Owner of property

@emmajayne1974

If you're paying taxes it should be all yours, otherwise I can check for you if you pm some details

Hi I've only paid council taxes no company taxes as I'm not sure if I am meant to.

I just get a yearly bill from the estate agents we bought through with the council tax bill and we pay it.

But it would be fantastic if you could check if you let me know what info you need and I will let you know. Thank you

@emmajayne1974

Sure, just send any document/notary deeds

@emmajayne1974

Unless you legally transferred ownership of the property to someone else, chances are you still own it. Though there is a right of adverse possession where if someone else uses the property for ten years they can claim it.

@emmajayne1974

Hi again

See if you message or even phone mowlem they will be able to update you direct on your situation .

Taxes and company information as well .

My friend purchased through mowlem  and all done recently ,I contacted Ivan at mowlem and he organised friends paperwork to be sent to myself for safe keeping .

I do live in Bulgaria so we no problem doing this

Dave

@janemulberry

Well, that's not entirely true, besides such cases are easily argued over and property can be claimed back.

@emmajayne1974

You swapped it for a static, and forgot about it for 14 years, so I think it's clear that you were happy to give it away. However, if you still get property tax bills, and your friend never did any kind of ownership transfer, then it sounds like it might well still be in your name. Which means it could be an unexpected early Christmas bonus. :-)

At that time, Bulgaria was already in the EU, so I'd guess you purchased in your personal name (not a company)? And you still have a copy of your original Notary Act (deed)?

We're all nosey neighbours on here, so can you share which village it's in? :-)

I'm quite surprised an estate agent is still having anything to do with it after all this time! I'm curious why, as usually they grab their commission, and you never see them again. :-) What is the actual bill that they're sending you? Did you give them a POA (Power of Attorney) to do something for you, way back when? If you did, then the POA would let them talk to the council about the property, and the POA wouldn't work if someone else owned the property. If you didn't give them a POA, then I doubt they could get a property tax bill for you.

It should be easy to get an attorney to check if you still own it. Or you could visit the notary where the deed was originally registered/signed.

I would also suggest that it's worth visiting the property to see what condition it's in, and whether you can get access. I'd also check out the general state of the village. Separately, as property prices have gone up hugely in 14 years, I'd have a quick search on a big property site just to see what similar village houses (if you remember what it was like) are going for in this area.

If your friend looked after it for all these years, and it's in good nick, then it might be worth a few quid, and worth sorting it out.

Good luck!

It's unlikely, for sure. Though it did happen to a forum member who hadn't been back to the house in over ten years.

Hopefully not in this case. Is paying property taxes enough to assert ownership of a property? (Asking for myself as we have a separate piece of land in the same village as our main house.)

@emmajayne1974

Ah... I just spotted your other post saying your purchased from Mowlem. This is Paul Hawtin, and he's an OK lad, and he's still alive and kicking (and sending you property tax bills).

I suggest you just get straight on the blower to him and ask him what he knows about your gaff, and whether he's been to look at it recently.

He has a website (mowlem dot eu and bulgarianoverseasproperty dot com), but he has many listings on RightMove (overseas, Bulgaria). You can find his phone numbers on the Mowlem site and on his RightMove listings.

So, actually, I reckon you can get all the necessary info within the hour. :-)

Thank you everyone the property is in

valchtran bulgaria

we had to open a company. I have had a lovely member who checked for me and apparently it is still in our name.

Thanks

Great news!

Sorry that you got the property back in sad circumstances, good that you didn't lose the property as well as an old friend.

@emmajayne1974

Great news ,congratulations.you can now get it checked out and maybe all will be good for you .

Amazing all these years have gone by to .

@emmajayne1974

Is it this post code and spelling .

If is not to far from our village .

5890 Valchitran.

Dave

@wescoast

Hey I'm not sure on the postcode I am still trying to find all the paperwork, I have my deeds but as its in Bulgarian I am unsure on where the address is. I know where it is physically.

But I need to go out because if the person who I swapped with has left it to someone else in their family I clearly would not claim it back but if it has been left doing nothing then I will take back.

I've just got to come over at some point. As I don't know anyone in the area who can check.

But if it is all good it will be very exciting to get it all done up and spend some time over there 😁

@emmajayne1974

If you take a picture google translate it from Bulgaria to English you can read all the details on deed no problem .

Will give your address of property on it

Dave

If your phone camera won't do that (mine won't) download the Google Lens app. Super useful!

@janemulberry

I will do this to ,translate is not the best but can get by with it .

So going to download it now

Thanks for info

Dave

@wescoast

Hi I tried to translate the title deed but fir dome reason I couldn't get it to translate.

Valchitran is pretty close to the route of the fabled A2 motorway, so it will (eventually) be very convenient for Sofia and Varna.

@emmajayne1974

Yes not easy to get good photo sometimes.

Did you use Google translate and take picture with camera on translate app .

@gwynj Hi Gwyn, is there somewhere I can find a map of the proposed route of the new road? Tia.

@ButterMyPaws19

Try here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemus_motorway