Do you own a Bulgarian company? If you do then you need to know about some important changes in Bulgarian legislation.
At the beginning of 2008, the Bulgarian government - in line with other European nations – introduced a central company registration
system. This means that anyone who registered a limited liability company in Bulgaria to hold property with land will have to re-register
the company or risk having all their assets forfeited. As you may be aware, at present only Bulgarian nationals or companies can
buy real estate where land is involved. Some apartments include a share of the freehold and will have been registered in the name
of company; also some agents advise using a company to hold apartments ‘for tax purposes’. Hopefully you have an agent
[the person that files your annual returns each year], and they have already contacted you
Owning a Bulgarian company
Under Bulgarian Law, the only way a foreigner can purchase land is to buy it in the name of a limited liability company. Forming
a company is relatively straight forward. But; purchasers do need to remember that certain obligations are attached to owning a
company in Bulgaria - as indeed they are anywhere else in the world. Formalities include having a registered address in Bulgaria,
filling annual returns and paying property taxes on time. Quite often the selling agent will arrange this for you; however we do
recommend that you check that your agent is willing and able to offer this service. Expect to pay approximately 300 Euros a year
for this service. We can, of course, assist.
Managing the Legal formalities from the UK
It is possible to complete most of the legal formalities relating to your property purchase from the UK using a Power of Attorney
(PoA). The PoA needs to be legalised – this is the process of attaching an Apostille issued by the British Government’s Foreign and
Commonwealth Office to the document. Before this can be done the documents have to be signed by the person named in the deed in the
presence of a Notary Public (notary). Notary Bulgaria can arrange this via the www.MyNotary.co.uk network
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