The loan is paid off.
The encumbrance stays.
Under Article 150 of the Obligations and Contracts Act (ЗЗД), the mortgage is extinguished together with the debt. Under Article 179(1), the registration does not disappear by itself. Between the two sits a window measured in weeks.
It is not the bank that stops the deal. The registration does.
The bank’s consent to the sale itself is not required. Under Article 173(1) of the Obligations and Contracts Act, the mortgage follows the property “whoever owns it”, meaning the buyer does not become the debtor, but buys a property with someone else’s creditor on it.
In practice, however, a deal without the bank’s cooperation does not happen, because only the bank issues the consent to deletion. So the obstacle is not a legal prohibition but a single signature that has its own timeline.
Everyone is waiting
for the other.
The buyer’s bank disburses only against a search showing no encumbrances. The encumbrance is removed only with the consent of the seller’s bank. That consent comes after repayment. Repayment is made with the money from the disbursement.
The loop does not close by law. It closes with a structure: a tranche paid directly to the seller’s bank plus a commitment letter stating that the bank will issue consent to deletion once the amount is received.
That is why the sequence on the day is agreed before the day, not improvised on the spot. What the day at the notary itself looks like: the day at the notary.
Under two hundred euros, and that is exactly why it is underestimated
For a mortgage registered for €90,000, the whole deletion comes to about €166 to €172: a bank fee of €40 to €46, notarisation of the consent at about €81 under item 12 of the Tariff to the Notaries and Notarial Activity Act (ЗННД), and a €45 state fee under Article 3(1) of the Tariff of the Registry Agency (Агенция по вписванията).
The fee is not the expensive part. The expensive part is that realistically two weeks to about a month and a half pass between payment and a clean registry record, and the timeline in which the bank initiates the deletion is not set in law.
The registration lives
shorter than the debt.
A registered mortgage is effective for 10 years (Article 172(1) of the Obligations and Contracts Act). Housing loans run for 15 to 30. So every normal loan outlives its own registration at least once, and renewal is a new registration with a new entry.
And one thing many people get wrong: under Article 175(1) of the Obligations and Contracts Act, mortgages are removed automatically only in a public sale. In a voluntary sale nothing is removed.
What is agreed in advance
The payment scheme, the term of the preliminary contract (предварителен договор) measured against the bank timelines, the validity of the commitment letter, and who bears the difference if the disbursement is late. The four together decide whether the day will happen at all.
If the buyer also has a loan, there are two clocks: mortgage loan step by step. The general framework for lending is in the BNB tightened its credit standards.
Frequently asked questions
Can a property with an outstanding mortgage be sold?
Yes. The bank’s consent to the sale itself is not required, because under Article 173(1) of the Obligations and Contracts Act the mortgage follows the property whoever owns it. The buyer does not become a debtor under the loan, but buys a property over which another party’s creditor has a right of priority satisfaction. In practice, however, a deal without the bank’s cooperation does not happen, because only the bank can issue the consent to deletion.
The loan is paid off. Does the mortgage disappear by itself?
No. Under Article 150 of the Obligations and Contracts Act the mortgage is extinguished together with the secured claim, but the registration in the property register remains until someone requests its deletion. Under Article 179(1) of the Obligations and Contracts Act this happens with the creditor’s notarised consent or by a court decision. Until then, the encumbrance search shows a mortgage.
How much does it cost to delete a mortgage?
For a mortgage registered for €90,000, about €166 to €172 in total: a bank fee of €40 to €46 under its published tariffs, about €81 for notarisation of the consent under item 12 of the Tariff to the Notaries and Notarial Activity Act, and a €45 state fee under Article 3(1) of the Tariff of the Registry Agency. The fee is not the expensive part; the delay is.
How much time passes from payment to a clean registry record?
Realistically between two weeks and about a month and a half. Registration of the deed takes 3 to 5 working days, the certificate of encumbrances 3 or 7 working days, disbursement another 1 to 5, and the timeline in which the bank initiates the deletion is not set in law. Published claims range from 3 to 14 days.
Is there a fee for early repayment of the loan?
Under Article 41 of the Consumer Credit for Real Estate Act, compensation is due only during the first year and is up to 1% of the amount repaid early, and after the twelfth monthly instalment it is not due under any circumstances. The right belongs only to individual consumers, meaning a property held by a company is governed by the contract. No fee for repayment does not mean no fee for deletion.
Two numbers decide the date
Ask the bank for a certificate of outstanding debt and for the timeline in which it issues consent to deletion. The first you know roughly. The second almost nobody asks about, yet it moves the date at the notary.
Send us both. We come back with a realistic date for the deal and which tranche goes where on the day.
This material is not legal advice. A specific deal should be checked by a lawyer.
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