Still Have an Old Bulgarian Company?

If you bought a Bulgarian property many years ago, particularly a house with land, you may also have established a Bulgarian limited company as part of the purchase.

At the time, the company may simply have seemed like another piece of paperwork.

An accountant or lawyer may have arranged everything for you, and for several years you may have received documents or paid someone to deal with the company.

Then perhaps you stopped visiting Bulgaria.

The accountant disappeared from your life. Letters stopped arriving. The company documents went into a drawer.

Twenty years later, you may be wondering:

“Does my Bulgarian company still exist — and what am I supposed to do with it?”

The answer is not to guess.

The first step is to establish the company’s actual status and whether it still owns your Bulgarian property.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER — Genuine old Bulgarian company document, with personal and identifying information professionally obscured]

Why Did British Property Buyers Set Up Bulgarian Companies?

This can be confusing when looking back at a purchase made many years ago.

During the Bulgarian property boom, many foreign buyers established Bulgarian companies when purchasing properties involving land.

As a result, a British buyer might remember buying a Bulgarian house personally, while the legal documentation shows that the property — or relevant rights connected with it — were acquired through a Bulgarian company.

That distinction can become very important when the owner eventually wants to sell or otherwise deal with the property.

Before deciding what to do with an old company, establish exactly what it owns and why it was created.

Does My Bulgarian Company Still Exist?

It may.

Bulgaria has an official Commercial Register and Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities, maintained by the Registry Agency.

Company information can therefore be investigated rather than relying solely upon paperwork you received many years ago.

Depending upon the circumstances, useful information can include the company’s registered details, representatives and documents filed on the company record.

Even if you have lost contact with your former accountant, the company’s history has not simply become unknowable.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER — Redacted Bulgarian company registration paperwork or old company certificate]

What If I’ve Forgotten the Company Name?

Don’t immediately assume that nothing can be done.

Look through any old paperwork you still possess.

Useful documents might include:

• the property title deed;
• company incorporation documents;
• old accountant’s correspondence;
• company stamps or certificates;
• tax or municipal documents;
• bank paperwork;
• invoices;
• contracts; or
• correspondence from the lawyer who originally dealt with the purchase.

Even an old property file that appears unimportant may contain information that helps identify the company.

Keep everything until the position has been checked.

Has My Dormant Bulgarian Company Been Building Up Debts Every Year?

Do not automatically assume that it has.

This is an area where owners can understandably become worried.

You may remember paying an accountant every year and conclude that if you stopped paying 10 or 15 years ago, you must now owe 10 or 15 years of company charges.

That is not necessarily the case.

Bulgarian rules concerning companies with no activity have changed over the years. Under the present system, a declaration of no activity is generally submitted for the first reporting period in which no activity was carried out, rather than an identical no-activity declaration having to be submitted repeatedly every year while inactivity continues.

There can nevertheless be other matters affecting an individual company, and a company that has carried out activity is a different situation.

So:

Don’t assume there is a huge debt — but don’t assume everything is in order either.

Check the actual company.

What If the Company Owns My Bulgarian Property?

This is one of the most important questions.

If the property is registered in the company’s name, you cannot simply disregard the company and treat the property as though it were personally owned.

Before a sale or other disposal is considered, the ownership structure and company status need to be understood.

Depending upon the circumstances, there may be different ways of dealing with a company-owned property.

The appropriate route should be determined from the actual records and with Bulgarian professional or legal advice where required.

Selling a Bulgarian Property You No Longer Want

What About Unpaid Property Taxes?

Owning the property through a company does not mean that the local tax position should be ignored.

If Bulgarian property tax or household waste fees have remained unpaid for years, the actual municipal position should be established.

This is particularly relevant in 2026 because Bulgarian municipalities have been instructed to take action concerning qualifying unpaid, non-time-barred liabilities from previous years.

We’ve explained that separately here:

Unpaid Bulgarian Property Tax & Municipal Fees

Can I Just Close the Bulgarian Company?

Potentially, but closing a company is a formal process, not simply a matter of deciding that you no longer want it.

If a company is to be terminated and liquidated, there are procedures concerning matters such as registration, a liquidator, creditors, the company’s assets and completion of the liquidation.

And there is an obvious question that must be answered first:

Does the company still own your Bulgarian property?

If it does, that asset needs to be considered as part of deciding what should happen.

This is why it is generally better to investigate the company and property together rather than trying to close the company in isolation.

What If My Bulgarian Company Hasn’t Done Anything for 15 or 20 Years?

That is not unusual among people who bought Bulgarian property during the earlier overseas-property boom.

The company may originally have existed primarily because of the property purchase and may have carried out little or no subsequent commercial activity.

But the length of time since you last thought about it does not tell us its current legal position.

A company that has been forgotten is not necessarily the same thing as a company that has ceased to exist.

Its current status should be checked.

What If My Old Accountant Has Disappeared?

This is another situation we expect to encounter.

Your former accountant may have retired, moved, changed telephone number or simply stopped communicating with overseas clients.

That can be frustrating, but it does not mean that the accountant is the only possible source of information about the company.

Official company records can be investigated, and whatever documentation you still possess can help establish what happened.

You do not necessarily need to find the person who looked after the company 15 years ago before you can start dealing with it today.

What If I No Longer Have the Company Documents?

Start with what you have.

If you’ve retained a Bulgarian title deed, that may contain useful information about ownership.

If you have company paperwork, bring that too.

If all you can remember is approximately when you bought the property, where it is and perhaps part of the company name, tell us that.

Missing paperwork is a problem to investigate — not necessarily a reason to abandon the whole process.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER — Old Bulgarian property/company file containing several genuine documents, sensitive information obscured]

Can I Deal With My Bulgarian Company From Britain?

In many cases, the initial investigation certainly does not require you to travel to Bulgaria simply to find out what exists.

Where formal legal steps are eventually required, it may also be possible for particular matters to be dealt with through appropriately prepared powers of attorney and other documentation.

The precise requirements depend upon what actually needs doing.

A Bulgarian lawyer dealing with formal legal work can advise on the appropriate procedure for the individual case.

Should I Sort the Company Out Before Trying to Sell the Property?

The two issues should normally be considered together if the company owns the property.

There is little benefit in advertising a property for sale and only later discovering that an unresolved ownership or company matter prevents the transaction proceeding as expected.

Finding out early gives you a much clearer picture of:

• who owns the property;
• the status of the company;
• whether anything needs resolving;
• whether taxes or other liabilities require investigation; and
• what route may realistically be available for selling or otherwise dealing with the property.

Deal with uncertainty before it becomes a last-minute problem.

I Don’t Want the Company or the Property Anymore

That’s also a perfectly legitimate reason for investigating it.

Perhaps you are not trying to revive an old Bulgarian business.

You may simply have reached the stage where you want an old property and the company connected with it brought to an end in an appropriate way.

There may be different possibilities depending upon the property, company, ownership, liabilities and circumstances.

The important thing is not to assume that ignoring the company makes either the company or property disappear.

[INTERNAL LINK PLACEHOLDER — I Just Want My Bulgarian Property Sorted Out]

We’ll connect that when we create the relevant page.

What Information Should I Send?

Tell us whatever you know.

Particularly useful information can include:

• your Bulgarian company’s name;
• any company identification number shown on old documents;
• the location of the property;
• approximately when you bought it;
• when the company was last actively dealt with;
• details of the former accountant or lawyer, if known;
• any Bulgarian company or property documents you still possess; and
• what you now want to achieve.

Don’t worry if half of that information is missing.

Finding the missing information can be part of establishing where you stand.

Still Have an Old Bulgarian Company?

If you formed a Bulgarian company when you bought property years ago and no longer know what happened to it, tell us what you remember.

You do not need to understand Bulgarian company law before contacting us.

The first step is simply to establish what exists, what the company owns and whether anything now needs attention.

The information on this page is general information and is not Bulgarian legal or accountancy advice. Where Bulgarian legal advice, representation or formal legal work is required, this can be undertaken by an experienced practising Bulgarian lawyer.