Bulgaria is a mine field for expats

True. You may have to wait 20 years for RoT. But that's fine with me. Offplan/Black Sea build-ups not recommended.

Hi all - My personal contact info has been on the internet for years. That's my full UK address and postcode and my mobile number. Ring me Now. I use facebook and twitter I have over 1500 + friends and followers. yes I have had the odd attempt by hackers, but they get nowhere and I report any attempt via facebook and twitter with a link to the hacker.

As to the other subject of this post - I won bulgarian 3 bed  house on ebay in 2012 for less then the price of english bricks to build said house, let alone the half acre land and 3 out buildings that are bigger then the 3 bed house that came with the purchase all handled by the estate agent Georgei. Yes Georgei  is Bulgarian, I have Georgei's phone number and that has never changed in all this time and also as one of my facebook Friends. he speaks excellent english and can handle any legal paperwork

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I am sorry, this was the wrong post at the wrong place. My fault.  This was not a message to you.

I am Bulgarian and I really feel ashamed of these stories. The technical reason behind this is that we don't have common digital registry where each property has something like its own passport. Other countries from the former Eastern block have such digital registry since 10 - 11 years at least.
Apart from the technical reason, the moral reason is something which is not easy to discuss here with several words.

The court in BG could be corrupt as well. But if you sue Bulgaria in an external international court you will most probably win.

That's all very good to know
Thankyou

Well after reading the OP's post and the comments that follow it I may as well give up, buy a piece of woodland in Wales and live in a shipping container.

Surely it's not 'that' bad? I mean everywhere there's an estate agent, there's a greedy bugger, but if you can't trust the lawyers or notaries either, how the hell do people actually expatriate to BG?

I also get the 'rip-off' Brit builder bit. The trouble there is that most UK builders charge UK prices, and half of them will make as much out of you as possible. When they relocate to BG they're still thinking in UK prices and so, it would seem, are a lot of the ex-pats who are being fleeced.

If, (as I'm not so sure now), I move to BG, I'll be doing pretty much all of the building work myself, and that, in all likelihood will take me a couple of years. But as an example, if I met someone who wanted their house painted, whereas over here in the UK I might charge £100 for a medium sized room, over there I would be happy to charge, in Levs, and at a price that would reflect current prices in BG.

Now I don't know what a skilled tradesman earns a day in BG, let's say £5-£10? If he can live on that, then so can I, and I'll still be better off as I would hopefully have no mortgage or rent to pay.

If anyone wants to charge you UK prices to do any work, in a country where the cost of living is 'significantly' lower than it is in the UK tell em to 'do one'.

Don't get me wrong, I see no problem with builders/tradesmen charging a small premium because they are damn good at what they do, and speak English, which may be easier on the property owner. The more skilled you are, the higher the price you can command. But you have to keep it real, and praying on unwary ex-pats because you speak their language, and have the gift of the gab makes you as much of a low-life as the unscrupulous estate agents in the original post.

Rant over. 

Can anyone actually recommend any of the online estate agencies like Bulgarian Properties, or Yantra Homes?

Cheers

K

Bulgarian Properties managed by Stefan in Veliko Tarnovo is the MOST truthful, transparent and trusted realtor. I dealt with Stefan on recommendation of a friend. I find Stefan as the most credible realtor compared to the other. Stefan is not demanding and commanding. Stefan is objective and produces results, the other is VERY subjective. I have dealt with both and please be rest assured on my upfront and honest reflections.

We bought our house about two years ago via Bulgarian Properties agency in Stara Zagora.  The purchasing process and all legal paperwork/notary visits  were handled in a professional and honest way.  No complaints about this realtor from our side.

Christiane, I think the problem is more of systematic failure. Sure, there are good and bad agents anywhere or lawyers for that matter.
However,  Bulgaria  has no common digital registry where each property has its own recorded entry as we have in the UK for example but most other EU countries too.
This is made worse in my experience by notaries that display at best a haphazard approach to any transaction. ...as one notary said to me in a transaction that eventually fell apart...you just need to take risks at times...my reply was somewhat unprintable I am afraid. She just did not do her her job I was paying her for.
But I want it to be clear that I have met very very professional agents who cared deeply and genuinely but it does not fix the underlying problem that clearly exists structurally.
And the courts as a last resort are of little help..enough said

What do you mean concerning the lack of a common digital registry beahor?

What was it that went wrong with the transaction, how did it fall apart?

Just trying to understand what the pitfalls are before taking the plunge, which I can only afford to do once.

Cheers

Kane

Hi Kane,

As you know we have the land registry in the UK and similar outfit in most EU states. The picture in a Bulgaria is a little bit more confused and would take too long to explain. In my case the owner of the house I wanted to purchase had established a  company and that company in owned that house. The only asset of that company. However, as he also had failed to file tax returns for some years I had a hard job figuring if there where additional debts secured on the house in addition to the mortgage.
I not only employed a Notary, waste of time as all she did advice me to take the risk. My partner happens to be a Bulgarian lawyer and we still could not get to the bottom of this .....
It would probably been ok but ......remember...Buyer beware!!!!!

hi would anyone be willing to do a spot of translation for me. just a page and a half of Bulgarian.. maybe a little legal shpeel in there...

Land tittles are one thing. Just don't fall behind on your electric bill. I registered for online billing,went away for a year and came back to no power a threat of a court case and a bill of 390 leva that was now 780 leva with tea money. So I payed ,to get power and stop court case. Seemed they'd lost all record of online payment( although the bank had it and I had my customer copy of the electric company's form). I re enlisted in online bill payment and all was good. I went away again and while away I registered for the electric companies online account review and discovered a 550 leva bill. Turns out the same little girl that misplaced my online payment form had lied to my translator. The court case had been over for 6 months. So anyways the 320 court bill went to 1150 in 4 months and the baillif is selling my house(  to pay bill) in one month, Viva Bulgaria!

Mr Nice7321...your experience is all that Bulgaria stands for...no exception.

Bulgaria is the leader in Eastern Europe in every way...saturated with crooks & low lifes.

Have a look at the Court House walls in Sofia...the bullet marks tell you ALL...

Bulgaria is saturated with rural home shells, poverty, criminal riches, let alone the gypsies, who strip off homes, just like the everyday white collar crime... 

You cannot change Bulgaria but you can change your strategy..

It is best to look else where for peace, happiness & quality demographics.

Agreed. I wish I hadn't come and am now selling out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mr. nice7321,

I wish you luck in disposing your assets in BG.
It was difficult for me where I had invested over EUR 44k in the purchase and EUR 15k  over the course of ownership. There were no buyers for a quality apartment located among 5 star hotels in a fantastic location with view of Yantra River, Soviet monuments and the old art gallery, just 150m away. Veliko Tarnovo has lots of tourists, easily reachable, equidistant to Sofia and the Black Sea, but no investors came for pricy properties. BG is a great investment for those looking for property shells for EUR 1000 to build-on for the gypsies to clean the home while the owners take a weekend break. Many a times, the trusted Bulgarian friend will betray you while you are away...there are many stories to that effect.
Retirement should be fun with no heart burns in an attractive, affordable and enjoyable location with people of honor and integrity, that you will NOT find in Bulgaria. Trust me, sooner or later you will have the heart burns of your life & its consequences. I know of heavily invested foreigners with high profile Bulgarians, who ended up with all the liabilities when the Bulgarian politician took off with all the large loans secured on all the joint assets they had invested/owned in, leaving the assets for the banks to secure.
I took my losses and walked away with EUR 36k, but I am VERY HAPPY to be out of Bulgaria and never to return. Medical care is also an issue in Bulgaria, in Sofia it is some what better than the lousy medical care else where in Bulgaria, where they rip off all foreigners.
Now, I have the freedom to choose my destination, travel, stay in selected accommodation, network with travelers, enjoy local cuisines, wines, etc without the heart burns of a home in a foreign country in retirement. A great Japanese doctor friend cautioned me NOT to invest in retirement, because there are sharks (doctors, bankers, realtors, lawyers, accountants, etc) awaiting retirees, who are known to have retirement assets.

Good Luck...stay away from the crooks who will befriend you for your assets...

I totally agree with this...1000% -

why oh why, greed is why....save up and buy cheap with free cash and do it up...its fun...buying to seek a quick return is killing peeps all over the place...

Hello,
Do you have a link to estate agency you used in BG?

Dr Duane,

In response to your request, I list the contact details below...

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Dr Duane - i used Century Homes in VT - easy to find online, probably not the cheapest but my service was exceptional.

kane G - bought in November 2018

There is a new digital registry in BG they showed me it and i got a print out of my boundaries, they can even come for a fee of course and stick poles in the ground to confirm it, from my situation only i was told by my agent that all properties now have to be put on the register and this is paid for by the seller before the deal is done. only the agents can get into the software though and not all rural properties are on it yet because they are working there way around the country and with so many properties with hard to find owners its hard to complete the process in some areas. But anyone selling a property has to have this done, the problem arises when neighbors disagree or dont sent back the confirmation letter slowing things up alot.   - its called the Cadastra i think.

for me it was straight forward for others maybe not - personally i would not buy a house until that digital document is produced by the seller.

Who's this honest lawyer that does $50 property transactions, I need him.

Thank you for sharing this.  Things mentioned here I wouldn't even think of. Great info.

I now know of many people living in Bulgaria quite happily, some even returning to the UK for months at a time, who come back to their houses with nothing touched at all by these packs of marauding gypsies.

Some have been over there for decades and wouldn't dream of leaving, they are safe, secure and happy in their little renovated £1000 homes and have many genuine friends in their respective villages.

I do not think it is anywhere near as bad as some of the comments on this post have made it out to be, I'm sorry that some people seem to have had a bad experience in BG, but I don't think it's the norm.

I will definitely be taking the plunge in the next couple of months, and fully expect to live a nice quiet life over there without worrying about my home being stripped if I go away for a weekend to a friends house.

@harryoooh I was set on opening a business in Bulgaria but your article has made me realize this would be a mistake, it seems corruption is too widespread for honest business to occur. That is too bad because investment adds money into their economy which benefits local businesses but now people will avoid the country altogether. This gem cutter's search for a second country continues

@harryoooh I was set on opening a new business in Bulgaria (I am a gem cutter, competition level skills) but shockingly you show that the country should actually be avoided by foreign investors! That is too bad because it is the citizens who benefit from outside investment. I will look into Switzerland instead, thanks!