Payment for a property in Bulgaria
shall be performed through the bank
only

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Payment for a property in Bulgaria shall be performed through the bank only
At transactions a Declaration of Conformity is to be completed
Since the summer of 2010 payments on transactions for all kinds of properties in Bulgaria will be carried out through bank transfers only, reports the ‘Monitor’ newspaper, quoting the Chairman of the Law Commission, Iskra Fidosova. This bank payment obligation was supposed to enter into force on January 1st, but the adoption of the Act was postponed for the summer of 2010, as the Bulgarian Parliament did not manage to adopt the Act on notary public activities whereby cash payments for real estate transactions is to be prohibited. The purpose of the new draft act is to indicate in the Title Deed the market value of the house or of the flat. So far, most notaries would formally indicate in the Title Deed the tax value of the property – i.e. the minimum amount permitted by law, and accordingly stated by the seller. Thus, the sellers would pay the state and the local authorities much less taxes for the sale of their properties. The new act binds the seller and the buyer to submit a declaration to attest that the sum specified in the Title Deed corresponds to the one actually received by the seller.