Ivan Vasilev

Buying an apartment in Sofia, Bulgaria – Part 4

Part 4 – AfterBuy

If you already you read in the last part of the Buying an apartment in Sofia – Odyssey it is very hard task to buy the perfect apartment in Sofia if not nearly impossible.

“Easy to say, hard to Do”

Accordingly to what you bought the so called AfterBuy process can vary alot:

Not build yet
“Act 16”, so we call the document that determines, if the building is ready to be used

Cheapest ones may end up the most expensive ones. Actually at this moment in time the prises per square meter are almost the same as the already built properties. But if you have choosen this option prepare yourself for 2 to 3 years of waiting(if everything goes by plan).

The Building is ready!

After that the building should have “Act 16”. Normally in Bulgaria you receive the apartment on so called laster and putty. At this stage of the project you will need from the workman. Where to find them and how to talk to them may be an entire discipline at the university. I would say:

Working with workmen and builders in Bulgaria is task that sometimes can be more difficult studying astrophysics at MIT.

They are artisans: come whenever they want, work however they want, there are no deadlines for them, because you are vulnerable and the know, that you can not proceed without them. At some point of Bulgarian history having some work with builders became mythology. There are movies, legends, stories, songs about them.

So prepare yourself for delays, misunderstandings, problems and a lot of long nights thinking and redoing the work on your project.

Finally done, or already done

You are almost there. There are only few thing left and you will be free to say that you are proud owner of an apartment in Sofia:

  • Change the ownership of the property in the municipality
  • Transfer the electricity, water and internet bills

If you start with unbuild apartment be prepared for 3 to 5 years waiting time. If you need urgent place to live this is not the best choice for you. Much better is to buy finished apartment, where you can just move in. You will save a lot of money, time and problems.

Congratulations, you did it!

Most probably I did’t mention some aspects, but fell free to comment on all 4 parts of the process of buying and owning a property in Sofia.

Category: Blog, Business, Dream home, Houses and apartments, Lifestyle

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.