Thats 2 so far then! I know what you mean about bookings, though the way I see it, over the next few years with building work and competition I could see bookings being few and far between whatever and a fluke as to what may be the best. So you may as well be with someone who is at least charging less management fees and is easier to liaise and deal with. I heard someone had been sent a management/lettings contract from Lakon but i have not been sent anything.

hi there. Now that the New Inn will not be finished on time (31 May) has anyone asked Lakon about the 0.1% per day penalty payments as per their own contract? When do they pay us????

Had the same issue with Archadia over the Monastery being late. I got no compensation whatsoever, only the full price on the Notary. We really pushed them (2 hour meeting in their office with our lawyer, threats to expose them in UK press etc), but their position was if you don't like it you can have your money back. As I had already furnished the place and 'it had gone up 30%' it wasn't really an option. If you go to court it can take 2 years to resolve and be very costly. BanskoBoy

Hi Bansko. That's incredible. It's a clause in their own contract which they wrote. I don't see how they can avoid payment as it was their idea! Could you just not have witheld it from the final payment? What was your lawyers opinion on all this?

Bansko - another question. In your 2 hours of negotiation did you determine what the wording of the contract actually means? My contract states that the Seller will pay the buyer 0.1% of the value of unfulfillment for each day of delay up to a maximum of 10%. What the hell does the "value of unfulfillment" mean? Is it 0.1% of the price already paid or 0.1% of the total cost or 0.1% of the balance owing or 0.1% of something else?

new inn
so whats the general consenus then? do we go with the lakon furniture pack etc and rental contract (when published?!!) or do we look at the likes of alexander/bower etc??? cheers guys! :?:

Hi John C, Do not go with Lakon for anything as you can get the Furniture package and Property management cheaper elsewhere, and you will also get a far better service as well. Banskowolf 8)

I just cant decide! The most important factor is who will provide the most rentals. Saving a thousand euros on the furniture or 10% on the management fee is not much help if the apartment is then empty for most of the winter! I am tending to lean towards the idea that the biggest company would probably generate the most bookings, as from my experience in the travel industry tour operators much prefer to deal with larger companies who can offer them a large number of beds. 'Cos the travel game operates on small margins then it is all about the numbers. So this would lead to the conclusion that Lakon might be best. They are also targeting the Bulgarian and Russian markets rather than the British. I think that is a good idea. They should know these markets quite well and I think that, particularly for Summer rentals, then that is the way to go. They have also given me an approximation of an income of €3000 per year for my studio which I would be very happy with. Comments please.....

Having spoken to my agent - yes I know he's hardly independent but I trust him and he knows that I know where he lives!!! - I have decided to go with Lakon for furniture and rentals mainly for the reasons in my last post. If we use different companies maybe this time next year we can all say how much we have been paid and choose the best one then!

This is really scaring me even though I am just at the beginning of the buying process . What can you do to make sure the full price is put on the deeds and why should this cost you money ? Is it tax evasion that could be reported to the Bulgarian authorities or as i was told by the developers " that is the way it is done in Bulgaria". I agree with the previous posters that effectively this is fraud but what can I do about it ?

mistralcustom - the price which is usually put on the deeds is the local tax evaluation which is set by the bulgarian municipal tax office. So it can't be tax evasion as it is set by the tax office. It costs more because the VAT you pay is based on this so if for some reason you want the full price on the deeds you pay a lot more VAT. Its a bit like when our property had a ratable value which is what you paid your local taxes on. Nobody in their right mind in England would have insisted on the rateable value being the same as they had actually paid for their house, otherwise they would have been paying a load more tax which they did not need to pay. But, inexplicably, lots of Brits buying in Bulgaria seem dead set on paying lots of extra tax which they do not need to pay. Strange, but true.

Tax valuation is not set by tax office, each development will have several tax evaluations based on how well the buyers have negotiated. I saw this with my own eyes at our developers, spreadsheet with a few like me who had full price, with many at much lower prices. A lower notary price is fraud, it allows the developer to avoid paying tax, period. Why do you think you are being asked to make payments to Hungary etc.! The reason people insist on the full price being put on the Notary can be explained with the following example: You buy a place for 60K euro but they only put 30K on the Notary act. You come to sell it in 3 years time for 90K, Bulgaria is in the EU and/or your buyer insists that the full price is put on the Notary act. Now according to the records you have made a profit of 60K, not 30K. So you now have to pay the tax on this to the Bulgarian authorities and/ or Gordon Brown. I think it is about 20% tax rate so 60 * 20% = 12K. This is 6K more than you should have paid (30 * 20% = 6K) Effectively you are paying 6K of tax the developer should have paid. There are extensive threads on here which have much more detail. BanskoBoy

Now that its clear the New Inn is finishing later than scheduled, is anyone pursuing the issue of compensation for this? Has anyone had any other updates on prospected completion or what they have done about furniture or lettings? Thanks

New Inn
I have just e-mailed my solicitor to ask her the question about compensation for late delivery. They wrote it in their contract so I can't see how they can not pay it, unless Bulgarians really don't do business in the same way as we do and the question then is can you really trust them? Reading earlier posts on this I am not very confident of getting any payment. I have received the furniture contract from Lakon and the payment is now due. Typical that I now need more Euros when the pound has just dropped to a one year low against the euro! I just seem to lose out all the time!

I'd be interested to hear what your solicitor says about the compensation if you could let us know. I haven't bothered pushing it with my solicitor as if its just a month or two over its probably hardly worth the hassle as I'm sure the developer will try to get out of it. I get the impression from the times I have mentioned it though my solicitor isn't too keen on pursuing it. I am paying them a fixed amount for their work so they will not get any extra money from it so I'm guessing they're not too keen to spend to time pursuing it unless I push them to.