The final contract for purchase was signed by both me and the boss of the bilding firm. the nationality of the agent is bulgarian. I was originally sent by an english company to meet their Bulgarian represent ative, HIM. He showed me lotas of property's up gy the ski lift tha were a lot of money and none had any views. Then suddenly we BUMPED INTO a person he knew who just happened to be building an apartment block off plan. This was a set up of course. They are both bulgarian from blagoevgrad.
he fact that loads of people are getting conned by lots of English, Irish and Bulgarian crooks somehow makes me not feel such a fool.
No the contract was not stamped to say that the translator was authorised by the state and no he has not signed it. There is writing on the notary deed stating that the translator had been told about incorrect translation by the notary and that he said that i am accepting the translation. The boss of the building firm stamped every page of both the bulgarian and english translated copy with his company stamp and signed every page along with me. The translator has not.

I am not an authoity on bulgarian law, but if signed without an authorised translator stamp it would be void for possible Misrepresentation. Also was it signed infront of a Notary? Was the disclaimer in an English copy you signed at same time. sorry is hard to understand.

yes david,
it was signed in front of he notary. No i only got the english copy sent to me via e-mail after i had signed the bulgarian copy which was read out to me by the translator at the notarys office in razlog.

Could be that you have a claim against the notary as he was to also look after your interests and clearly did not as you did not have a recognised translator.

Thanks David, i got in touch with bulgarian solicitors and will pay them to try get my money back from the agent and see what happens, then see about the deeds.

I think it is quite important here to differentiate between "notary" and "lawyer".

Many people get confused between the two as there are countries which do not operate real estate transactions using a "notary".

In Bulgaria the notary is rather like a government functionary. Acting in the capacity of checking that the facts are correct (such as you really are the buyer - or vendor - the land being sold is owned by the person stated). BUT they do not act in the interests of either the buyer or the vendor - they just check the real estate being sold is what is stated in the contract and collect any necessary government taxes.

A lawyer on the other hand is hired by the buyer or the vendor and acts solely in the interests of the person hiring his/her services.

This is why it is so very important to have an independent lawyer acting for you - one you have hired yourself and acts only in your interests. Don't be blinded by the agents or developers saying that a 'solicitor' will be supplied. This means nothing, either it is a notary or a lawyer in Bulgaria. The word solicitor is misleading as, particularly with British buyers, agents and developers could be using this word on the basis that this word implies independent advice and someone acting for you. Remember, check out if they are actually recommending just a notary or a lawyer and if it is a lawyer, then it is more than likely that the agent is the one hiring their services, so who will the lawyer be acting for???

Take care out there !

__________________
Jain Goodall, Director, Quest Bulgaria Magazine

For owning and buying property in Bulgaria
http://www.questbulgaria.com

Thanks jain but in my case it is to late. I have already done the deal and been burnt. Now its a case of damage limitation. So its common practice for a develper to put down a lower price in front of the notary so he pays less taxes. The notary deeds cannot be changed, yet the contract told me to pay a lot more money than he put down on the notary deeds. i have paid him a lot more than what he has put down, so i am going to be clobbered with loads of capital gains tax i never gained. WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS, IS IT WORTH TAKING HIM TO COURT.

Hi

Yes, I appreciate that it is late in the day for yourself but I did want to highlight these differences to others.

If you look at page 1 of this thread you'll see that I posted a reply which was given by the law firm who write for us to the question of whether it is possible to change the price in the deeds retrospectively. You'll see there the possible courses of action and her opinion on this subject.

Without seeing all your paperwork and contracts it is not possible to give a full answer to your question. Besides, only a lawyer can give you best advice on this matter. The best thing you can do is get in touch straight away with an indepdent lawyer who will work solely in your interests, send them all the paperwork and ask their opinion as to what you can do and whether it will be worth it. You need professional advice.

All best wishes

__________________
Jain Goodall, Director, Quest Bulgaria Magazine

For owning and buying property in Bulgaria
http://www.questbulgaria.com

I do not understand what is the problem in your title deed to be written the tax estimated price. You have saved yourself some extra tax and what is the problem to have this price written in your title deed.
You have saved paying the DDS tax. and at end of each year you save the difference when paying the council tax.
More than 80 % of the people who own property in Bulgaria have the tax estimated price written in their deeds, and everybody is well aware of it.

If you decide to sell this property after few years the new owner will have the tax estimated price written in your deeds, so you will not pay a lot of capital gains tax - and it is only 10 %, man!

Something else, a lot of you do not know, that if you keep your property for more than 5 years time - YOU DO NOT PAY CAPITAL GAINS TAX!

Hello Runchev

I think we better clear this up.

There is a HUGE problem for owners residing in the UK when the price they pay is not declared in the deeds. They are liable to large capital gains tax in the UK. Not only upon re-selling but in theory at the moment they buy the property - a tax which they should not be liable to pay on a theoretical gain !!!

Any tax "saved" by under-declaring is completely obliterated by a much much higher capital gains tax applied.

As for your comment of "Something else, a lot of you do not know, that if you keep your property for more than 5 years time - YOU DO NOT PAY CAPITAL GAINS TAX!"

Not true. If you are resident in Bulgaria and own an property as an individual or are a Bulgarian citizen the up to date situation is that you may sell up to one property per year and you pay no capital gains in Bulgaria. You no longer have to own it for five years.

However, no matter how long you own a Bulgarian property, when you own it as an individual and one who is resident in the UK, you are liable to capital gains tax in Britain.

Also, if you own the property by the use of the vehicle of a Bulgarian company, when you sell the property you are subject to corporation tax in Bulgaria.

Oh, yes, it might only be "10% man!" for an individual owning a property in Bulgaria - but then there is further capital gains to be paid in the UK - much more than that 10%. Anyway, why should anyone be forced to pay on a gain which they have not made just because someone in Bulgaria says it is normal practice??????

Any vendor should be so lucky to find a foreigner now who will fall for the "put a lower price in the deeds and pay me the rest in cash" scenario; so those buyers who have fallen foul of this practice are well and truly hung out to dry.

So, as you can see, it really is a major issue under-declaring the price on the deeds - if any buyer meets anyone who says this is normal practice run a mile would be my advice!

__________________
Jain Goodall, Director, Quest Bulgaria Magazine

For owning and buying property in Bulgaria
http://www.questbulgaria.com