How to Sell in Bulgaria

If you own a real estate in Bulgaria, may it be an apartment, a house, a villa or a plot of land regulated for development, and for some reason you have decided to sell it out, please find herein a brief description of the process of selling real estates in Bulgaria both from a legal and practical standpoint.

We at Propriety Legal always advise our clients, their friends and acquaintances or people who just consult our professional opinion on similar matters, to always seek legal help and advice when selling or simply entering into negotiations with a potential purchaser.

Saving legal fees in most cases leads to abrupt frauds or to very large and sometimes dramatic losses for sellers. Legal fees can be reasonable. By saving legal support vendors imperceptibly undermine the process of selling their property and jeopardize the security of their investment. That is what we strive to prevent at Propriety Legal. We provide legal assistance to sellers of real estates in Bulgaria at reasonable legal fees.

Contact us by phone or fill out our contact form. We will respond within 24 hours.

Above all, you need a buyer for your property. There are different ways to search for potential buyers: 1) announce the unit is “for sale” on a spot of the property itself, 2) surf through various internet sites or advertising platforms, which are actually a database with a number of properties listed with various buyers and sellers of property or 3) by contracting with commercial real estate broker/real estate agency.

We would like to draw your attention to the choice of the real estate agent. This choice is one of the most important as far as the process of selling your property is concerned and it largely determines the favourable outcome of your endeavour.

We at Propriety Legal can assist you when choosing a real estate agent. If you already have a list of agents and wonder which one to choose, do not hesitate but contact us. We contact each of the selectees agents and could enter into negotiations with them in order to find out for you what extents their professionalism goes to, how exactly they do their job and how likely you are to be misled by unfair fraudulent practices on their side and thus lose money.

On the other hand we at Propriety Legal, deriving from our longstanding work in the field of property buying and selling, have established a number of strong contacts with real estate agents around the country in the reddest hot spots like the state capital Sofia, Burgas, Nessebar, Sunny Beach Sveti Vlas, Kosharitsa Ravda, Aheloy, Pomorie, Obzor, Sozopol, Tsarevo, to the north: Varna, Kavarna and Balchik and the winter resorts: Borovets, Bansko and Pamporovo.

These agents have proven efficiency in the years of mutual work and we can rely on their professionalism and uprightness in order to ensure the relatively quick successful closure of your sale.

Negotiations with potential buyers may also hide sunken rocks. We at Propriety Legal have years of experience in negotiations between buyers and vendors, and we can be extremely helpful with our legal knowledge on the transfer of ownership, models of handling the sale price, taxation issues and others.

How would you know whether you have completed the preliminary negotiations and the potential buyer has become a real one?

Practice in Bulgaria shows that the buyer pays a deposit to secure and guarantee the transaction itself.

There are two types of deposits. First one is the so-called “stop deposit” which indicates that the property on sale should be stopped from advertising and inspections from other potential purchasers. By submitting the first deposit the payer guarantees himself the limited number of potential rivals for the purchase of the property; limited to those competitors who have seen the property before the deposit pay day.

It does not mean though that the one who pays the first deposit gets the property.

To ensure the final agreement usually a second deposit is to be paid. It is highly negotiable in size and can reach 20% or even 30% of the purchase price. Under the Law on Obligations and Contracts this deposit designates earnest money and serves as proof of the conclusion of the preliminary contract, its discharge and ensures the conclusion of the final agreement in the form of a notary deed.

Please note that all deposits are a part of the purchase price, unless otherwise agreed between the parties in the negotiation process.

Our advice to all buyers of real property is not to pay the second deposit before the signing of the preliminary contract for the sale of the property. Practice shows that most often and most safe it is for the second deposit to be paid during or within a period of time after the conclusion of the preliminary contract.

Inevitably we came across the preliminary contract for sale of a real estate by virtue of which and pursuant to the Law parties stipulate the conclusion of the final agreement.

The preliminary contract contains covenants that at least as a minimum repeat the terms and the essential clauses of the final agreement, the last to be concluded in the form of a notary deed.

The preliminary contract engenders the obligation of the parties to make a final agreement, backed up by the constitutive right to seek a judicial conclusion of the final agreement (the notary deed). It is the way law guarantees the predictable outcome of the transaction: the completion of sale and valid transfer of ownership from the seller to the buyer.

Make sure you understand all the covenants of the contract!

Remember to seek qualified legal assistance. Your contractor is certainly backed with legal support so your forces are not even. Refer to a Bulgarian lawyer to equate the chances of achieving a satisfactory outcome for you and your investment.

The next stage of sale is to supply a number of documents that are necessary for the valid transaction before a notary. These include: a tax evaluation certificate of the property, a cadastral sketch as a part of the cadastral map of the settlement, your civil and family status, tax related papers, etc.

You ought to know that the final agreement for sale of a property is to be executed in the form of a deed before a notary (notary deeds). Only this contract transfers property absolute rights in Bulgaria perfectly.

Parties can attend the notary public personally for the title execution on the agreed date and time or authorize a representative.

We strongly recommend, whether attending personally the notary transaction or being represented by a third party to consult a professional Bulgarian lawyer. It is even better if the lawyer accompanies you personally before the notary public or that lawyer appears to be your legal representative at the transaction, in case you have decided not to attend. Many real estate brokers/agents or third parties provide representation at title executions and transactions. Some of them have learned the basic rules as a result of their practice in the property fields. To a certain degree they can be used however remember that they have no formal legal training, they are not lawyers and cannot always foresee the legal consequences or take you out of a situation that can easily turn into a legal case; surely not in the favourable way for you.

We at Propriety Legal have been offering professional legal services to foreign investors in their capacity of sellers of real properties in Bulgaria for several years now.

We represent the interests of sellers in the reddest hot spots of the country, such as the capital Sofia, Burgas, Nessebar, Sunny Beach, Sveti Vlas, Kosharitsa, Ravda, Aheloy, Pomorie, Obzor, Sozopol, Tsarevo and others. To the north thus being Varna, Kavarna and Balchik, and in winter resorts: Borovets, Bansko and Pamporovo.

Do not hesitate to contact us by calling one of our telephones and have a consultation with our lawyers or by filling out our Contact Form.

We respond within 24 hours.

We defend your interests in Bulgaria to the fullest extent.

Read more about our services with regard to real estates and transactions HERE.

After the notary transaction deeds should be registered at the Registry agency subdued to the relevant District Court so that the sale matters to bona fide third parties.

When selling real estate one of the most important issues for you is the receipt of the sale price. Our experience shows that there might be a number of complications due to ignorance or distrust between parties. More often than not sellers and buyers are of different nationalities, a fact that complicates the negotiations even further and calls into question the final outcome. On the other hand various banking and legal systems of the relevant hosting countries can really put to test even the most experienced lawyers and professionals. Experience shows that on the side of the purchaser can stand a cash payer or such through a direct bank transfer or one paying by bank credit, etc.

Save yourself the greatest strain and stress upon receipt of the sale/purchase price of your property by contacting us by phone or by filling out our contact form.

Your confidence binds us!

All issues if any highlighted on this website are not an indication of future results. Every situation is different and must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances and the applicable law.

We at Propriety Legal highly value confidentiality while working with clients which have visited our web site. We do not require personal data of clients or potential clients on this web site in order to avoid disclosure of any confidential or classified information.

This website is purely a public resource of general information which is intended, but not promised or guaranteed, to be complete, and up-to-date. This website is not a source of solicitation, or legal advice. Thus, the material provided on this website is not intended to create a lawyer-client relationship, and the receipt or viewing of this website does not constitute a lawyer-client relationship.

The owner of this website is a firm with lawyers licensed only in the Republic of Bulgaria. Do not send the owner of this website or anyone listed herein confidential information until you speak with one of our lawyers.