The accession of Bulgaria to the European Union made it necessary for our country to "harmonize" its laws with the European ones, or in other words to accept enough number of new laws or to make changes in the existing ones, to bring into use the relevant regulations and normative documents, in order each sphere of our economic and public life during 2007 to start working as those of the other 25 member states in the Union.

In accordance with Art. 22, par. 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria (Amended in issue 18/2005 of The State Gazette, in effect after the Republic of Bulgaria's EU membership agreement comes into force, and not applicable to international agreements that the Republic of Bulgaria is currently a party of): (1) Foreigners and foreign legal entities can obtain the right to purchase land under the conditions related to EU accession or under the provisions of international treaties that have entered into force in the Republic of Bulgaria through ratification, promulgation or acquired by legal succession.

According to the Bulgaria's EU membership agreement "independently from the obligations ensuing from the Treaty establishing the Constitution for Europe, Bulgaria has the right to keep in force, for a period of seven years from the date of the accession of Bulgaria, the restrictions which have been included in the country's legislation as of the date of signing the Accession contract, which restriction concern the obtaining of ownership right over agricultural land, forests and forest land by citizens of other member-states, by citizens of countries, which are a party in the European Economic Area Treaty (EEAT) and by legal entities incorporated in accordance with the laws of other member-state or countries which are a party in the EEAT.
Under no circumstances, upon acquisition of agricultural land, forests and forest land, a citizen of a member-state cannot be treated more unfavourably than as of the date of signing the Bulgaria's EU membership agreement, or bigger restrictions to be imposed on the latter in comparison to a citizen of third country.

General review of these measures shall be made after three years from the accession date has passed. For this purpose, the Commission shall present a report before the Council. The Council has the right, through solid vote as of the suggestion of the Commission, to decide to shorten or to terminate the period of transmission, indicated under paragraph first.

Taking in consideration the above, the current Art. 22 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria shall be applicable, according to which "foreign private or legal entities do not have rights of land ownership. Under specific terms set by the law, the foreign private or legal entities can acquire right of land usage, right of construction or other real rights.

As you know, foreign citizens can acquire right of land by registering a company. In order to buy an apartment together with the land, it is necessary to incorporate and register a company. The most widely used type of company is the Limited Liability Company (LTD), because of the minimum amount of capital required and the simplified management. Two or more partners, or even just one partner, in case of a Single Member Limited Liability Company, can incorporate a Limited Liability Company or a Member Limited Liability Company. The minimum amount of the required capital for incorporation of a LTD is 5 000 /five thousand/ BGN. The capital consists of shares of the partners, which shares cannot be less than 10 BGN, and the value of each one has to be divisible by 100.