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Advice & Help With
Property Purchases in Bulgaria
Due to the huge number of problems I
have had with builders, court cases, my aborted purchase from Bulgarian
Dreams of an apartment in Bansko and as I have lived in Bulgaria and have had much
experience with Bulgaria, both good and bad, I am often contacted by
people in various circumstances to see if I can help in anyway, if I can
advice which route they should take, what their options are, if I can
point them in the direction of a good lawyer or if I can investigate their
issue for them.
To give you an idea here are a few of
the cases I have been involved with:
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Bulgarian Dreams - Due to my
problems with Bulgarian Dreams I am contacted on a regular basis by people
who find themselves in similar situations (long delays in completion,
apparent breaches of contract, planning permission issues etc). I am often
asked if there are any options to get out of the contract and get some or
all of their money back. Whilst each situation is different there is
usually a common theme and indifferent, if not outright rude and
unprofessional attitude by the agents/developers involved.
-
BulgarianRealEstate .net - A
lady contacted me in autumn 2006 who had bought a house for renovation in
2005 and had employed BulgarianRealEstate.net to over see the project and
do the work. A quote was given for the full renovation of 15,000 Euro.
Delays came about for one reason and another and it was end of May 2006
before work even started on the house. October brought uncertainty,
as she was not getting the updates on the house like before, and had
problems trying to find out what was being done. She eventually received
photos late autumn 2006 only to find that the house was basically in the
same state as in May 2006 but now with no windows and concrete had been
laid over wooden floors and other problems. On coming over to Bulgaria she
discovered the company had spent all the money and the builders had
disappeared, leaving a house in a worse state than when they began. The
case is now with the lawyer to try and recover some or all of the money
given for the renovations.
A number of other people have also
been ripped off by this company as you can see by viewing the topic on
MyBulgaria here.
-
Platinum Developments/Sunset
Resort - In around 2003 a number of British and Irish investors put
down deposits on a development being built by a Dutch company. This
company then went bankrupt and Platinum Developments (PDI) bought them out
and offered investors a rescue package. One option was to receive the
deposit back and a large number chose this option and signed all paperwork
for this (3rd party agreement) and sent back to PDI. However, the signed
copies of these documents were not returned to the investors so they have
no proper proof of agreement with all signatures on it. The return of the
money was delayed for a couple of years, each time saying development had
to be complete etc first. They were eventually promised money in June
2007. But then no money arrived and on pushing the issue, investors were
told that never any intention to pay it back and they would get nothing.
My friends here started legal action and since then a further 20 or so
people have joined in. The company behind the development has been
renamed, changed ownership, changed share holders and so on numerous
times. Likely a tax fiddle. All Irish were paid back but not British.
British have just served notary appeals on Sunset Resort to request their
deposit back. Norwegian paper covering story as PDI pushing their
developments in Scandanavia. I went to take photographs for the magazine
and to report on findings at Sunset Resort.
-
Cheap-Bulgarian-Properties (Chirpan)
- I was contacted by a guy who had seen a house for sale on eBay
through this company and had paid a deposit, then come over to see it and
had decided to proceed with sale. However, on returning to UK
communication with the company stopped and he found out that his company
was not yet properly set up and his house not transferred to him, even
though he had paid all money for it. I was asked to look into the matter
and see what I could find out. I was able to find out personal issues
appeared to be reason for no communication but that there were also
worrying ways in which the guy had been sold his property. There was
eventually some communication but lawyers had to be involved to resolve
the matter. A number of other former clients of this company have since
come forward and contacted me as they were having trouble getting hold of
their company documents, had been left high and dry with tax issues and
re-registration of their company and moving the company address and had
also discovered they paid rather more for their property than it was
really worth. I have now helped a number of former client's re-register their company and moving their registered
company address away from Cheap-Bulgarian-Properties and have dealt with
their tax forms. Two other former clients have been in contact with a
lawyer in Bulgaria to try and resolve their issues and new property
problems are always coming to light from people that have bought from this
guy - Stephen or Kevin Brown, depending which name he is going by. He did
go quiet for a while and various rumours surfaced about his actions and
whereabouts. Now I see he has popped back up on
eBay selling property. A lot of what is in his sales pitch is a
complete load of bollocks - for example you do not need a criminal record
check to set up a company in Bulgaria, you used to years ago but not any
more, there is no way this guy has 4000 happy clients, 40 unhappy clients
maybe....certainly does not have several offices, last I heard he had shut
down his office in Chirpan and gone into hiding, now all of a sudden he
has offices all over the world.....and here's a good one -
BulgarianProperties closed their office in Stara Zagora because they were
put out of business by cheap-bulgarian-properties!!! BulgarianProperties
office is right in centre of Stara Zagora and still there and listed on
their website.....Voted number 1 agent in area....no such award and if
there is, they certainly would never have won it!
-
Completion on Apartments/Snagging
lists - I arranged for a snagging list to be done on an apartment in
Sunny Beach only to find apartment more like renovation project than new
build. Advising lady on best option and legal avenues. Numerous enquiries
with regard to late completion of apartments, lack of funds to complete
due to not being able to resell under contract, get mortgage, rent out
etc...
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While I am not qualified to give
proper legal advice on such matters I can hear your story and maybe
suggest a route forward or give general advice. Often just having a fresh
pair of eyes look over everything can give a new perspective or offer
alternative ideas you may not have thought of. Whilst I have done much of
this checking of documents and advising for free over the last few years,
it now constitutes a lot of my time and so I charge a flat fee of
50 Euros to go through all paperwork, research into issues and companies
and give you advice to the best of my ability. Please note that this is
not legal or financial advice and is merely based on my experiences over
the last few years. I do have some contacts in the legal and accountancy
professions in Bulgaria and will try and get answers to any questions, but
these should not be seen as professional legal or tax advice.
This type of work takes up a fair
amount of my time and so I would ask that if you require help and advice,
then please make a small contribution of 50 Euros (40 GBP) via
moneybookers, paypal or direct to my UK bank account or via cheque. Please
send me full details of your matter, together with copies of any legal
documentation such as contracts, annexes etc, so I can look through these
and help as much as I can, including as much follow up advice as you
require. I will be on the end of the telephone or email or skype or MSN as
long as you need.
Moneybookers:
rachel@thetravelbug.org
Paypal:
rachel@thetravelbug.org
If you have a concern or issue
similar to the above examples please feel free to drop me an email and we
can see how I can help and the best way to proceed.
Rachel
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