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:

  • 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. I am still getting emails from people who have paid large deposits for apartments through Platinum Developments but have nothing to show for it. 

  • 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 or Claydon, 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! This guy has threatened me and harrassed me because I helped expose him and mentioned him on here. 

  • Search of Notary Registers - I was contacted by someone who had sent money to a Bulgarian colleague to buy land on their behalf. Money and colleague disappeared!. Through notary searches/court searches we discovered the colleague had bought an apartment recently in the city and a plot of land near Gurkovo.

  • 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...

  • Finding Apartment & Report - In the spring of 2010 I was contacted by a lady who had purchased an off-plan apartment back in 2007/2008. After a long drawn out court case with regard to late completion and specifications of the apartment, she finally got the notary deeds in late summer 2010. She had only visited once in 2008 before completion and as she now wanted to sell, all be it at a large loss, she needed someone to collect the key, go to the apartment and take photos and video. However, it was not that simple. The owner only had a real estate identification number and no actual address or development name. To track down the apartment, we had to contact the local municipality and ask for them to trace it on the cadastral map, track down a relative of the developer (who had gone AWOL) and along with his description and an old Google map, we eventually on the third trip found the block. We photographed and videoed the place for the owner. Unfortuantely the development had not been finished and was abandoned and the key did not fit the door. We are currently trying to resolve the issue. 
  • Sunny Day 6 Progress - I was contacted in the winter of 2011 to see if I could help furnish a studio apartment in Sunny Day 6 that was supposed to have been finished in December 2010, then delayed to April 2011 and then September 2011. As we have an apartment close by we now visit regularly to check on progress of the building work at the Sunny Day 6 complex. If anyone else has an apartment here that they would like furnishing then please let me know.
Sunny Day 6 June 2011 Sunny Day 6 June 2011 Sunny Day 6 June 2011 Sunny Day 6 June 2011 -> June 2011
Sunny Day 6 - July 2011 Sunny Day 6 Juy 2011 Sunny Day 6 Pool -> July 2011 with good progress on building work and pool now filled.

And there is a video of the complex here and another video of the current building work on the second phase here.
  • GENERAL ADVICE: Of course the most common enquiries I get are from people who have seen a property, or even already bought a property on ebay or from an agent and are looking for general advice and help on how the buying process works, what they need to do, whether the house is a good buy, in a good area etc....I am happy to give a general overview and opinion but please remember it is just that - MY opinion and what I like is not necessarily what you like. And if you have already bought a house, its a little late. If you are considering a purchase around the Kazanlak or Stara Zagora or Chirpan area or Sunny Beach or Burgas region then we are happy to visit for you, take photos, video and report back. We charge diesel costs at 0.40 E/km and then between around 50 and 100 levs for the actual work depending on travelling time 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. This does take up a fair amount of my time. I am happy to chat to you via Skype, email, phone (sorry I have no landline so you'll need to call my Bulgarian mobile). 

If you feel my advice was helpful then maybe you would be so kind as to send a small donation -> English tea bags always gratefully received, Indian curry spices etc (send to Rachel Gawith, PO Box 229, Stara Zagora, 6000, Bulgaria) or I am a keen supporter of a couple of dog rescue charities that work here in Bulgaria. One particularly close to my heart is the Tierschutz Mission, near Burgas. I took two of my puppies here and they were re-homed and I have raised a little money for them in the past and visited their office in central Burgas and the rescue centre. You can see more from the link on the left. So if you would like to make a small donation by paypal to help them rescue some of the many strays and badly treated animals here in Bulgaria please click the button below:

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