Everyone should agree that the procedure and legalities involved in selling a home or property in Bulgaria are not particularly difficult, but only provided the property has been maintained in compliance with all applicable tax and legal requirements for the whole period that you have had it. But that’s not always the case. Many foreign property owners don’t take good care of their homes and are uninformed of the yearly legal and tax maintenance requirements, which might make the selling process challenging and expensive. In this post, we’ll go through the fundamentals of the typical selling process. If you have any questions or concerns about this procedure, you can contact us.
Assume that you have a buyer in place and that you have reached an agreement on the property’s selling price. It is advised that you immediately hire a representative in Bulgaria who will be in charge of managing the whole selling process. Of course, making a preliminary agreement with the buyer and gathering a deposit will come first. Now is the time for the sale to really start going.
It is very typical that the majority of foreign owners who are selling their properties in Bulgaria prefer to hand off the sale to their agents or solicitors rather than spending time and money travelling back and forth and interacting with authorities without fully understanding the processes and requirements. It’s crucial to choose a sales person you can rely on, so exercise caution, look for pros, and get credentials.
The following step entails giving your representative comprehensive information about your property, your personal information, and documents related to the property, such as deeds, architectural plans (if you have any), old cadastral plans (if you have any), and anything else you are keeping in the file of your Bulgarian property. This will make it easier for your agent to assess the problem and formulate the best course of action in order to get your house ready for the market.
If the property was acquired through a Bulgarian company, your representative, agent, or solicitor is now prepared to draught the necessary set of documents, including a tax liability declaration, a protocol from the general assembly of your company outlining the decision to sell the asset, and a power of attorney (POA) allowing him to legally represent you before all relevant state officials and individuals during the sale process. Each and every document must be signed by the owner(s) and notarized. Three options for achieving it are: A second option is to receive the draughts of the documents by email from your representative and visit the relevant consulate in the Bulgarian Embassy in any European country. The first option is to fly to Bulgaria to appoint your representative, sign the preliminary agreement, collect the deposit, and sign the required document in front of a Bulgarian Notary Public. You should use a reputable courier service to send the original documents to your representative after they have been notarized. The third choice is to use a local British Notary Public, which can usually be obtained at high street solicitors, to sign and witness the paperwork. In such instance, the Foreign Office will also need to apostilize your witnessing papers. For further information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised. The majority of solicitors and notaries public also provide such service. After receiving the witnessed and apostilled documents back, you should use a reputable courier service to resend them to your representative.
Now that your salesperson in Bulgaria is authorised to function on your behalf, the sales process can get underway.
The real sales process may be divided into two phases. The first step is to make sure the property complies with all applicable legal and administrative requirements, get all necessary paperwork to be given to the Notary, and pay off any outstanding debts related to the property.
Due to many foreign owners’ ignorance of the requirements and changes to the laws over time, compliance with legal and administrative standards appears to be the most troublesome issue in the majority of situations. For instance, many individuals purchased their homes prior to the 2008 adoption of the Bulgarian cadaster. Every owner was required to verify their personal information and determine if the cadastral plan of their land matches the previous municipal plan within a predetermined time frame. In truth, relatively few foreign owners in Bulgaria have finished that process, therefore the majority of owners are now spending money and time on the selling process.
The process of obtaining the necessary paperwork for the deeds transfer is quite typical. The “Tax estimation document” issued by the local tax office, the cadaster plot drawing issued by the local cadaster office or the municipal office, the Declaration for the owners lack of tax liabilities, and the certificate of encumbrances issued by the Registry agency are all documents that every Notary requires for the exchange of deeds. All obligations relating to the property must be settled in order to acquire the “tax estimation document” and certificate of encumbrances.
When all of the aforementioned steps have been completed, your representative should create a bank account in your name or the name of your business, depending on who is the true owner of the property, to collect the proceeds of the sale. Now, an appointment with the neighbourhood notary is required. All necessary paperwork must be submitted, along with your original deeds, and the parties must agree on a date and time when they will all be present in person to sign the contract. In order to transfer the agreed-upon monies to the vendor’s bank account, the purchasers are needed to provide a proof of transfer (payment order) document. It is customary for purchasers to pay all state and notary taxes and fees.
Once the sale is complete, your agent can transfer the remaining cash to the seller’s account per your instructions and provide documentation of the transaction in the form of a copy of the new deeds. Contact us to buy or sell property in Bulgaria fast online.
