Looking to buy house on pay monthly option

@amyellashay

Message me

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@amyellashay

By the sounds of it you are a reasonably young family?

Sorry to put a damper on straight away but have you researched the residency rules, unless you or your husband are in receipt of a pension (private, military or old age) it will be very difficult for you to get a  D Visa and subsequent residency here in Bulgaria since Brexit unless one of you has an EU passport.

@grahamstark1 I have a EU passport

I can recommend Bulgaria Direct, I've bought my house with them. As I mentioned in the other thread you posted on, do only go into a pay monthly deal if you know you can make the payments every month. It's a rent-to-buy plan, miss payments and you lose any right to stay in the house and all that you previously paid.

But there are likely to be some huge issues you need to consider. It's a lot more than being able to buy a house there. Problem is, since Brexit, it's not easy. As @grahamstark1 said, getting residency there is likely to be a far bigger issue than buying a house would be. Since Brexit, Brits can't just move there. There are very strict rules with loads of paperwork, and unless one of you has a UK company in good standing for at least two years they can be overseas representative for, one of you gets a retirement pension, or one of you has an EU passport, for a young family it won't be easy. Unlike some other countries, there isn't an easy-to-get digital worker visa. There is a freelancer visa your husband may be able to apply for on the basis of his online work, but the catch is it also requires passing a Bulgarian language test at quite a high standard.

The other thing to consider is that if you get any UK benefits, like Carer's Allowance or PIP for the kids, that is likely to stop when you leave the country. Another Brexit effect.  It's lower cost to live in Bulgaria than the UK, but inflation has run a little higher there so the cost of living's not as cheap as it used to be. Even if you're able to make payments on a village house, have a big garden to grow fruit and veg and keep animals like the locals do, you need to consider what other income you'll need and how you'll get that. If you can get by on what hubby earns, great!

Also, home schooling can be a problem in Bulgaria. There've been a number of threads here about it and officially I'm not sure it's allowed. people still find ways to do it, so that shouldn't be an absolute barrier, but expect a few challenges.

Autistic people and moving country - my hubby is on the spectrum. Food in Bulgaria is a major issue. It's wonderful, generally, but he wants to eat the same food he does here, and it's just not possible, or if British food is available, it comes at a far higher cost. How adaptable are your kids?

I don't want to be discouraging, I love Bulgaria and want to move there as soon as I retire and we can get our D visa. I just want you to consider other issues. Unfortunately, it's not as easy to just up and move as some of the estate agent listings make it sound. Village life has a lot to offer, and it does give us opportunities to have a home and land and space around us we couldn't afford in the UK. It also comes with many challenges.

Oops, edited to add, I just saw you posted that you have an EU passport! That's wonderful and removes the biggest hurdle straight away!

Me n hubby. Bought have EU passport so what does that helpx

@amyellashay

We only have a two bed but large rooms. You could fit a double and a single in them. Internet everything in it except the beds. I can seen pics if you email me

    Me n hubby. Bought have EU passport so what does that helpx
   

    -@amyellashay

It helps a lot because unlike someone with only a UK or US passport, you don't need to faff and spend  £££or take months filling in paperwork to get a D visa. The paperwork to move to Bulgaria for an EU passport holder is way simpler. You can, in effect, just move there and do far less paperwork if you want to make it your country of residence. Also you don't need to set up a company to be able to buy a house with land.

So the process is far easier. Finding a good house at a good price isn't any easier, but at least if you find somewhere, you can actually move there!

@amyellashay

I see you mention that you both have EU passports! That would be great - as everybody here has said, rules for EU citizens are much, much simpler.

Which EU country are your passports from?

It might seem like a funny question, but there has been confusion in the past between an EU citizen's EU passport, and a UK citizen's UK passport ISSUED when it was an EU passport (i.e. before Brexit). The former is tip-top, the latter still leaves you with the D visa option.

If you have an EU citizen's passport, then it's a simple process requiring only proof of funds (small amount) + proof of health insurance (very cheap policy) + proof of address (your pay-monthly contract).

If the latter, the best option for Brits in your situation is D visa based on foreign company and TRO (Trade Representative Office). It's a bit of a hassle and a bit of extra expense, but you can incorporate a UK company online very cheaply, and use it to put your husband's online income through it. You need 2 years of history to get TRO approved, but if you incorporate today, at least you know you can make the move in the near future. And nothing to stop you from buying a property beforehand, and popping over to do a bit of work on it (you get 90 in 180 days visa-free with UK passport).

Both Mowlem and BulgariaDirect are well-regarded with many happy buyers here on the forum. You'd be safe with either.

Good luck!

@amyellashay

I think home schooling might be an issue. I suspect it's not entirely legal here.

There are folks who have done it, but I don't know how they did it, and avoided trouble. It's a small, poor country, so perhaps there are not a lot of inspectors/enforcement floating around. (This is true in respect of planning, dumping, and fast driving so it would not surprise me if it applied to education too.) Or perhaps as long as they're officially registered with the local school, and show up for a few hours a week, maybe they don't get strict about the level of attendance.

It might be better for them to go to local schools and learn Bulgarian and fully-integrate... and you give them additional home-schooling to UK standards, or for UK exams (you can sit for IGCSEs here). When we moved over here, my Brit van-and-man guy turned out to have lived in Bulgaria for some years, and both his kids had gone to local schools and become fluent in Bulgarian.

Does anyone know a Bulgarian english speaking property lawyer?

@sandrakassem2

I do. And happy to share his deets if you send me a private message.

You don't strictly need a property lawyer here, everything can be handled by the notary. And even if you do have  a property lawyer, the transfer will still be done by the notary, and you will still have to pay for this (plus the extra for the lawyer).

However, many folks recommend that you have a lawyer, especially for more complex transactions or where you see the need for some due dilgence on the property/seller. Personally, I usually let the notary handle it, as it's kinda their job. :-)

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@landroversalesEU

I think you'll find that the most popular sites are well moderated. Unmoderated sites sadly tend to deteriorate into hate-filled places where personal attacks abound and negative talk rules. I'm not a moderator, but I'm glad this site has active moderation and appreciate the work they do.

As the original poster hasn't been back, perhaps they've realised moving to Bulgaria might not work for them. Or maybe they're working on finding solutions to the problems they'd face. Information will be more helpful than criticism.

@landroversalesEU

Not all of them, some of the less "robustly worded" ones have survived. :-)

I kinda agree with you, some of the moderation on here can be a little heavy-handed. On the other hand, some of your posts are a tad aggressive, and if you review them I don't think it's hard to see why folks objected to them. You might feel they're trampling all over your First Ammendment rights, but I imagine they just want to encourage a forum that's welcoming and supportive, rather than the reverse.

As to the poster, I agree with you that it doesn't sound easy for her and her family to escape the UK (with 3 autistic children whatever she does ain't easys). But it's certainly possible given that they have potential remote income (as opposed to low local salaries), and most of the pay-monthly deals sit within her budget.

@gwynj

Thanks. Yes you are right about potential remote income in GBP. I did not consider that ...

Hello everyone,

Please note that I have put aside some off-topic posts from this thread. I would like to remind members that we are on a mutual aid forum. Members should remain courteous while posting on the forum. Some of the already removed posts of this thread were really hurtful and humiliating.

Please be respectful of members if you decide to react to a post.

@amyellashay, could you please share your feedback in regards to information that have been provided and your relocation project ?

Regards

Bhavna

@gwynj Hi thank you for clarification, do you know a trusted notary, my state agent is trying to act as my notary but Im ot sure i should trust them they nice people

but i don't know them and I don't speak Bulgarian

im buying this property and we planning a meeting to sign the Notary deed but as the property is on a monthly basis with last payment due in March 2024 they agreed to exchange the notary deed in October 2023 when im planning to view under a condition that the deed will remain with the state agent till all payments are completed thats why i need an independent trusted party who would ensure all written is correct and can hold the deed till payments are completed if thats an option?it is all

confusing

@sandrakassem2

Notaries are state registered, so I think all/most of them are pretty reliable. And usually you go to a notary near the property you're buying.

It's quite common for the property agent to act on your behalf (with a POA or Power of Attorney) at the notary. But they are merely being your agent to sign the Notary Act (the deed) and (maybe) hand over the money. But still, you need to be confident that they are trustworthy.

I wouldn't personally trust my agent with large amounts of cash! :-) I'd either go to the notary myself (with the agent and/or a registered translator) and give the seller cash at the time of signing. Or, I'd pay the seller direct to his bank account prior to the transfer. BUT if you do it this way, you need a Promissory Contract beforehand (signed and notarized by both seller and buyer) that protects your funds in case the sale is not completed at the notary. I think this type of contract is typically something your attorney would do (or perhaps your agent).

The pay-monthly is another layer of complexity. When you sign at the notary, the seller is confirming that he has received full payment, and is transferring the property to you. So it would be unusual, I think, for a seller to sign the Notary Act without full payment, as then you would not pay any more! More typically, I reckon pay-monthlies are done more on the basis of a contract between buyer and seller, which obligates the seller to transfer the property (i.e. go to the notary and sign the Notary Act) AFTER they have received all your due payments.

If the seller signs the Notary Act now (with partial payment), then that suggests to me that your partial payment is actually the seller's full sales price... and any balance that you pay is going directly to your agent as their commission/profit/interest (and that's why they keep your Notary Act until you make your final payment).

Alternatively, perhaps you are not signing the Notary Act now, but a Promissory Contract, in which you give a large deposit, and the seller grants you until March 2024 to make certain additional payments, at which point they will go to the notary with you and sign the Notary Act. In this case, your agent can share the contract.

If you share who the agent is, perhaps it's a well-know pay-monthly outfit, and perhaps others here can confirm their bona fides. However, clearly, any seller can choose to allow a pay-monthly deal. The challenge is that this is a type of a transaction that requires honest parties, and one party has to trust the other to complete the "deal". Either the seller accepts partial payment now (and gives you the deed) and hopes you deliver the extra cash over the coming months. Or, you make a series of monthly payments, and you trust that one day in the future the seller will make the formal property transfer at the notary.

It might all be perfectly plausible, but I'm concerned that they haven't explained exactly what's going on so that you understand it properly... and I'm suspicious as to why a seller would be willing to make the transfer based on a partial payment.

(a) Try to get your agent to explain it all better, especially in terms of what contracts are being used. (b) Ask a property attorney if they can help with such a transaction, and if there's a way to protect you. (c) Consider pay-monthlies with one of the two best known agents in this category (Mowlem, BulgariaDirect).

Hopefully that explains the process, and clarifies the risk in pay-monthlies.

In addition, your pay-monthly period is very short! We're talking 4 or 5 months only. In which case, a less risky option is simply to come back in March and pay all the money in one go at the notary, either for this property, or another that you find when you have the cash in hand!

What your agent is suggesting doesn't sound quite the usual practice. As Gwyn said, the agent can't also be the notary for the sale. Notaries are state registered and there's a lot of law governing what they can and can't do. It's not impossible (but unlikely) that an agent could also be a notary, but I doubt it would be legal for them to act as the notary for a property they were selling.

The notary transfer needs three people - a notary, the seller, and the buyer, but you can authorise the agent to act for you in the sale by signing a power of attorney. Could that be what they mean for you to do on your trip there? If so, unless you trust them 100%, make sure it's a limited power of attorney, purely for them to act for you in the purchase of the property.

The agent has to prove to the notary that full payment has been made, so it seems unlikely to me that they'd do the notary transfer of ownership before you complete payments. If they did, then legally you own the house, they've declared they received full payment, and they'd have no way to make you pay the remaining balance.

I bought pay-monthly from Bulgaria Direct. We had a contract right from the start laying out the rights and responsibilities of both buyer and seller and the payment schedule. Then after I made the final payment we set up a date for the notary transfer of ownership. I could have set up a Power of Attorney authorising Bulgaria Direct to act for me, and they themselves suggested if I did making it a limited one, just for the sale. I wanted to go see the house, anyway, plus setting up a POA from the UK would have required a trip to London and it was just as easy to go to Bulgaria. The notary, an official translator, the owner of Bulgaria Direct as the legal seller of the property, and I were there for the transfer. The process was relatively straightforward.

As Gwyn suggested, get clarification of what they're suggesting. I suspect it probably is setting up a power of attorney rather than doing the actual transfer of ownership. This should be safe if it's a limited POA and you're working with a reputable agent. But if you have doubts about the process, why not make another trip out in March or April 2024 to do the notary transfer then?

There are also other things that need to be done after the notary transfer, like taking a form to the municipality for the council tax, which needs to be done within a month of the transfer of ownership. (The form is huge and all in Bulgarian, so I was extremely grateful that Dani, the admin at Bg Direct, helped me with that!). If you won't be there, you need to make sure the agent takes care of that for you.

@taggartlynn0211

Oh dear..what a mess..when you buy a house in BG..it will be  a wreck..it will cost a great deal to bring up to standard..no central heating..onset of winter.often minus 20.

Bg is not the answer to your prayers

Language will be a problem..and i believe schooling is compulsary..

Do your research ..visit before the snows come..for villages..where you want to live etc..funds..many benefits cannot be transferred..or will not increase..healthcare has to be paid for for everyone..no gas on most places

So its an electric cooker..or a wood stove for heating...of course this is the reality..but many have made it work..and with your husband a great DIY fan..should help with costs..supplies are expensive..if you drive..have a vehicle..it will be an asset.

I wish you all the best of luck..may your dreams come true..

@gwynj see i dint know they said the agent is going to keep the Notary feed till the full payment is completed

the state agency is Dana Property

the English speaking agent and his female boss who does not speak English his name is

Christos Papachristos and he speaks fluent Bulgarian although his name sounds Greek

the property is located in  Smolichano village,

what would be the best way to find Notary for Smolichano region.