Foreigners can buy buildings, the right to build and other land related rights such as the right of use & passage but cannot buy land. Please check this out before any purchase. Acquiring property is made easier by the new Foreign Investment Act (1997) which lifted the requirement to seek prior approval of the Ministry of Finance to conclude such purchases.

Foreign judicial persons (companies) and physical persons (individuals) can however acquire land via a Bulgarian registered company. Our Lawyers will organise this for you once you have decided to purchase. A limited company can be incorporated within 2-3 weeks for the investor who is the director of this limited company.

Setting up a company in Bulgaria is totally different from the system in Western Europe. Our Lawyers offer registration and representation before all Bulgarian authorities (Court, Tax authorities, Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, National Statistic Institute, National Social Security Institute, etc).

The legislative intention is to provide this opportunity to foreign persons who intend to engage in commercial activity in Bulgaria. Offering hotel accommodation (except when rooms in main residence are rented out) is considered a commercial activity.

All foreign buyers purchasing real estate property must be aware that in Bulgaria there are such terms as "tax estimation price" and "purchase price". The "tax estimation price" is for the purposes of real estate taxation and is much lower than the actual selling (purchase) price. Most of the Bulgarian property owners (vendors) wish that the "tax estimation price" is written in the title deed, and not the selling (asking) price which the buyers are paying, so due to this practice there might be discrepancies between the price you are paying and the price written in the title deed. This offers massive tax savings, as the tax charge is based on the "tax estimation price", which is always much lower than the market price.

In some cases, where property is situated in border areas (15km.inland from coast is regarded a border area according to current legislation) or areas deemed to be of importance to the national security foreigners cannot purchase property without special permission from the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers must consider a request for such permission within 45 days. We will obtain such permission routinely as part of our convincing service at no extra charge.

The restriction on land ownership on foreigners, as established by the Constitution of 1991 is now publicly discussed & is likely to be modified or lifted in the accession to the EU. We will keep all our clients informed on any developments. Any change towards less restrictive legislation is likely to increase property prices.