The notary certifies.
Does not check.
Settled case law of the Supreme Court of Cassation (ВКС): the notary has no duty to obtain a certificate of encumbrances (удостоверение за тежести) or to notify the buyer of a registered mortgage. The notary does so only under a separate agreement.
Certification confirms the signatures and identity, not the history of the property. This is not a gap in the notary’s work but the scope of the office, and the difference is paid for by the buyer.
And the window can be measured: a certificate of encumbrances for a property is issued in three working days at the fastest, while an attachment (възбрана) is registered the same day. Three days are enough for something to appear after you have checked.
The check is against the documents, not of the documents
The notary establishes the identity of the parties, their legal capacity and any authority to represent, and checks from the documents presented whether the seller is the owner. The notary also requires a tax assessment (данъчна оценка) and a certificate that taxes have been paid.
What stays outside: unregistered claims, debts of the person that have not yet reached registration, and everything that happened between the date of the search and the hour of signing.
The bill for the day,
line by line.
The figures below are for a €115,000 deal in Varna. The tariffs are officially in BGN; the euro amounts are our own calculation at the fixed rate of 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN.
Local tax, Varna Municipality: €3,450. The rate is 3% under the municipal ordinance on local taxes (Наредба за местните данъци), raised from 2.6% in December 2019. The buyer pays it.
Our commission: €3,450, which is 3%. We list it here rather than in the small print, because a reader who looks for our price and cannot find it pins it on the nearest percentage.
Notary and registration: about €715. The scale of notary fees is in point 8 of the Tariff under the Notaries and Notarial Activity Act (ЗННД), and registration is 0.1%.
The tax side of the sale is a separate conversation: When you pay tax on selling a property, and when you don’t.
The fee doubles quietly
Under point 20 of the Tariff under the Notaries and Notarial Activity Act, drafting a notarial deed (нотариален акт) is charged the fee under point 8, the same as for the certification itself. If the notary writes the deed, two full fees are due.
On a €115,000 deal that is about €601 extra, for one day, because of one question nobody asks: who writes the deed.
Not a single online calculator shows this line, because none of them asks about it. ⚠️ The note to point 20, however, excludes the doubling for a circumstantial check (обстоятелствена проверка), so the rule is not universal.
Between the signature
and the registration.
Under Article 113 of the Property Act (Закон за собствеността), an unregistered deed cannot be asserted against third parties who earlier acquired and registered rights to the same property. So protection comes with registration, not with the signature.
In this gap the seller is no longer the owner, and the buyer is not yet registered. That is usually where the money sits too.
An escrow account (доверителна сметка) costs between €50 and €250, which is under 8% of the local tax on the same deal. Most deals go ahead without one because nobody offers it, not because it is expensive.
The deal does not fall through. One document does.
A missing up-to-date tax assessment, an unpaid debt on the property’s account (партида), an absent spouse, an expired certificate. Each is minor on its own, and each one stops the day.
The notary has no way of obtaining them on the spot on the parties’ behalf. That is why the day is prepared a week in advance, not that morning, and it is prepared as early as the preliminary contract (предварителен договор): The deposit is paid. Then the problem appears.
Frequently asked questions
Is the notary obliged to check the property for encumbrances?
No. Settled case law of the Supreme Court of Cassation holds that the notary has no duty to obtain a certificate of encumbrances or to notify the parties of a registered mortgage. The notary checks from the documents presented whether the seller is the owner. A full check is made only under an additional agreement under Article 22 of the Notaries and Notarial Activity Act, for a separate fee.
How much is the local tax on acquiring a property in Varna?
3% of the higher of the agreed price and the tax assessment. The rate is set in the Ordinance on Local Taxes of Varna Municipality and was raised from 2.6% in December 2019. On a €115,000 deal the tax is €3,450 and is owed by the buyer.
Why does the notary fee sometimes come out double?
Because under point 20 of the Tariff under the Notaries and Notarial Activity Act, drafting a notarial deed is charged the fee under point 8, the same as for the certification. If the notary writes the deed, two full fees are due. On a €115,000 deal that is about €601 extra.
When is the deal protected, at signing or at registration?
At registration. Under Article 113 of the Property Act, an unregistered deed cannot be asserted against third parties who earlier acquired and registered rights to the same property. There is an interval between signing and registration, and that is exactly what the escrow account covers.
Three questions that are worth the most for the least effort
Who drafts the deed. When the encumbrance search was issued. Where the money sits between signing and registration. Each of the three takes one message to ask, and together they decide a difference of several hundred euros and several weeks.
What the state does not check for you remains yours. Send us the date and the price of the deal, and we send back the full bill for the day, line by line, marking which line is yours and which belongs to the other side.
This material is not legal advice. A specific deal should be checked by a lawyer.
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