Buying Bulgarian property on Ebay

10 Jun 2012

Bulgarian property on Ebay is cheap

Yes, this is why Britons buy Bulgarian rural properties on Ebay - because is insanely cheap. One can get a rural house with 2000-3000 sq.m. land for about GBP 2000. Of course the latter would require huge renovation, as it is often a mud brick house in the middle of nowhere.

These properties are preferred by either retired couples who want to spend their retirement years where their state pension will be enough to have a normal life, or by entrepreneurs who buy wrecks, renovate them and sell them for double or triple the initial purchase price. Which is the governing law when you buy Bulgarian property on Ebay

As the Real Estate part of Ebay, clearly stated in their Real Estate Policy Ebay is just a platform for advertisement of the properties. Due to the difference in property purchase/sale governance, ebay can only act as advertising agent, nothing more. In Bulgaria, in particular all deals involving properties are under governance of the Bulgarian law. The so called lex loci rei sitae principle is in effect. This means that no matter whether you have won a bid on Ebay property auction, this is a non-binding auction. This is set in the ebay Real estate policy too. You need to contact the seller and negotiate the final deal. This also means that the seller can not keep your bid if you haven’t purchased the property on the auction, which you have won. That would be against the Ebay Real Estate policy and against the law governing the property purchase (in that case Bulgarian law) What to do after you have won a real estate property auction

There are a couple of things you need to do. Firstly, contact the seller and request more photos of the property. Remember that Ebay has a limit for uploading photos, so normally sellers upload about 2-3 photos. The property which you like may not be in the status you have thought it is. If you still want to buy the property, you need to make some property checks:

  • whether there are any encumbrances (mortgages, liens, injunctions etc.)
  • whether the seller is the real owner of the property
  • if the seller is just an agent and if they have proper authorisation to sell on the actual owner’s behalf.
  • will you need to register a limited company in order to be able to buy the property or you can buy it directly on your name.

The above checks can be done if you hire a Bulgarian solicitor. The solicitor will make sure your purchase goes as it should be and there will be no bad surprises. The solicitor will also do the conveyancing and can act on your behalf, so that you don’t need to come personally to Bulgaria to have the property transferred on your name. the process can be done by certified power of attorney. You would be required only to send the original by registered post to Bulgaria. We are specialising in conveyancing for ebay property purchases, so that you don’t need to book costly flights for a simple signature in Bulgaria. The original deed will be posted back to your UK address.