Houses in Malomir

You'd be well advised to get the situation sorted ASAP: if she had a mind to, she'd be able to claim possession of the property through prescription.

From what you've said, it appears as though she's either forgotten about or abandoned the POA, unless it contained an expiry date. In any case, you really do need to come over and see what condition the property is in and who, if anyone, is using it...

There doesn't appear to be such a company as Expat Bulgaria/Ex-pat Bulgaria, and is her name Throp or Thorpe? There appears to be a Milena Thorpe on FB, but she lives in the UK...

@andrewturley1 There are some details for the company here, looks like Milena isn't a partner anymore. If you search her name plus expat Bulgaria the company pops up in a couple of business directories so you can see who currently owns it.

https://papagal.bg/eik/128586965/aa4f

If I'm reading it right, it looks like she sold her share of the company in 2014, but the other two guys are still involved with it. Though one would think if they were actively running it as a property management business, they would have been in touch. They may not have had any way to do that, if you've moved, changed email, etc, of course.

I hope you can get it sorted out. You're right to expect that just about anything could have happened to the properties after so long.

@andrewturley1

Personally, I would not make any detailed plans or try to organize a long visit, I'd just pop out for a couple of days (maybe a Ryanair/Wizzair to Sofia and a car rental at the airport) just to check out the lie of the land. Hopefully, you can remember where your houses are. :-)

It will be good to see what's happening in the village (and Elhovo, your nearest town), and it should be pretty easy to tell if your property has been stripped, or is occupied, or has deteriorated to a near-ruin. These bad outcomes are possible, but it seems equally plausible that it might have been left locked up some years ago, and there's now a near-jungle in the garden.

Based on your viewing you might decide you want the keys in order to look inside. I suggest you grab a locksmith from Elhovo, take them out to your village, and get them to change the locks. If you show them a copy of your Notary Act, I'd guess they'd be fine with that (and generous payment).

I don't think Malomir is Bulgaria's most popular village, but a rustic house in poor condition might be 10k-20k euros these days. You can judge better after your viewing how worthwhile it is to attempt to salvage your investment. Renovation costs are now pretty high, so I'm not sure I'd fancy taking on a ruin down south. But getting keys, trimming the garden, and giving the inside a spring clean might be worth doing, so that it's more saleable.

I suggest you also take your missus, just in case she falls in love with rural Bulgaria and wants to relocate ASAP. But, given the circumstances, you probably should brace yourself for a generous helping of spousal criticism. :-)

Good luck!

if you know where the houses are see if you can find them on Google Maps, also street view, in Bulgaria only main routes and towns are fully covered on Street View, but if you can see it, it may give you a rough idea of the condition.

Good luck

@roywebb58

I agree with you that Google Maps / Street View is a great tool when house-hunting. It played a big part in our decision to buy our village house without viewing it. However, most Bulgarian villages have pretty sparse Street View, maybe one or two roads going through the village, so it's rare that it's useful for looking at your specific house. But just looking along the main street gives you a pretty good idea of the state of the village and whether there's a lot of renovation going on. Also good to see what kind of facilities are available nearby, and how far from the nearest supermarket / DIY store.

Here's one on Malomir's main street, I hope @andrewturley1's house doesn't look like this! :-)

https://www.google.com/maps/

@gwynj

I can hear the estate agent now: "Grab the chance to restore this family home to it's former glory! Village centre location, close to school." (Let's ignore that the school has been closed for years.) I wonder if I've seen that house advertised in the past, in the years I was regularly looking.

On the plus side, the house across the street was obviously well maintained when Street View went through, and there look to be some other well maintained properties, too in the more recent Street View visit. Hopefully Andrew's houses still have their windows and wiring!