Buying a property in Bulgaria is a fairly simple and straightforward process. We are here to help guide you through every stage of your purchase, and also help you to maintain your property once you own it.

There are several important steps that must be made when you purchase a property in Bulgaria, and our friendly staff will be always on hand to guide you, and to give you their professional expert advice.

Buying in Bulgaria is relatively easy, and is not more or less difficult than buying in any other foreign country. There is only one specific thing that is to be taken into consideration and it is that according to the Bulgarian Constitution and with current legislation NON EU CITIZEN are prohibited from owning land, and can acquire only buildings.

This is easily overcome by forming a Bulgarian registered company. Setting up a company in Bulgaria is very easy and our lawyers will do this for you.

The preferred form of business is a Limited Liability Company (OOD). This is a commercial company with the share capital owned by its members, whose liability is limited to the amount of the capital subscribed. One or more persons, including foreign nationals may start a private limited liability company.

Or we can form a Bulgarian registered company with you being a sole owner and director (EOOD).

The minimum foundation capital is 2 Bulgarian Leva (1 Euro).

You will need to open a bank account and to deposit the initial company capital. This money can then be withdrawn once the company has been formed. It usually takes up to 4 weeks for a company registration to be completed. You do not need to be present while your company is being registered as our lawyers will do all of this for you. All you will have to do is to sign all relevant Bulgarian legal documents, we will then obtain copies of all the company set up documents translated into English. You will have every detail of the procedure fully explained, including all of the steps, and all of the documents that you will be signing.

We have listed below the steps for buying a property in Bulgaria:

• Visit our website. www.quinaries.com
• Find a suitable property.
• Make a preliminary enquiry and get answers to all of your questions.
• When you are completely satisfied and sure that you really want to buy the property, you will need to place a deposit to secure your new home. This is normally 10% of the asking price and this is paid when the Preliminary Contract is signed. The deposit is not refundable if you pull out of the deal.
• If you are an EU CITIZEN, you can buy the property in your own name.
• If you are a NON EU CITIZEN and the property that you want to buy also has land, then we can start setting up a limited company for you.
• We ensure that the vendor is the legal owner of the property and make certain other checks related to the property.
• Our lawyer will then do detailed checks on title documents, building permissions, debts on title, etc.
• Once this has all been satisfactorily completed you will then be ready for the final transfer of ownership.
• You will need to transfer the remainder of the funds for the property purchase within THREE WEEKS of signing the Preliminary Contract.
• We will make an appointment with a Notary and you will need to sign the Contract of Purchase (Notary Act).
• We can then get the title deeds transferred into your name.
• You will then become the proud owner of your property in Bulgaria.

Please note the following important points:

In the case of off-plan developments the final Notary Act is not signed until the building is completed.

In Bulgaria there is a Tax Estimation price (similar to the ratable value in the UK), this is usually considerably lower than the sale price. Most vendors prefer to use this lower price rather than the real sale price when it is entered on Title Deeds. Due to this practice there might be discrepancies between the price you are paying and the price written in title deeds.

You must ensure that this figure is agreed through negotiation with the vendor BEFORE signing the Preliminary Contract.