You do not buy a parking space.
You buy one of four things.
A garage is a thing in law. A parking space, as a rule, is not. The difference was chosen by the developer in the investment project years ago, and it does not show in the listing.
Two listings, and both say “with parking space”. One sells an undivided share of a land plot. The other sells an appurtenance that cannot leave the apartment. A third, in the building next door, sells something the buyer has no right to buy unless they own a unit inside.
The difference is not in the price and not in the description. It is in one line of the investment project, adopted years ago, which the buyer does not see and had no part in choosing.
They look the same. They lead to four different results.
The buyer reads “parking space No. 12” and assumes they are acquiring parking space No. 12. What is actually transferred is one of the following.
1. An undivided share of the land plot (идеална част), matching the area, plus an allocated use of a specific space. The buyer is a co-owner of the yard and has the right to park in it. The right to that exact space comes from the allocation, not from the deed.
2. An undivided share of the parking garage as an individual unit in the building (Art. 37(4), item 1 of the Spatial Development Act, ЗУТ), plus an allocated use. The cleanest of the four structures.
3. An appurtenance (принадлежност) to the apartment (Art. 37(4), item 3 of the Spatial Development Act). Under Art. 98 of the Property Act (ЗС), an appurtenance follows the principal thing unless otherwise provided or agreed. The parking space does not exist legally without the apartment and cannot leave it.
4. A contractual right only: a lease or an unnamed contract for guaranteed access. Here there is no ownership at all, and the property is not entered in the property register.
Why the space itself cannot be a thing in law: Art. 110 of the Property Act lists land, buildings and whatever is permanently attached, and the definition of a unit in § 5, item 39 of the additional provisions of the Spatial Development Act requires, cumulatively, a name, a location, a separate purpose and an identifier under the Cadastre and Property Register Act (ЗКИР). An outline in paint has none of these. On undivided shares as a quantity: what a percentage means and why it is not floor area.
Notarial practice adds a declaration that the buyer is aware of and agrees to the allocation of use (разпределение на ползването). It is evidence of consent, not a guarantee in rem.
It decided this long ago,
and it decided the same way.
Property forums keep repeating that case law is contradictory and every court decides differently. That is not so. The settled case law of the Supreme Court of Cassation (ВКС) has been consistent for more than fifteen years, and there is no interpretative decision, nor has one been needed, because the panels do not disagree with each other.
It holds that a parking space, unless built as a garage, is not a separate object of the right of ownership, and a transaction treating it as a separate property is void for impossible subject matter. The most quoted wording defines it as an undelimited and non-independent physical part of a plot, a building or a separate unit in it.
The same line of case law accepts conversion: a contract transferring a physical part, which cannot take effect, is converted into a contract for the sale of an undivided share of the whole unit. It also accepts that the allocation of use binds the next acquirer too, including when it is informal, through consent to what was proposed in the architectural designs.
Conversion is a safety net, not a guarantee. It works only when there is an existing individual unit from which an undivided share can be carved out. Once the parking is declared a common part, there is nothing to carve it from.
The allocation, for its part, is contractual, not a right in rem: the buyer gets a right against specific persons, not power over a thing. Protection is through the courts, not an entry in the property register that anyone can see before the transaction.
And one more point that is often missed: 2015 changed less than is claimed. Art. 37(4) of the Spatial Development Act legalised the parking garage as an individual unit. It did not legalise the individual parking space. That is why case law from 2018 sounds like case law from 2009.
The question that kills more deals than the price
The answer depends entirely on the configuration. An undivided share of the land: anyone can buy, including a person with nothing in the building, and they acquire co-ownership. An undivided share of a parking garage with the status of an individual unit: anyone can buy.
Parking as a common part (Art. 37(4), item 2 of the Spatial Development Act): an outsider cannot buy. Art. 38(3) of the Property Act is categorical that common parts cannot be divided, and an undivided share of them is not acquired on its own. The buyer must own an individual unit in the building. Appurtenance: transferred only together with the apartment.
The practical consequence is worth saying out loud: the same parking space is freely tradable in one building and unsellable to an outside buyer in the building next door. The difference is one line in an investment project from years ago, and it does not show in the listing.
The reverse direction is just as serious. A buyer of an apartment assumes the parking space goes with it, when in fact it was transferred separately before the deal, because in that building the parking is an individual unit.
A garage has none of these restrictions. It is a structure with enclosing walls and a roof, has its own identifier under the Cadastre and Property Register Act, and can be bought by anyone, including a person who lives kilometres away.
The place where
specialists do not agree.
The moderate position found in notarial and legal practice: when the parking space is an undivided share of an individual unit, a mortgage on that undivided share is permissible. Banks, however, treat undivided shares as weaker collateral. An undivided share has no physical boundaries, cannot be used or let on its own, and in enforcement at a public sale an abstract percentage is offered, not a specific space. The result is a lower financing percentage, more expensive terms or a refusal.
The radical doctrinal position (lawyer Martin Petrov, Trud i Pravo publishing house) goes further: since a parking space is not a thing in law, no rights in rem arise over it, so a mortgage created on it is void and the creditor is left with only a contractual claim. The same author holds that a tax assessment is issued for a whole building or a separate unit in it, but not for an individual parking space.
The two positions are not averaged out here, and the second is not presented as established law. The point is a different one: even specialists do not agree on what the buyer is holding.
The scenario that costs money looks like this. A buyer with a mortgage approved in principle signs a preliminary contract (предварителен договор) for an apartment plus a parking space. At the valuation stage the bank finds that the parking space is an undivided share with no separate diagram and no separate tax assessment (данъчна оценка). There are three outcomes: the bank finances only the apartment and the buyer covers the rest from their own funds, the bank lowers the valuation of the whole collateral, or the deal falls through. The deposit is kept or returned under clauses that almost nobody reads before signing. What is checked in advance: Checking a property before you buy.
The markings have not been painted yet
Art. 181 of the Spatial Development Act: the building right (право на строеж) can be the subject of a transfer until the building is completed at the rough construction stage (груб строеж), and after that the subject can be the completed building or individual parts of it. Read literally, a parking space that is not an individual unit is not such a part. So before completion the subject is a building right, and after completion it is an undivided share of the unit that has come into existence. Art. 23 of the Cadastre and Property Register Act confirms the direction: a building at the rough construction stage is an object of the cadastre when it contains an individual unit.
On top of that comes the physical risk. The markings do not exist yet and will appear according to the design, after the finishing works. Between what was promised and what was built there is room for a discrepancy that cannot be seen at signing and only becomes visible when the lines are painted.
The width of the column, the turning radius and the position of the service shaft are not in the preliminary contract. When a building is at the rough construction stage and when it is put into service: Act 14, 15 and 16.
Three calculations,
and one the market has already made.
A buyer with no unit in the building pays for a common part. A price around the median for a parking space, plus the local acquisition tax (3% for Varna Municipality), plus a registration fee of 0.1% of the transaction value and the notary fee. What they get is a transaction open to challenge as void for impossible subject matter. If it is declared void, the price is returned. The tax and fees are not returned by the seller. On top of that come legal fees and two or three years of litigation. Conversion does not help here: there is no individual unit from which to carve out an undivided share.
You buy a space and get a promise. An undivided share of the regulated land plot is transferred with no allocation of use, or with an allocation only in the minutes of the general meeting (общо събрание). An allocation under Art. 43(3) of the Spatial Development Act and Art. 32 of the Property Act can be reviewed by the same body that adopted it. When the majority changes, the space by the entrance can become the space behind the bins. The loss is not a sum but value: a property bought as a defined space is resold as an undefined undivided share.
The market has already voted. Our data from alo.bg as of 4 September 2026: 236 active listings for garages against 55 for parking spaces in Varna. The garage market is more than four times deeper. This is not a fashion. A garage is a thing that anyone can buy and every bank understands.
Frequently asked questions
Is a parking space a separate object of ownership?
As a rule, no. The settled case law of the Supreme Court of Cassation holds that a parking space not built as a garage is not a separate object of the right of ownership, but an undelimited and non-independent physical part of a plot, a building or a unit in it. The parking garage as a whole can be an individual unit, under Art. 37(4), item 1 of the Spatial Development Act, but not the individual marked space in it.
What is the difference between a garage and a parking space when buying?
A garage is a structure with enclosing walls and a roof, and has its own purpose and an identifier under the Cadastre and Property Register Act, which makes it an individual unit that anyone can buy. A parking space is an outline on a floor or on the ground, it is neither a building nor a room, so it is transferred as an undivided share, as an appurtenance or only as a contractual right. The difference decides whether the property can be resold separately and whether it can be mortgaged.
Can I buy a parking space in a building where I do not own a home?
It depends on the status chosen in the investment project. If the parking is an individual unit or the space is an undivided share of the land plot, anyone can. If the parking is a common part under Art. 37(4), item 2 of the Spatial Development Act, you cannot: under Art. 38(3) of the Property Act, common parts cannot be divided and an undivided share of them is not acquired on its own, so the buyer must own an individual unit in the building.
Can I sell the parking space separately from the apartment?
Only if it is not held as an appurtenance. Under Art. 98 of the Property Act, an appurtenance follows the principal thing, so a parking space with the status of an appurtenance under Art. 37(4), item 3 of the Spatial Development Act is transferred only together with the apartment. If the space is an undivided share of a parking garage or of the land plot, a separate sale is possible.
Is it true that parking spaces are now sold by notarial deed as individual units?
Not at present. A bill of 1 October 2025 proposes a new Art. 180a in the Spatial Development Act, which would declare parking spaces individual units of ownership, but the Supreme Bar Council gave a negative opinion on it, and Art. 180a does not exist in the Spatial Development Act in force. Headlines of this kind describe a legislative proposal, not law in force.
Send us the sentence from the deed
A garage is a thing in law, a parking space as a rule is not. The status is chosen by the developer in the investment project and does not show in the listing. The four wordings look the same and lead to different results, the court has been consistent on the question for more than fifteen years, and the bill that would change this is still a proposal.
Send us what the notarial deed (нотариален акт) or the preliminary contract says about the parking space. We tell you which of the four things you are acquiring, who you can sell it to later and where the bank will stop.
This material is not legal advice. A specific case should be checked by a lawyer.
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