General assembly in apartment or holiday complexes

The huge number of holiday and apartment complexes in Bulgaria has requested the issuance by the Parliament of a specific Act which to set-up the legal relations among the various apartment owners, when it comes to Condominiums and common shares of the building, and where concerned, the surrounding facilities too (swimming pools, sauna, fitness halls, restaurants, etc). This is why in 2009 an Act for management of the floorage ownership has entered in force as part of the Bulgarian Condominium Law, in order to oblige the owners of apartments in residential or holiday complexes to set up General Assembly of Owners and to register properly the way of chosen type of management at the local Authorities, as well the chosen Managing Council and control boards.

Usually it all circulates around two words: "maintenance" and "fees", to be set up on the General Assembly of Owners and the AGM (annual general meetings). Namely the performance of the maintenance in the local Bulgarian complexes appears to be the huge issue to be resolved once a foreigner buys a completed apartment situated in such newly built local complex. Every owner wants to have clean stairs, light everywhere in the corridors, fitted water and electricity through all the year, and also working sauna, restarurant and swimming pool, but unfortunately it is difficult to meet the individual interests of tens or even hundreds of owners in the building. The local Law provises that the majority of apartment owners form on the General Assembly the figures of the maintenance fees and other deposits, as well the constitution of the complex and every owner should bear this in mind and follows it. Legal help - namely general guidance and legal advice by professional Bulgarian property solicitor is needed especially where are involved the interests of the local developer who still owns a number of apartments in the building or just wants to play new role - namely to maintain the complex against annual maintenance fee. Unfortunately in some cases it turns that the developer actually wants to retire with your annual maintenance fees without performing their obligations properly (as long as these are precisely agreed between the parties). There are also many cases where the maintenance fees have been charged for the total built-up area of the apartments, although the maintenance is to be performed only in the common parts of the building and basically is not related to the size of your apartment, but only to how many square meters of the common shares have been detailed in your Deed. There are also examples of charges of maintenance fees for year or two, and then the maintenance company (which is usually a daughter company of the developer) vanishes with the collected cash, leaving the owners in the middle of nowhere. In all such cases the various apartment owners should know that it is possible to form together a General Assembly and to manage on their own the maintenance of the common parts of the building. If the owners are not able to connect with each other, we can assist them on this matter where to find out all owners and to get in touch with them. The above, connected with the fact that very often the chosen Managing committee or the control boards may not have legal experience on the Bulgarian Laws, shows why you need professional assistance and independent legal advice and Bulgarian solicitor to manage properly all the activities related to proper setting up of General Meeting in complexes, and registering the appointed bodies at the local Authorities. Bulgarian lawyers have a professional insurance towards clients, which insurance other parties (estate agents, maintenance companies or developers) do not have. This means that a lawyer is actually liable and responsible to their clients, and this fact should be considered, when you have to give a letter of authorization to somebody to act on your behalf - let it be a Bulgarian lawyer, so your legal and financial interests will be protected in full.

You may need assistance also in cases where:
- currently there is no maintenance of the common parts in the building (due to vanished developer or owners who do not want to pay);
- the maintenance is performed poorly only on the base of individual maintenance contracts between the developer and the owners, where the last want to change the maintenance company.
- the various apartment owners want to get in touch with all the owners within the complex and to form a common intention and respectively a General Meeting.
- the owners have chosen their own maintenance company and would like to get independent legal support and guidance so their legal and financial interests to be fully protected due to the prospective maintenance and following the Internal Rules for behavior in the complex.
- the owners do not know how to form General Assembly / Annual General Meeting an to register the accurant bodies - Managing committee and Control boards, respectively need legal guidance on the above.
- the owners want a constitution of the complex to be drawn up.

Please note that setting up General Meeting and all the related activities consist of enormous technical work to be done; lot and lot of documentation to be filled in; usually to be done where most of the apartment owners to participate in the General Meeting, are abroad and want us to appear on their behalf; etc. This is why the fees for performance of all the needed activities and filling all the necessary documentation, vary and could reach couple thousand Euros in some cases related to big complexes.

Contact us for more guidance and quotation.