Lawyer's advice

Some media reactions on the Property rip off by Bulgarian Dreams

Milen Hristov — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:56:05 +0000

Last Tuesday one of the most respected Bulgarian business newspapers Capital, published an article about the Bulgarian Dreams rip off. The articles is only in Bulgarian and you can find it here. A basic translation done by Google Translate can be read HERE

Edit: I now see that “The Sofia Echo” has translated the articles from Capital newspaper into proper English. You can read it here

Echo of the Bulgarian property crisis

Milen Hristov — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:22:54 +0000

Yesterday I found an article in the Independent newspaper talking about how Irish are blaming the property journalists for misleading the investors for investment locations like Bulgaria. Indeed, I’m sure that there were a lot of paid publications (Articles) which presented Bulgarian properties as quick and easy investment return. However I hink most of the negative influence was made by the UK and Irish estate agents. Pursuing quick middle-man fees, they have convinced thousands of investors to put their money into something that was not quite right. On the other hand, very few investors, have made the mandatory due diligence of what they actually buy.

In my practice I see a lot of Irish and British property investors mislead by their UK/Irish estate agents. The investors we let to think that the investment return will be within couple of years, which is not right. But how come all that property investors made the same mistake again? Have they forgotten the Span property rush? This is a question each investor need to ask themselves. Also, most of the developers who lied to the investors are actually British and Irish. I’m sure that they left Span to do the same thing in Bulgaria, and mislead the same investors again.

Liquidation of company in Varna

Milen Hristov — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:53:07 +0000

There are many disappointed UK investors in Bulgaria. Some of them are leaving the country and want to sell their investment and recover at least some of the money they have put in property or business. The problems each foreigner is facing are:

How to sell the property at a decent price so that at least 70% of the investment is recovered and
What will happen to the Bulgarian company

As the first problem is connected mainly to the market demand, the second problem can be resolved with a help of a lawyer. Usually when you sell you property the company is becoming dormant and you are not trading anymore. IF you intend to leave the country for ever it will be not so good idea to leave a company with your name in it. Sooner or later the National Revenue Agency might want to make an inspection and will find out that you haven’t submitted annual tax declarations. This will be quite suspicious so your company will be marked as one to be surveyed. The tax and financial information in the EU is quite easy transferable. It might turnout that you will be charged with the Bulgarian fine in UK, which is quite unpleasant experience for your UK tax record.

The solution to get rid of the Bulgarian company is to close it by liquidation. The liquidation process takes about 6 months, having in mind that the company has no public or other debts. A liquidator has to be appointed who will take care of the whole process, prepare and submit the necessary documents, so your company will be removed from the Companies register of Bulgaria. Since I am professional liquidator I take care of all the procedures and have your company closed as smooth as it should be. No stress, no problems for you. I am also a registered liquidator with the Registry Agency of Bulgaria. My office is based in Varna so should you have a company registered in Black sea region, do not hesitate to contact me.

The mass liquidation of companies in Bulgaria

Milen Hristov — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:43:35 +0000

The mid year passed and the deadline for re-registration all Bulgarian companies is fast approaching. January 2011 will become nightmare for company owners who haven’t reregistered. Their companies will be forced into liquidation by the court and the all company assets will be sold on public tenders. Moreover, the court will appoint a liquidator and the company owner will have to pay their monthly salary. IF the company assets are not enough, the company owners will be liable for both company debts and for liquidator’s salary.

Therefore we strongly urge all foreigners who still haven’t reregistered their company to do it as early as possible.

Company registration getting slower

Milen Hristov — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:01:32 +0000

I just wanted to update all who are still to register/re-register their companies. The Commercial Register now is 18 days behind the normal deadline for application processing. As the end of the year comes closer, the company registration will take longer. The solution would be that the Commercial Register to hire more people to process the applications.

British expats in Varna will benefit MHLegal solicitor services

Milen Hristov — Mon, 31 May 2010 07:42:53 +0000

As of 15 June 2010, Varna will benefit from the legal services of solicitor Milen Hristov. The Varna office will be fully operational then. All English speaking clients who need solicitor help regarding company registration,property purchase/sell, visa issues etc. See more details how to find the Varna solicitor office here

Registration of companies: Commercial register overloaded

Milen Hristov — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:12:58 +0000

The registration, re-registration and changes in the files of the companies is delaying again. The reason is that the Commercial register receives more applications than they can handle. The result is one and a half weeks delay in processing the applications. This is valid for all type of applications, no matter if they are for registration, re-registration of companies or just application for filing changes to the companies files. I wonder what will happen in the end of year 2010, when thousands of companies will file their applications at once. The Commercial register will suffer a lot and most probably the business will suffer too. that’s why they need to change their management and hire more employees who will process the applications and the documents. The lawyers will need to explain the situation to their clients, as the deadline for re-registration is coming and this issue will arise.

MHLegal is opening branch office in Varna

Milen Hristov — Sat, 15 May 2010 10:19:44 +0000

We are pleased to announce that as of June 2010, MHlegal will have an office in Varna, Bulgaria. This will ensure easier access to our legal services for the clients residing in Varna and the area around Varna. The contacts will be announced at the day of the official opening.

Court case against Bulgarian developer won by MHLegal

Milen Hristov — Wed, 05 May 2010 07:45:52 +0000

Our law office has initiated more than 10 similar cases against Bulgarian developers. The cases are at different stages and proceed with different speed, depending on the court workload. However last week we got the first court resolution. The court awarded our British client with the amount of EUR 35,000 plus expenses, penalty and interest on the awarded amount.

Another client of ours also claimed his money back (almost 80,000 pounds) and we were at the middle of the court proceedings, when the defendant -developer- agreed to reimburse our client with a finished house at the Black Sea coast (act 16 included). The current market price of the house is estimated to be around 80,000-85,000 pounds)

In both cases above, the clients claimed their money back due to a huge delay in the construction of the purchased off-plan property. If you have similar case, we can help you get your money back. You can contact our law office at the following email address: milen@mhlegal.eu . Just outline your case and provide scanned copies of the relevant documentation.

If you want to know more about the court case process, please read this article

Processing of company re-registration documents

Milen Hristov — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:18:43 +0000

As the deadline for re-registration approaches, the Commercial Register is likely to suffer by greater workload. Still thousands of companies haven’t been re-registered. If they apply in the end of the year it’s likely the clerks in the Register to delay the processing of the documents. Even more, now the company documents are processed for about a week. This is to show that more employees are needed in the Commercial Register administration.