SOFIA ECHO
Feb
2007
The Irish airline Ryanair may start flying
to Bulgaria, as part of a diversification drive which will involve the
launching of flights to other Eastern European countries, including
Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Serbia-Montenegro, Ryanair chief
executive Michael O'Leary said on March 6
16.12.06
Irish low cost airline
Ryanair is preparing to launch
flights to Bulgaria's second largest city of Plovdiv, according to local
press reports. The airline will connect the southern Bulgarian city with
airports in the UK, Spain and Germany, which have the densest Bulgarian
emigrant populations in Europe.
Currently Ryanair
operates 12 European hubs, but it plans to launch another ten new hubs
over the next seven years. Sofia Airport is also negotiating with
Ryanair, as well as with no-frills rival easyJet, according to local
press reports.
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Property Law to be brought in accordance with the amendments to
the Constitution
02 November 2006
The
government adopted proposals for changes to the Law on Property
Ownership related to the amendments to Art. 22 of the Constitution of
Bulgaria. The new amendments stipulate that foreigners and foreign legal
entities can buy land if they satisfy the conditions arising from the
country’s accession to the EU, or pursuant to an international treaty
that has been ratified, promulgated and come into force, or through
inheritance. This ordinance aligned the Constitution with the
Community’s rules in the field of free movement of capital.
The right of citizens and legal entities of EU member states and the
parties to the Agreement on European Economic Area to acquire land
ownership springs from the conditions laid down in the Treaty of
Accession where different transitional periods have been stipulated: 7
years for acquiring agricultural and forest land, and 5 years for
acquiring land for a second dwelling for citizens who do not reside in
Bulgaria. In line with the Treaty of Accession, self-employed farmers
who are citizens of EU member states will be able to acquire
agricultural and forest land for usage as of the accession date.
The amendments to the Constitution force amendments to another four
laws related to forestry, protected areas, ownership and usage of
agricultural land and the restitution of forest lands.
LOW-COST AIRLINES PLAN
FLIGHTS TO BULGARIA
13:00 Wed 11 Oct 2006
A number of low-cost air
companies would start operating on Bulgaria’s market in a few months,
Dnevnik daily reported.
Four low-cost companies
had already declared their intention to start flying to Bulgaria after
January 1 2007 when the country joins the EU and the aviation market
will be liberalised.
Italian Myair announced
on October 10 that it would fly from Sofia to Bologne, Italian news
agency ANSA said, as quoted by Dnevnik. Ireland’s Ryanair, the UK’s
Easy Jet and Germany’s German Wings already presented a flight
schedule to Sofia airport, Dnevnik said. A number of air companies
have applied to fly to Bulgaria’s Bourgas airport.
Low-cost companies’
access to Bulgaria was stopped in the past few years in a bid to
strengthen Bulgaria’s national flag carrier Bulgaria Air.
Currently only two
low-cost companies fly to Bulgaria, Dnevnik said. Their shortcomings
were that they landed at remote airports and the flight times were
inconvenient, according to Dnevnik.
Bulgaria’s aviation
market was becoming more attractive to air companies, Dnevnik said.
Its earnings were 400 to 500 million euro a year
The Observer
12th Sept 2004
Bulgaria is the new hotspot for
prospective holiday home buyers who can't afford the inflated prices of
Spain, France and Italy.
A Black Sea beauty
Sozopol is the start point of the most
beautiful stretch of Bulgaria's southern Black Sea coast and has already
caught the eye of the travel press. Flanked by two bays with good beaches
on either side, the old town's cobbled streets are crammed with bars and
restaurants. Drive south to discover deserted beaches and cute little
villages for pit-stop lunches. When you reach Sinemorets, you'll find this
is where the movers and shakers of Sofia hang out.
Who goes there? Ralph Fiennes, Brad Pitt,
Angelina Jolie and Goldfrapp
Bulgaria's current and future golf development projects
From a website .......
Furthermore, a tourism complex worth EUR 10 million is to be built near
the popular Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Primorsko. The mayor of
Primorsko is Dimitar Dimitrov, who announced the deal in the beginning of
March 2004. In the compound, along the Ropotamo River, there will be a
golf course stretching over some 800 acres. French investors who designed
the complex are also planning to build a hotel, golf academy and a number
of boutiques, restaurants and nightclubs. The hotel should be able to
provide accommodation for 1,000 people.
Property
Registration For Foreigners
The owners should register
within 7 days after the purchase
The purchase of real estate by foreign citizens in Bulgaria raises a new
obligation at least for those who buy directly without registering a
Bulgarian company. They should make a BULSTAT registration within 7-days
after the deal in the Registry Agency (RA). This obligation proceeds from
the new BULSTAT Register Act that comes into force in 11/08/2005.
BULSTAT registration should be required for property owners who are:
• Foreign legal entities that do not have such a registration – they are
not registered according to the Commercial Act or Bulgarian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry;
• Foreign individuals who are not permanent residents of the country.
The registration will be taking place in the Registration Agency (RA) to
the Ministry of Justice. The entry into the BULSTAT list should happen
within 7 days after the property purchase. The term starts form the day in
which the owner receives his/her deed. Registration Agency advises buyers
to require from the notary to give them the deed and not to delay it
without a reason. The registration fee is BGN 15. The legislator’s
presumption to require such a BULSTAT registration is that the foreign
entities that are not permanent residents could not be identified.
According to the law, they are obliged to declare to the tax office that
they own a property on the territory of the country. The availability of a
BULSTAT code will allow the country to determine more easily the entities
liable to taxation, explain from RA. Foreign entities that already possess
properties in the country do not have the obligation to register. It will
be done by the respective institutions. RA will be obliged to find the
foreign owners in the Property Register and register them formally. After
that, the foreign property owners will be invited to receive their
registration card and to pay the due fee for the service. The announcement
will take place with official letters to the addressees, pointed in the
registers. The individuals with double citizenship – Bulgarian and foreign
– who are owners of real estate property, are not obliged to make a
BULSTAT registration. It is recommended the intermediary real estate
companies and the notaries to inform their overseas clients for their new
obligation.
If the registration is not performed in the
required term, the law foresees a penalty up to BGN 700 for individuals
and up to BGN 1000 for the legal entities.
Parking
You really know when the summer season has finally
arrived in Sozopol …. The car lifters (spiders) have arrived. This year
there are two and they lift a car every 20 minutes. They work 18 hours,
seven days a week and charge driver 35lev (17e) for recovery. Quite a
lucrative business!
To add insult to injury there are no clear road
markings and the signs can be misleading. The result of this confusion
leaves drivers totally at a loss as to whether they are legally parked or
not. The spiders cannot keep up with the drivers who constantly park in
the wrong place. Even the locals have no idea and get very, very annoyed.
In Chernomoritz, 6 miles north of Sozopol, they have
introduced yellow lines. This must be the only town in Bulgaria with
yellow lines and they are totally meaningless to Bulgarians unless they
have been abroad, specifically to the UK. More chaos
Everything you need to know about Land
During a recent visit to another agency, and after being shown a great deal of land for sale, the agent recommended we visit Pomorie town hall to see the plan for the area. He had not been himself, but had heard that they had useful information. We went to the town hall and were told that the council chambers were open to the general public from 3 to 5 in the afternoon and that there were official maps and council staff on hand to answer any questions. To our amazement on entering the council chambers we saw very detailed maps of the whole of the Pomorie area. The maps were colour coded and very easy to understand. A member of staff explained how the plan would evolve and told us that when these draft maps were approved in one or two months all land in regulation and ear-marked for regulation, as shown on the map, would remain so for the foreseeable future. All land not in regulation, agricultural and forestry land would remain so classified and would not obtain permission to change status for the foreseeable future.
At a stroke most of the land we had viewed with the agent now had little or no value as it would, according to the map, remain unregulated without any possibility of change of status for the foreseeable future. The agent had been extolling the beauty of land and quoting prices, which now bore no relation to the municipal plan for the area.
The council staff said we were welcome to visit any time we liked and invited us to take pictures of the map so we could print out our own.
A Bulgarian friend who was with us became very concerned about what such transparent behaviour would have on the real estate market. Everybody would know what the value and status of land for sale would be. Foreigners would no longer buy land in the middle of nowhere for silly money with no prospect of being able to build on it. In short, the whole business would become totally transparent with no possibility of clever tricks any more. However several days later our friend became more reconciled as he discovered that some councils hid their plans and showed the information only to the privileged few. We can only assume that this lack of transparency is linked to graft of one kind or another. Cosy relationships between big developers and the local council officials with lots of money changing hands under the table was the status quo. This was the business situation our friend preferred as it gave the possibility of making some real money.
The lesson we have learned from this is that if you cannot get sight of the council map or can be told by a council official what the status of land is and will be, don’t under any circumstances buy it. Also be very careful about the municipalities that refuse to divulge this type of information. We can only believe that this sort of practise will be stamped out as the EU acts on complaints. In the meantime some councils will embrace true open government whilst other cling to the old corrupt ways of the communist past.
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