The procedure for buying a property by a foreign person does not differ a lot from the same procedure of a Bulgarian citizen. To purchase any property, you need a foreign passport or id card proving your identity, a tax number (copy of it).
Short brief about the procedure:
1. Selection of an apartment.
You come for the first time to choose an apartment, we will organize a viewing trip, making a preliminary program. It usually takes 2-3 days to select an apartment.
2. Making a reservation deposit.
After making a deposit, the apartment is stopped from sale, and the price is fixed in the reservation agreement. The deposit amount is usually 2000 euros.
If you like the apartment and decide to buy it, you can leave a deposit in the amount of 2000 euros in cash or through bank account. Some clients can come with bank cards, but sometimes there are difficulties with withdrawing money due to bank limits, plus there is a cross converting into leva and interest is charged for withdrawal. The amount of the reservation is included into the price of the property and we fix it in the reservation agreement.
From this moment the apartment is removed from sale, the deposit is a guarantee that you are buying exactly the apartment you have chosen and for the price specified in the reservation agreement. At the same time, we check the apartment - we take an extract from the state property register. Also, the reservation agreement indicates the time until which time the final deal must be completed.
3. If you are planning to open the bank account in Bulgaria you will need the taxpayer number of the country of residence and an internal passport with a residence permit. According to the legislation of Bulgaria, the amount specified in the notary agreement must be transferred by bank transfer. The fee for opening a bank account is around 40 euros.
4. Preparation of the documents for the deal.
The term for preparing documents for a deal depends on many factors. Usually, the preparation of documents takes one month.
In 90%, payment is made as follows:
- the buyer, approximately 1-2 weeks before the agreed date of the deal, transfers the amount to his account in Bulgaria or to our lawyer (if he does not have such account), and on the day of the notary deal, after checking all the documents with a notary, he 9or the lawyer) transfers the amount to the seller's account.
Payment methods are different, always negotiated specifically, based on the desires and capabilities of the seller and buyer.
5. Signing of the Notary Act
The Notary Act is a sales and purchase agreement and is signed by the parties at the notary office at the location of the property (the relevant municipality).
The buyer transfers the remaining amount of the price of the apartment through the bank to the seller's account after signing the Notary deed in front of the notary, but before final registering the deal and entering the Notary Act into the register of the Registration Agency. After receiving the final amount on the account, the seller confirms this fact to the notary.
Having received such confirmation from the seller, the notary takes the final steps to register the deal.
Your costs will be the following: 3% of the cost will be a purchase tax on the property, about 2% - notary fees and state fees for registering the deal. According to the Bulgarian law you will need a translator. The translator takes around 30 euros per hour. And you definitely need a lawyer. The lawyer's fee depends on the scope of services provided by the lawyer. Usually it is about 350 -600 euros. The lawyer prepares all the documents for the deal, checks the apartment for “cleanliness”, encumbrances on the property, prepares the draft of the notary act, then after the deal is registered the lawyer registers your apartment in the tax committee of Bulgaria, receives your tax number (Bulstat) for you, and so also transfer to your name individual numbers in the electric company and water supplier.