Buying real estate in Bulgaria is a grave matter. That is why it is necessary to ensure your safety in advance so that everything goes as it should. To do this, you need to check the property you are interested in before concluding a purchase and sale agreement.
The role of legal documents and analysis of their reliability
The first and foremost rule of buying real estate in Bulgaria is that you cannot enter into an agreement without seeing the documents for the property and making sure of their authenticity. The seller must document that he is the owner of the property and has the right to dispose of it. Similarly, intermediaries must prove their right to enter into a sales contract. Only in this case can you be sure that the transaction will not be considered void, and subsequently, no one will lay claim to the property in question – neither credit organizations, nor individuals, nor the state.
Checking for litigation and other legal disputes
Checking the legal purity of real estate allows you to find out the competence of the seller and the likelihood of claims by third parties after the transaction.
As part of such a check, the following are checked:
- Ownership (compliance of the stated information with the real state of affairs).
- Permits for construction.
- The reputation of the developer (the ins and outs of the company, the number of timely completed projects, and long-term construction).
- Mortgage documents and wills.
- Court databases (search for lawsuits related to the property in question).
All this allows you to obtain current (at the time of verification) information about the object and trace its history.
An additional guarantee of the legal purity of a real estate transaction in Bulgaria is a Notarial Confession, in which a purchase and sale agreement is signed in the form of a notarial deed in the presence of a Bulgarian notary operating in the area where the property is located. The notary is obliged to verify the correctness of all documents on the part of the seller, his competence, and his desire to sell this or that property.
Checking the availability of mortgages and collateral
To ensure that the property in question is not the subject of a pledge, it is necessary to submit a request to the Real Estate Register. It stores information about who owned the property, when, and other circumstances. These are all kinds of prohibitions on sale, lease, mortgage, or encumbrances. This site lets you quickly find the necessary information and perform legal verification.
A realtor, lawyer, or notary has the right to conduct such a check on behalf of a potential buyer. However, sometimes, a certificate from the Registry is not enough. This is due to the specifics of registering real estate in Bulgaria in the 90s and earlier, as well as the shortcomings of the electronic system. To be 100% sure that there are no encumbrances, you must obtain a certificate of encumbrance of the object. This can only be done in person at the Filing Agency.
Therefore, if the seller became the owner of a house or apartment after 1998, an ordered online certificate from the Real Estate Register will be enough to assess the accurate picture. However, if this happened before 1992, it is better to play it safe and get a certificate from the Real Estate Register at its location. Obviously, obtaining such a document will require time and money, but having it in hand, you can avoid incidents.
Search and analysis of information about previous owners and property history
In Bulgaria, all information about real estate is public. Therefore, any person can initiate an inspection to obtain a certificate or extract for any property and its owner.
The applicant must undergo identification to submit a request to the Real Estate Register. For this purpose, he will need a personal electronic signature.
Unfortunately, only Bulgarian citizens or foreigners with permanent residence can use this service. Foreigners can obtain the required information with the help of real estate agencies, lawyers, etc.
How to protect yourself from trouble?
To insure yourself against unpleasant situations, contact BolgariaDom. We cooperate exclusively with reliable developers and real estate sellers. This minimizes risks at the time of purchase and sale. In addition, our team includes highly qualified lawyers who scrupulously check apartments and cottages for the presence of encumbrances. We guarantee full legal support of the transaction. Our many years of experience and a clear understanding of the nuances of local legislation allow clients to avoid unforeseen situations and financial losses.
Although Bulgarian legislation tries to guarantee the legality of transactions, there are also pitfalls that are simply impossible to take into account without experience in such matters. That is why it is better to entrust real estate purchases in Bulgaria to our experts.