Following our intention to provide the best legal services to our clients in Varna region and the rest of the Bulgaria, MH Legal law office is happy to provide the visitors of our website a calculator for property purchase expenses in Bulgaria. You can find the calculator and instructions how to use it HERE. Comments and recommendation are welcomed.
We are pleased to announce that MH Legal has won a milestone case on behalf of our clients against Museum House Ltd., the developer of Museum House residential building, Sofia. The apartments in that building were sold through Bulgarian Dreams. The former owner of Museum House Ltd. was Maria Georgieva, also a co-founder of Bulgarian Dreams. Our clients have been awarded with about EUR 14,500 by the court.
Last Tuesday one of the most respected Bulgarian business newspapers Capital, published an article about the Bulgarian Dreams rip off. The articles is only in Bulgarian and you can find it here. A basic translation done by Google Translate can be read HERE
Edit: I now see that “The Sofia Echo” has translated the articles from Capital newspaper into proper English. You can read it here
Yesterday I found an article in the Independent newspaper talking about how Irish are blaming the property journalists for misleading the investors for investment locations like Bulgaria. Indeed, I’m sure that there were a lot of paid publications (Articles) which presented Bulgarian properties as quick and easy investment return. However I hink most of the negative influence was made by the UK and Irish estate agents. Pursuing quick middle-man fees, they have convinced thousands of investors to put their money into something that was not quite right. On the other hand, very few investors, have made the mandatory due diligence of what they actually buy.
In my practice I see a lot of Irish and British property investors mislead by their UK/Irish estate agents. The investors we let to think that the investment return will be within couple of years, which is not right. But how come all that property investors made the same mistake again? Have they forgotten the Span property rush? This is a question each investor need to ask themselves. Also, most of the developers who lied to the investors are actually British and Irish. I’m sure that they left Span to do the same thing in Bulgaria, and mislead the same investors again.
There are many disappointed UK investors in Bulgaria. Some of them are leaving the country and want to sell their investment and recover at least some of the money they have put in property or business. The problems each foreigner is facing are:
As the first problem is connected mainly to the market demand, the second problem can be resolved with a help of a lawyer. Usually when you sell you property the company is becoming dormant and you are not trading anymore. IF you intend to leave the country for ever it will be not so good idea to leave a company with your name in it. Sooner or later the National Revenue Agency might want to make an inspection and will find out that you haven’t submitted annual tax declarations. This will be quite suspicious so your company will be marked as one to be surveyed. The tax and financial information in the EU is quite easy transferable. It might turnout that you will be charged with the Bulgarian fine in UK, which is quite unpleasant experience for your UK tax record.
The solution to get rid of the Bulgarian company is to close it by liquidation. The liquidation process takes about 6 months, having in mind that the company has no public or other debts. A liquidator has to be appointed who will take care of the whole process, prepare and submit the necessary documents, so your company will be removed from the Companies register of Bulgaria. Since I am professional liquidator I take care of all the procedures and have your company closed as smooth as it should be. No stress, no problems for you. I am also a registered liquidator with the Registry Agency of Bulgaria. My office is based in Varna so should you have a company registered in Black sea region, do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are not satisfied with your current property management company, there is a way you can replace it with another, diligent one. The process is regulated by the newly adopted Condominium Ownership Management Act. First you need to know that if you are owner in closed apartment complex, the only valid form of the management agreement is written notarized agreement. Agreement which are simply signed are not legally valid. This agreement shall also be registered with the Land Registry. This is stipulated in Art. 2 of the act:
Article 2. (1) The management of common areas of buildings under condominium ownership arrangements in closed-type residential complexes shall be agreed by written contract with notarially certified signatures, concluded between the investor and the owners of individual units.
Pursuant to the new Condominium Act the condominium is managed by a body called General Assembly of the owners or association of owners. Basically it has the powers of a General Meeting in a company. One of the most important powers the General Assembly of the owners is stipulated in Art.11, para 1 point 11 :
Article 11. (1) The General Assembly:
……….
11. may adopt a decision to assign maintenance works on the common areas of the building to a legal entity or natural person in return for remuneration, also establishing the specific powers of the Managing Council (Manager), which can be assigned for implementation by these persons;
This means that the General Assembly can vote to replace the current property management company with another one when certain requirements are not met or there is another important reason for that.
You can read the full Condominium Ownership Management Act HERE
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.