Hi,

Has anybody attemped to withdraw from a purchase having paid the deposit and having signed a preliminary?

With a mortgage lender increasingly difficult to find for Bansko and rental income + resell value not looking too hot, I scanned through my prelim' and it seems to suggest a 35% penalty for pulling out (even though deeds are yet to be signed). Has anybody come across similar?

Having already gobbled up my deposit ,lying to get me to sign the prelim', are they really going to force another 20-odd thousand Euros out of me?!

Quite probably. I pulled out of a purchase with Bulgarian Dreams in Bansko 3 or 4 years ago after facing numerous problems. I had paid deposit and signed contract. They then started demanding more money for various things we were misled to believe were included etc. Everything was extra, customer relations were non-existent, very rude attitude etc....

I evenutally got my money back from the developer and took Bulgarian Dreams to court. You read full story on my website - see link below.

Rachel

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Bulgarian property for sale from just 4,000 Euros. Renovations, relocation, furnishing and free advice. Visit http://www.thetravelbug.org

Village houses to rent from 50E/mth - http://www.therentalbug.com

Hi Jamie im in similar situation i got in touch with damyanov & kostadinov law firm their email is office@dklawyers.eu, i emailed them copy of prelim contract and they replied within days, they are on holiday at moment but should give you honest opinon of your rights, mine arent looking good developers just ripping honest people off.

You should consult a lawyer, or an agent, before buying. Market practice is to pay only 10%, not 35% on preliminary contract. If you have bough off plan, than it's different as you pay on achievemnt of milestones, but it doesn't seem to be your case.

The other thing that you can do is try to resell your contract.

Problem is many contracts in Bulgaria are very much in the favour of the developers and sadly not the buyers so they can sometimes be very unfair. Best thing is to ask a lawyer what they think.

I know this is kind of late but in Bulgaria they will rip you off right and left. The best term I have for them is hustlers. They will lie to you every step of the way to get you to sign the contract then renig on every promise they made.

You will most likely get stuck holding the bag for the remaining 20k. Unless you are willing to risk collections.