Legal Blog

Major amendments in the Condominium Management Act

New major amendments have taken place in the Condominium Management Act. If one reads them carefully it is obvious the the lobby of the property developers has passed regulations in their favour. Here is a brief description of the major changes (not a complete list): 1. Previous wording of “closed complexes article” didn’t provide who is responsible for filing the registration of the management contract to the Land registry. The new wording is clear: the developer is responsible for this.

Old rural houses require special certificate upon selling

If you want to sell or buy an old rural house in Bulgaria, you need to know when this house was built or if it has construction papers. One of the rare documents that is required by the notaries in Bulgaria upon notary certification of sale/purchase deals is the certificate for construction tolerance. the legal grounds for it is § 16 of the Bulgarian Spatial Development Act: § 16. (1) (Supplemented, SG No.

Distressed Bulgarian Property - how to find and buy one

Few of the foreign property investors know that one can buy really cheap distressed property in Bulgaria. Moreover there’s a search option, by using different criteria (location, limit by price, property type etc.). The distressed property catalog can be found on the website of the Bulgarian Chamber of the Private Law enforcement Agents. The particular catalog is only in Bulgarian, since it’s generated by all private enforcement agents in Bulgaria most of which doesn’t speak English.

Are management fees still owed after you sell your apartment

In our lawyer practice in Varna and Black Sea region we face various types of property management contracts. Some of them are drafted professionally by other lawyers and others are done pretty bad by the property developers themselves. Generally there are two types of property management contracts: Property management contract for the common areas of the condominium and Property management contract for the individual apartment or other commercial premises in the building The first type of contract (#1 above) has to be signed by the Management Committee or the Manager of the condominium.

Propery deals for over EUR 5000 will go through bank wire only!

Another “kick” on the free trade has been adopted by the Bulgarian government. As from July 1st 2011 an amendment in the Notatrial Act regulates that property deals worth more than 5000 Euros has to be paid through the notary trust account or dedicated bank account. The full text of the ridiculous Art. 25 is here: (9) (New - SG. 41 of 2011, in force since 01.07.2011) Upon performing transactions, which set up, transfer, amend or terminate real estate rights, participants in the notary proceedings declare that the amount stated therein is effectively agreed.

General Meetings of the Condominium at Black Sea resorts (Varna, Bourgas etc.)

It appears that the builder’s lobby in the Condominium Management Act has prevailed. The Act was adopted during the property bubble, when all builders had plenty of work and clients. They were trying to predict who they can benefit their further business and how to squeeze more out of the foreign buyers. They were trying to find loopholes and adjust the legislation in a way so their business can be run smoothly.

Online gambling license regime in Bulgaria

When we talked about Internet gambling license will soon be available in Bulgaria, we thought the Parliament will pass the bill really quickly because of the big interest, the real gambling companies have in Bulgaria. Now, as some of the comments pointed right, companies holding non-EU gambling license don’t care about getting an EU one, because they can operate on-line virtually anywhere. We can see some “non-gambling” websites which offer free poker games, but they also offer paid membership where you can actually gamble.

Land lease - not so common in Bulgaria

When foreigners buy apartments or studios in Bulgaria they are explained that they can buy that property without forming a limited company. This is true, because they are buying only the individual premises in the building and not the land beneath the building. Usually the builders keep the land for themselves by “extracting” the right for building from the land ownership. This enables them ti build (or even sell the right for building to third party) on the land while keeping the land ownership for themselves.

Condominium problems - common areas calculation often forged

[styled_box color=“grey”]Important Update: We are pleased to inform all owners that we have made a precedent in Razlong District Court, concerning three apartment complexes in Bansko. We have successfully proven in six court cases the discrepancies between the common parts calculation used on General Meetings by the builder and the actual common parts area that is built. You can read more here. [/styled_box] The most recent rip-off scheme used by the Bulgarian (Varna, Bansko, Bourgas etc.

Commercial Register failed!

For the past couple of days, the Commercial Register of Bulgaria is not working. According to an official government announcement, the computer cluster, serving the register system failed to take the huge load of connections from users/government employees. Today the Registry Agency in Varna was not working due to the system failure. This is also a huge embarrassment for the Ministry of Justice, part of which is the Registry Agency.