Can foreigners buy property in Bulgaria?
Yes for apartments and buildings; land depends on citizenship. The rule, from Article 22 of the Constitution: EU/EEA citizens and entities: may acquire land (Constitution Art. 22, post-accession). Non-EU persons: may not own land unless an international treaty ratified by law allows it; may own buildings or hold land via a Bulgarian company.1
In a block of flats this rarely bites: you buy the unit and an ideal share of the common parts. A detached house with its own plot is where the land rule applies. Non-EU buyers either take the building in their own name and a right to build (superficies) over the plot, or buy the whole property through a Bulgarian company.
Can US and UK citizens buy property in Bulgaria?
The flat is yours in your own name. The land under a house is where the passport starts to matter.
Yes, a flat or a house in their own name; not the land under it. Both are non-EU buyers — UK citizens since Brexit — so the plot needs a company unless a ratified treaty says otherwise, and we check that for your passport first.
An EOOD can be registered in 3 days12 with a complete file. It then files annual accounts and pays 10%39 corporate tax on any profit, and 5%31011 withholding tax applies when it pays you a dividend. For a house on a small plot we compare that running cost with simply owning the building.
On a work permit: does buying change your status?
No. A property does not extend, replace or speed up a work permit. The permit follows the job: it is issued for up to 3 years45 and ends with the employment, whatever you own.
Buying a home does not open the investor residence route either. That route needs €511,29246 in qualifying instruments, and real estate is not one of them. Permanent residence comes after 5 years45 of legal stay; see permanent residence.
What changes in tax when you own a home in Bulgaria?
Owning a home can make you a Bulgarian tax resident before the day count does. The test in full: PIT Act Art. 4(1): resident regardless of citizenship if (1) permanent address in Bulgaria (unless centre of vital interests is elsewhere), or (2) present in Bulgaria more than 183 days in any 12-month period (resident for the year in which 183 days are exceeded), or (3) posted abroad by the Bulgarian state or a Bulgarian enterprise, or (4) centre of vital interests in Bulgaria. DTT tie-breakers prevail.27
A permanent address registered at the flat you bought is the first limb of that test. Once resident, Bulgaria taxes your worldwide income at a flat 10%28, including salary that a foreign employer still pays you. If you keep a US or UK home and income too, the tie-breaker in the double tax treaty decides; we set out the facts for your tax adviser before you register the address.
Purchase taxes and notary fees are set by the municipality and the notarial tariff, and our fact base does not hold a verified figure for them. We quote them for your deal in writing.
When this check is not what you need
- ❌Choosing a town or a property — we do not list or recommend homes.
- ❌A residence permit through the purchase — Bulgaria does not grant one for real estate.
- ❌Rental yield, prices per square metre or resale forecasts — outside the legal side of the deal.
- ❌Tax filing itself — we explain the residency trigger, your tax adviser files the return.