Administrative Services

Necessary documents for real estate transactions - types and procedures for issuance 

 

You have found land, an apartment, a studio, a garage or a house and you are about to close the deal. You are on the final path to finalising your purchase when you encounter  a mountain of administrative documents and processes.

Documents you will need:

• The original title or an official document identifying the owner.

The title could be for sale of, donation of, exchange of or court determined ownership of the property.

In some cases, the seller has acquired the property on other grounds or from the state or from the municipality. In these cases a sale may proceed and be processed under the Real Estate Register, the state law governing documents for ownership of state or municipal property or the law on municipal property.

All titles and contracts from 1996 onwards should be registered with the Registry.

In some cases the owner can identify themselves with a decree for assignment of real estate for public sale from a private bailiff, Court decision under article 19, paragragh 3 of the Law on Obligations and Contracts, a contract for voluntary division or a court-conciliation protocol for division of real estate.

Lost deed. If you have lost your deed, you should not worry. If it was issued after 1999, you can request a duplicate from the notary who notarised the transaction. If you do not remember the year of issue or the document, you can contact the office of the Registry at the locality of the property.

The procedure begins with a request from the owner or a proxy of the owner to issue a copy of the relevant lost document. You should present identification or a notarised power of attorney if you are acting as a proxy.

• Current site drawingof the property, for transactions of land or an entire building (with approved cadastral survey and cadastral register).

Such a drawing is issued by the Agency for Land Survey, Cartography and Cadastre (Cadastral Agency), with approved cadastral survey and cadastral registry entry or by the municipal technical service at the locality of the property (in the absence of cadastral surveys and cadastral registry entries).

After changes and registration, the drawings and plans are permanent and are valid until until changes are made to the property. It is very difficult to make changes after this.

Plan of the property, issued by AGCC, when the right of ownership over a separate object in a building is transferred (with approved cadastral map and cadastral register).

Be sure to check for valid cadastral surveys and register entries even at the stage of signing a preliminary contract. It may be necessary to change the cadastral map and cadastral register entry, which will take time.

It is possible that problems may arise and errors may be found in the Cadastral survey, which, according to the type of discrepancy found, may create corrections in the survey. For example, in case of a technical error due to AGKK's fault, the procedure, is free of charge and the error is removed ex officio. In this case it is not necessary to hire a qualified person / surveyor to develop a project to eliminate the error.

However, if the error is found only after the registration, the procedure is more expensive, slow and subject to appeal. This will  create obstacles due to delays in the transaction.

The plan, respectively the plan identifies the specific property by giving information about the construction, purpose, area, address etcetera. All of the data relevant to the acquisition or sale of real estate.

• Certificate of tax valuation

The tax valuation is a mandatory document for the notarial transfer of the property. The higher of either the purchase price or the tax valuation will be specified in the new notary deed and will be the price on which the notary fees, local tax and stamp duty will be determined.

The certificate is issued by the relevant tax office of the municipality where the property is located. For properties in the city of Sofia, you can get this document from the municipality of the specific region.

Please note that property taxes need to be paid for six months in advance. Tax receipts issued before June 30 are valid until June 30. Tax receipts issued after June 30 are valid until the end of the year.

The receipts should indicate the names of all property owners. The latter should not have outstanding debts for the property,  have paid the due tax and rates, which details should be shown on the receipt.

To issue this document you will need: original ownership documents and a copy, a legal will (if the property is inherited), identification documents, notarised power of attorney (if you are a representative). In case the property is owned by several people, the appearance of one of the owners is enough.

Possible problems that may arise when issuing this document are:

• Inconsistency in the address entered in the Tax Assessment and the one listed in the title deed - in this case you should issue a Certificate of identity at the address. More information about this document can be found in the other section of this article.
• Existence of unpaid taxes and fees - in order to successfully enter the transaction in the Property Register, the registrarchecks this detail and will refuse the entry if the Tax Assessment describes that the property has unpaid debts to the state and municipality. In order to avoid such an unpleasant situation, the seller should pay these taxes and fees or agree with the buyer before completing the sale, the latter to bear this cost at the expense of the selling price.
• In these cases the seller notarises the Declaration under article264, paragragh 4 of the Tax Office Codecs, which certifies the fact that there are unpaid debts and a Declaration of Consent that these receivables will be paid from the the sale proceeds.
• Often owners names are misspelled or missing in the registry and these details have to be reported and rectified by themunicipality, which is why the Certificate of tax assessment includes the old owners of the property. If you have not done this, you should fill in and submit to the municipality a Declaration under Art. 14 of the Local Taxes and Fees Act (Local Tax Authority).
• Technical errors made by employees - checkthe certificate carefully for details, such as the area, the exact address of the property and their adjacent premises - basement or attic and that they correspond to their description on the title deed. In the event of a discrepancy, notify the relevant employee immediately.
• Document for paid local taxes and fees - This is the payment order from the bank, certified by the bank. They are attached to the Tax Assessment Certificate. In case you pay after the issuance of the tax assessment, in which it is entered that there are unpaid debts, then in addition to the payment attached to the assessment, the employee notes the payment by hand, certifying the correction with signature and seal.

• Marriagecertificate of the seller (if married) or court decision for divorce (if divorced)

• Notarised Declaration of Citizenship and Civil Statusaccording to article 25, paragraph 7 of (Notary’s Codecs) - signed by all participants in the transaction - sellers and buyers. Keep in mind that the declaration is valid for the specific calendar year in which it is certified and in case you complete the transaction in the next year, you will have to certify the declaration again.

• Declaration of obligations to the state under article264, paragraph 1 of the Local Tax Authority- to be filled in duplicate by the sellers. Keep in mind that the declaration is valid for the specific calendar year in which it is certified and in case you complete the transaction in the next year, you will have to certify the declaration again.

• Legal will and testament, death certificate of the deceased - required in case the seller has acquired the property by inheritance.Identity documents of the buyers and sellers or representatives (in case the transaction is completed viaproxies)

• Other documents.

• Certificate of identity at address.

This document is required in the event of a discrepancy between the address indicated in the title deed and the one appearing in the tax assessment of the property or plan.If the property is located in Sofia, you can obtain this certificate from GIS-Sofia EOOD. If the property is located in another city, contact the municipality where the property is located.

For the issuance of the document they will require a copy of the title deed, legal will and testament (if the property is hereditary), plan from the Cadastre Agency (for settlements with cadastral survey), identity documents and document for paid state fee (paid on the spot) ).

• Notarized Declaration under article26 of the Family Code (CC), in case the property to be sold is a Family Home - the family home can be owned only by the seller, but in case of marriage, it is possible in certain cases to treat the property as family and the disposition of it requires the consent of the non-owner spouse, which is certified by the declaration under Art. 26 of the Civil Code.§
• Notarial Declaration for waiver of the right to use / Death Certificate of the user- such a declaration is signed if the property has a right of use in favour of a third party entered in the Property Register. The declaration shall also be entered in the Register.
• Notarized Declaration-consent under article33 of the Property Act - in cases where the subject of sale is co-owned property and the other owner does not want to buy the same.§
• Notarised explicit power of attorney (if the transaction is concluded through a representative), in which the principal has identified the specific property subject to the transaction. The power of attorney must have a signature and content certification.
• Certificate for lack of restitution claims, when the subject of the transaction is property restored under restitution laws.
• Certificate that the property was deactivated as municipal and state, when the property was state or municipal property.

• Certificate of identity of names- such a certificate will be needed when selling a property in whose documents, the seller is recorded with a name, middle name or surname other than those appearing in his identity documents at the date of sale. Often married couples have this issue, respectively divorce in the period from the acquisition of the property by the seller and the sale by the latter to the buyer. You can obtain this document from the municipality at your permanent address.

• Documents from the investor (required for purchase and sale) of a site in a newly built building) - building permit, architectural design and distribution of areas, Permit for use - Act, form 16 and others.

To extract all of these documents and you are looking for a solution how to quickly and easily handle it.

We can assist you in preparing, submitting and receiving these documents.