Why I bought in Bulgaria

I bought in Bulgaria in November 2005, this was after much researching on the net  looking for a place abroad.  I found that Bulgaria was the best place for price and location with only being a few hours from the UK.  The country  had so much to offer regarding great countryside, beautiful coast,  ski-ing resorts, much interesting history, monastries,& caves to visit. The more I learned about Bulgaria, the more I felt that it was a great little country to buy a home.

I specially wanted to do this for my daughter who was just recovering from Leukemia, so she could come out and recuperate in the fresh country air and become stronger and enjoy all that Bulgaria had to offer her. I also at some point later wanted to donate some free weeks to other youngsters and adults fighting cancer.

I  bought the house in Bulgaria and started making plans for it to be renovated. It needed the roof repairing, new bathroom, kitchen, windows, new electrics and plumbing etc.

  The Manager at Bulgarianrealestate.net, whos company I found the house through, recommended their builders to me and said he would ensure all the works would be done and he handed me a booklet (Property Management Bulgaria) to keep. This gave me the impression that they knew what they were doing and were quite proffessional in this field.
The office staff were very nice and confident and I  felt quite comfortable leaving this renovation programme in their hands, one staff in particular was very good at speaking English and translated everything for me. This person knew exactly what I wanted and kept in contact with me later through many e-mails.
I was introduced to their builder spoke with him face to face on what exactly I needed doing and he explained what could and could not be done. I payed in cash for a quote for the renovation of my house.
A quote was given to me for the works required doing, and an agreement was made for the renovation which  was 15,000 Euro,at this time the Bgn leva was 2.98 to the pound.
I arranged for them to commence work as soon as possible, hoping that by the time spring came in 2006, we could be visiting Bulgaria and living in the house and my daughter would be able to rest and recuperate enjoy  life that she very nearly lost.

  I was advised by  to pay the  money for the refurbishment of my home into  the Property Management Ltd, account  Burgas, Bulgaria, which is part of the same group belonging to  Bulgarian Real Estate Ltd, Burgas and  of  www.bulgarianrealestate.net Elhovo. These were all the companies that I was dealing with at the time.

  I had hoped that all works would be finished by the summer of 2006, but delays came about for one reason and another. Work started on the roof and was completed within a month, but now instead of repairs to the roof I was advised that they could not get the tiles to match and therefore it was best that I bought all new so I agreed and they went ahead and replaced all the tiles on the roof.  The young girl in the office sent me  photos of the roof being done.

 I was hoping the house would be now finished for Xmas 2006. October brought uncertainty, I was not getting the updates on the house like before, and had problems trying to find out what was being done. I visited the house in the August and to my dismay found that they had removed all the plaster from the walls and removed all interior doors. There was not a lot I could do at the time and we were transported to the house and back again to Burgas very quickly, to apparantly sign some other documents which actually were not even ready at the time. This was a short trip and the instructions I had given the office regarding the renovation had not been followed. When I returned to the UK  I had then to organise other matters and
I was accompanying my daughter on a months trip to Australia through 'A Dream Come True' charity who had organised this when she was in Christies. hospital Manchester UK. The house now would have to wait till we got back.

Once back from the trip in November 06, I again started to contact the company and finally received photos showing the same but to find that all the windows had been taken out I was hoping now that new windows would be going in. I was told to send Some more money to guarantee continuation of works, but found that now nothing was being done.  I had to make a decision has to whether to go to Bulgaria and find out what was happening again and why nothing had been done since the August  06 to finish the renovation. Nothing had been mentioned in the August to say there was no money left to continue with the works.

I gave notice to my works that I would be leaving to come out to Bulgaria. I started packing everything up and preparing myself that I would be having to camp on the grounds of the house while I got it sorted, or go into a small hotel.

Once here in Bulgaria, I was told by the Manager of the company  there was no money left.  I have not had any receipts of payments to where all this money has gone and nothing had been said regarding this in the last visit in the August ot even by e-mail. So I then understand that  I had been shafted by this company.

I had been charged 12,000 Euros for their builders doing a roof and ripping everything out of the house and also paid according to this Manager 2,379 Euros in VAT .

At the point in time when monies were being transferred  the total amount was nearly 30,000 leva due to the good rate at the time.

2008

I have lived in this village now for some time, all the village locals know of the house in question and know of the problems that was going on at the time. I now know some of the people who worked on my home and have been informed that this company paid very small money for the labour, this being10 lev a day and certain people did not even receive the money they were promised, also they changed the workers constantly. This work was 1 months work only.

It took a full year for me to find out the proper details of what actually happened with my house, finding out information who worked on the house and when and who got paid what. Now I know the details makes me feel much better knowing the truth. This all took patience and getting to know some of the Bulgarian language and of course a translator to assist me. Dealing with the language and departments is difficult being passed to and fro and understanding all the Bulgarian system.

 There have been many complaints and problems with these companies and trying to get somewhere in the courts here in Bulgaria is difficult. But has time goes on and we are now in the EU many people are managing to get somewhere slowly with  problems that they have had and many of us not getting anywhere.

Maybe one day I may recuperate what I have lost and manage to get my house finished,I cannot carry on with any works until the matter is resolved. Once I can finally finish the home  I  then  can  offer the patients from Christies Cancer hospital free holidays. They too have been let down and I have found it difficult to find holiday homes that could be donated for a couple of weeks. This is what I had hoped to do right from the begining and which my daughter didnt get the chance to  do either.

My daughter is now very well after her fight with AML and  graduated in Graphic Design with full honours and visits Bulgaria often.