Legal problems,
cheap-bulgarian-properties, Sunset Resort, Bulgarian Real Estate Ltd
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.
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!
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...
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 donation to the Tierschutz
Dog Rescue Mission. I will be on
the end of the telephone or email or skype or MSN as long as you need.
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.
