This is yes another developer which throws shade on all foreign investments in Bulgaria. The company Bulgaria BTL is a developer company which was supposed to build a nice closed house complex at the foot of mountain Vitosha, Sofia. The houses were sold off plan. The company started attracting buyers, by asking them for small initial  installment of £ 5000. The latter amount was supposed to be for opening a company in Bulgaria, and later that company was supposed to buy the land and the house.

However, the company just took the £ 5000 and seized the construction. This leads all investors to a dead end. The company website is now closed and the buyers consider themselves as a victims of fraud.

However not everything is lost. Our lawyers have performed a legal due diligence of Bulgaria BTL. Here is what we found:

Company name: Bulgaria Buy To Let LLC,

Company file No 131436790

Registered addres: Sofia, 36 Dragan Tzankov Blvd, Entr. B, floor 5, office 501

Manager: Simon Cristofer James Also

Shareholders: 1.Ingrid Grace Also and

2.Anil Kohli

Registered capital of the company: 5000 levs (about EUR 2500)

Since 2008 there are no activities in the commercial register company file, initiated by the manager. This should be a sign that the company is left. The Commercial register shows that Anil Kohli’s shares has been seized by the court. This seizure is initiated by a Bulgarian citizen. Our legal interpretation is that most probably Anil Kohli owes the Bulgarian person certain amount of money ( EUR 94600, to be specific) and therefore the court has issued a seizure order against Anil Kohli, consequently seizing his shares in the company.

The legal due diligence showed also that the company owes a factory for producing wooden materials for house construction. So far there are no liens over that property, so the quicker creditors get their claims filed in court, the better chance they have to get their £ 5000 back. The factory can be seized so, it will stay there for the plaintiffs, no matter how long the case lasts in court. After getting the positive court resolution, the creditors could put the factory on a public tender, sell it and get their money back. The latter should be done via law enforcement agent.

Maria Georgieva is removed from Interlink’s management. The new management of the company promises that they will do their best to finish the projects that are already started. I’ve been in contact with them and they are far more cooperative than the previous ones.

If you happen to be a party in a lawsuit in Bulgaria, you should be aware of the following:

1. Don’t be impatient. Bulgarian Civil Proceedings Code regulates certain terms that have to be taken into consideration
2. The weakest part in a lawsuit is the delivery of subpoenas. All the papers which have to be delivered to the parties, are carried by employees of the court called “призовкари” (subpoena carriers) . The delivery employees are not limited to delivery terms, as the law assumes that there may be troubles finding the parties. That’s why a typical subpoena delivery may take about a month.
3. When a lawsuit is filed, there is one month period, which has to pass, before the judge sets a date for the first hearing. This is a period in which the defendant has to submit an answer to the claim. Please note that this period starts, as from the day the claim was delivered to the defendant.(See point 2 above)
4. The judge may “stretch” the lawsuit in several hearings, depending on how complicated is the case. Usually lawsuits have two or three hearings. The time between the hearings depends on the caseload of the particular judge. Usually its one or two months.
5. When the lawsuit is announced for resolving by the judge, there is a one month term during which the judge has to issue the court resolution.
6. If the resolution is not appealed, it enters into force and you may engage a law enforcement agent.

Of course the above is just a brief explanation of the lawsuit procedure in Bulgaria, but basically you don’t have to push your lawyer,because not everything depends on him/her.