½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Good morning Anna,

Mai I ask you some more informations?

- Where are the houses located?
- Are the houses owned by a company?
- What king of returns do you mean?

Hi,

One villa in varna and two properties near vetrino.

Yes the houses are associated with a company, that's how it was when we purchased in 2005.

Is the annual returns and reports.

Thanks

Hey Anna,

I wrote you a PM

Get a lawyer. Have everything thoroughly checked. Then you will have the grounds for a decision.

Hello Anna,

Were you able to resolve the issue in the end? It seems I am in a similar situation, having bought a small plot of land back in 2007 near Bourgas (via setting up a company in order to purchase as a UK citizen). Unfortunately the lawyer I have been dealing with over the years seems to have stopped responding some 18+ months ago, and no doubt stopped submitting the anual company documents, and I also suspect the municipal tax has not been paid for some time. May I ask how you went about resolving your issue? I live in the UK so not sure what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Harry

@Anna Tsarina

It's quite a common issue with foreign buyers, so you are not alone. Property taxes (and the fines for late payment) are not huge in Bulgaria, so it's not like a UK Council Tax bill, for example. The rate, I think, is around 0.15% of the sale price in your Notary Act, plus an additional (smaller) amount for your garbage collection. Then late fees on top. I just paid for 10 years for my apartment in Bansko and it was 1,325 leva.

As @kristiann wisely advises, your best bet is simply to engage a local attorney to check the company status, submit any required returns, and get your property taxes paid up to date (and, ideally, get your login details so that you can pay online in the future).

@westo_uk

Welcome to the ½ûÂþÌìÌà forum, and good luck with your plot!

Property taxes on land are very small, just 0.15% of your purchase price. And late fees are not huge either. So I would be shocked if 4 years of arrears was a very large number, and might perhaps be in the order of a few hundred leva. (But it depends on how much you paid for your small plot, of course.)

Even so, it's advisable to get yourself a new attorney here so that they can check your company status, make any required reports, and get your property taxes paid. It's perfectly possible to do this remotely, but they might need an official POA (which you can do at the Bulgarian Embassy in London).

@gwynj Hi, thanks so much for the reply and advice, I really appreciate it. I will do as you advise, many thanks.