Practice Areas
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We regularly advice clients on all kinds of usually property related and/or cross-border (English-Bulgarian) issues, such as tax, company registration and changes, planning and construction, mortgage/financing, encumbrances checks and due diligence, but in particular in the following areas:
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Conveyancing (sale, purchase and transfer of property)
We assist clients when buying or selling a property in Bulgaria, protecting their interests and in most of the cases also acting on their behalf at the relevant transactions if they can’t or prefer not to travel to Bulgaria. Being entirely independent, inclusively from the developer, seller/buyer, the agent, the bank and any other party involved, but also being strictly regulated and monitored, we are able to provide the best possible protection for our clients within the process. Since one of our lawyers is located in England and duly registered at the Solicitor Regulation Authority of England and Wales we are usually able to offer a unique end-to-end, one-stop property conveyance service, meaning that we could carry out and represent you through the whole process after just one personal meeting in England. So, you will basically have the option to buy or sell a property in Bulgaria without having to travel there or even to the Bulgarian embassy in London.
Litigation and dispute resolution
We are able to represent in front of all courts and dispute resolution bodies in Bulgaria. Initially, back in 2006-2010 the typical dispute involving property in Bulgaria was to act on behalf of a British client who has signed a “Preliminary agreement” for (usually off-plan) property purchase but the property was either not finished or the ownership was not actually transferred. However, in the last 2-3 years, we have increased volume of cases related to different kind of disputes between British property owners and the companies maintaining their property. Of course, there are various other property related disputes we have successfully represented our clients, such as rejected insurance claims, planning and construction, rental, bank/mortgage, issues following a divorce or inheritance.
Wills, Probate and Inheritance
We help clients who have inherited property in Bulgaria which turns out to be oft quite a complex task considering the notorious difference between the Bulgarian (continental) and English (common law) legal systems. Generally, the location of the property determines the applicable laws and rules but as in most cases the deceased owner of the Bulgarian property was a British citizen the relevant English rules has to be considered as well. Consecutively, the significant difference in the material inheritance rules but also in the related ancillary proceedings might cause serious and costly difficulties and inconveniences to the heirs. For example, one of the most common issues, an English heir of a Bulgarian property would come across, is caused by the fact that unlike in Bulgaria, where there is a special publicly issued document - Certificate of heirs, the corresponding procedure establishing the heirs in England is completely different. Basically, a smart and relatively cheap way to tackle this potential issue is to execute a valid Will considering the above cross-border complexity and there is a clear trend towards addressing this issue from our English clients. We are certainly able to advice our clients through this process and to help them sort out this issues in the most effective way. However, in case this was not addressed in advance through executing a Will we most certainly have the best expertise and experience to find the way through for the heirs though.