Does anyone know of

1. A trustworthy Bulgarian soicitor who can advise and who will go after and get the bulgarian agent who stole my money that i transfered into his account to pay the man who he reccomended to furnish my apartment.

2. Of a trustworthy and competant carpenter/fitter who will put together the kitchen and plumb and wire it in correctly, put my wall units up, put my beds together and ffit together my fitted wardrobes and the units in my Bansko apartment. I AM NOT PAYING ANY MONEY UP FRONT.

3. A government body who i can report this agent to where something will be done to him, ie: he is struck off or fined or something

Hi roythepower

I cannot answer all your questions but maybe :

1. From personal recommendation as we have used them I can recommend the lawyer who writes for Quest Bulgaria magazine. The company is long standing, ethical, honest and excellent. The lawyer in the firm to contact is Asja Mandjukova and her email is amandjukova@gpng-law.org
She will look at your contracts regarding your property and will be able to advise you if you have a case and if so how to proceed.
She has acted for some of our readers and many other foreign purchasers, all of whom have told us she has done a good job for them.

2. It is extremely difficult for me to recommend a carpenter to fit your kitchen. We don't live anywhere near Bansko I'm afraid and really you'll need somebody local to do a job like this.

3. There is no government body you have recourse to about agents in Bulgaria as far as I am aware. There is no regulation of agents here. Some agents belong to non-governmental organisations such as AIPP, NAEA and so on but at the end of the day, these bodies are usually reluctant to take action against their members and if they do have limited action they can take other than asking them to leave the association. To be honest, I'm not sure how much legislation there is even in Britain governing estate agents directly (much of the legislation seems to stem from other areas, such as advertising standards, rather than from direct laws over estate agents).

I know this doesn't help very much but I'd certainly contact Asja Mandjukova if I were you as I know she'll help you.

All the best

__________________
Jain Goodall, Director, Quest Bulgaria Magazine

Independent advice and information for owning and buying property in Bulgaria
http://www.questbulgaria.com

Thanks jain