you can pay all fees at later date but you will have to pay the interest too.

You should try and search for some neighbours or company sign on the front door of the building. It will be listed in the maintenance contract (from the previous owner if there is one).

I hope this will help.

Teddy

@JimLahey

You can pay later, so I doubt it's a crisis. But...

Is it a resort building near the gondola? These fees are higher, and they're probably more upset about non-payment. You should be able to track down the administration folks without too much difficulty. At my building, they added me to the owners' mailing list, and they send updates and billing in Bulgarian and English (and gave me their account number so I can make transfers online). The charge here is 5 euros per m2 (per year), but there are many which charge 10 euros or more.

If you're in downtown, and your building doesn't have resort services (spa, gym, pool, bus to gondola, etc.), you might be somewhere where there is a very small administration fee (e.g. 10-20 leva per month). Again, they will not be happy if you're not paying, but it will be harder to track down the administrator, without visiting Bansko and talking to your neighbours. And this will probably be without bilingual support and online payment. :-( In this case, when I visit, I pay cash for whole year.

Thanks for the replies.

The complex is Mountain Paradise 2.  There was a 300 euro annual charge listed on the estate agent blurb when I bought it. I'll contact the estate agent to see if she knows who is managing it.

I was reading somewhere that, under Bulgarian Condominium Law, you're not obligated to pay the maintenance fee if the apartment is not in use. Does anyone know if that is the case?

@JimLahey

Mountain Paradise has their own (probably) website at mountainparadisebansko (dot com). It should be pretty easy to find out who the administrator is and how to pay your fees.

If you own an apartment in the building, you have to pay maintenance fees, whether you use the apartment or not. Sorry. :-) There's usually an agreed charge per m2 per year for the building, and this is levied based on your gross m2 (internal + share of common parts, as shown on your notary act).

Perhaps the bit of condominium law you were reading was referring to the legal status of the building being "in use" (i.e. has been granted Act 16)? It seems plausible that I don't have to pay maintenance fees before the building is finished, and approved for occupation. From my own experience here in Plovdiv, the management company of our new apartments started billing us all for maintenance fees the moment that we got Act 16. Given that all the apartments were delivered in "Bulgarian Standard" (i.e. concrete box, needing substantial finishing works) nobody was able to use (as in live in) their apartments for some time! In fact, our apartment is still unfinished 3 years after Act 16, and I still have to pay the fees. :-(

The high maintenance fee is the main reason I (and many others) aren't fans of resort-type buildings, whether in a ski resort, or near the beach. You pay a lot of money for all the facilities that you only use for a few weeks a year. To give a comparison, our current flat in Plovdiv has monthly maintenance of 15 leva per month (which is more typically Bulgarian). This works out less than 1.50 euros per m2 per year. But this is almost zero services - just elevator and cleaning.

We have an apartment in Vlas and the charges have to paid whether we’re there or not - for the security and pool etc. Some owners don’t pay as much as they should and are being ‘out of order’ in our opinion and there have been problems with access etc and that is issue when friends/renters of the owners get there at 11pm and miraculously no English is spoken and it is a real ache for the sake of a few hundred Lev.

Is roof repair included in maintenance fee? Just 1 month ago I became an owner of apartment in Rila mountains. Today I received an email from the building administrator about the maintenance fee which is by 5 euro /m2 more than it was in the offer, and additionally asking to participate in a roof repair? Are repairs included in the maintenance fee? Is there any law regulation in Bulgaria concerning maintenance fees? 

@Piotr Laskowski7

Welcome to the expat.com forum, congratulations on your new apartment in Bulgaria!

I'm not sure what "offer" would have included a reference to a maintenance fee, I don't think that it's mentioned in your Notary Act, which is the most important legal document of your purchase. If you mean the property listing, agents get this kind of detail wrong all the time (or the maintenance fee goes up).

Many touristic mountain (and beach) buildings can be quite expensive, perhaps even 10-15 euros per m2. My Bansko studio is quite low, about 4 euros/m2. But many Bulgarian buildings might be charging 10-20 lv per month just for cleaning (maybe closer to 2 euros/m2).

There are laws about maintenance, and you are required to pay. And it's always recommended to keep your building clean and in good condition, don't you think? :-) However, enforcement can be slow, so you might get away with it for a while.

Lots of countries like (or require) reserve funds (accumulating accounts against future repairs). This seems very rare in Bulgaria, so here money is requested as a big job (repainting outside, re-doing the roof, etc.) becomes due. Generally, if not enough owners cough up, the complex doesn't have the funds, and hence can't do the repair. Therefore the headline amount (e.g. my 4 euros/m2) is usually just the baseline amount to cover a bit of communal cleaning and lighting, basic repairs, keeping the elevator running, etc.

At our Bansko complex, the owners have wanted to switch to individual water and electricity meters. This is quite expensive, so for each project (electricity meters first, water meters more recently) the cost was circulated, and divided between the owners. This one's a bit of a no-brainer as business rates are higher than individual rates, and an exact usage is better than an estimate/share of communal usage. But, even so, many owners wouldn't (or couldn't) pay up. (Only a few, so there was sufficient funding for the project to go ahead, but they didn't get a meter.)

Also, there is property tax here, so you should go to your local property tax office, register your acquisition, and figure out how to pay (they can give you online access).