An April 30 article in UK newspaper the Daily Express claimed that “Britons made up two-thirds of all foreigners buying property in Bulgaria last year”.

But, the article continued, “the Daily Express has discovered many (Britons) have been duped because they do not own the land their homes stand on”.

The publication gave the example of a British couple that bought a property in Bulgaria in 2006 and said that they had been deceived.

The newspaper said that the case had been reported to the British embassy in Sofia and an investigation was said to be underway.

The article alleged that dozens of British citizens had been “defrauded” this way. If true, the case would indeed be worrying.

Nonetheless, the article did not mention a key fact – that current legislation in Bulgaria limits the rights of foreigners to own land in the country.

The fact that foreigners cannot own land in Bulgaria should not worry foreign property buyers because they acquire the right to use the land that their property has been built on and the usage is absolutely guaranteed. This was said to Bulgaria’s Focus news agency by Ivan Goranov, a managing partner in a property consultant agency. Goranov said that foreigners, especially British people, were aware of the legislation on ownership of property and land in Bulgaria.

When they buy properties here, Gorvanov said, they use Bulgarian companies as mediators, which give them legal advice about property and land ownership.

Chavdar Yanev, from another property agency, expressed the same view. He told Focus that British people should not worry whether they own the land for their property. They do, however, need to worry about from whom they buy the property. This was because there were companies that were building and selling property in an unprofessional manner, he said.