Declared Value of Property

Reading up today n the costs of buyig a property in Bulgaria I find myself more confused than when I started and hope the member of the forum may be able to provide some guidance.

According to a leading British Property Company:

"Prior to signing the Notary Act, the local municipal council conducts a tax evaluation of each property "tax estimation price", and this valuation represents the minimum value that must be  reflected on the Notary Act."

* Is it correct that the Municipality value every property before sale or is there a list which they use and is the list open for pubic inspection?
 
"The "tax estimation price" is for the purposes of real estate taxation and is much lower than the actual selling (purchase) price and in general the tax evaluation rate ranges from 25-50% of the full market value."

* I have read elsewhere that understating the purchase price is illegal. If it is a widespread practise then there must be a reason for it - does any one know (I don't mean can you guess) what the reason is?

"Most of the Bulgarian property owners (vendors) wish that the "tax estimation price" is written in the title deed, and not the selling (asking) price which the buyers are paying, so due to this practice there might be discrepancies between the price you are paying and the price written in the title deed."

* The vendor may wish to see a lower price but surely the figure, if not the actual price, must be agreed in advance and not imposed by the vendor?

"In general, if a purchaser wishes to reflect a value higher than the tax evaluation on the Notary Act, extra costs incurred as a result of this action are paid by the purchaser."

This appears to be saying that honesty costs - what, apart from the obvious possibility of losing the purchase and someone paying higher fees, are the downsides to the purchaser of insisting on the true purchase price being stated?


If some of my questions appear naive then that is because I have this old-fashioned idea that I should understand the process upon which I am about to embark.