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@mmietz1954

Welcome Manfred,

Its good that you are a German citizen as you don't have flaff around and getting a visa and you will already be used to the Euro.

Will you be working in Bulgaria, or just using your apartment as holiday base?

Hi and welcome.

You won't get a "lichna karta" but it's a lot less of a mouthful than "Razreshenie za prebivavane" (Разрешение за пребиваване) - Residence Permit...😎

@SimCityAT

Well, I’m retired, and if I enjoy living in Bulgaria, I may stay permanently. For the moment, it’s just for a year, and then I’ll need to sell my apartment in Brussels. Time will tell.

@JimJ

Okay, thanks for the update. As an European, I don’t need it anyway. I’m planning to go back to Belgium regularly — my son lives there, so I can fly back every two months or so if I feel like it. I don’t need any special papers for that.

@JimJOkay, thanks for the update. As an European, I don’t need it anyway. I’m planning to go back to Belgium regularly — my son lives there, so I can fly back every two months or so if I feel like it. I don’t need any special papers for that. - @mmietz1954

It pretty much just acts as an ID card while in Bulgaria.

Citizens of Bulgaria have a Lichna Karta, as it can be used instead of a passport in the Schengen Area.

@mmietz1954

As an EU citizen you can move to Bulgaria (or any other EU country) for any reason.

However, if you want to stay more than 3 months, you should do the EU Citizen Registration step. It's pretty quick and easy (proof of address, proof of health insurance, proof of funds) so I'd recommend you do it, even if you don't strictly need it.

In particular, it includes your new ID number (i.e the useful bit of a lichna carta) and gives you an official biometric card that's pretty similar to a Bulgarian's lichna carta. This functions (for many) as proof of ID and proof of address and signifies that you're a legal resident of Bulgaria.

This might be useful if you want to have a Bulgarian mobile contract or register a vehicle in Bulgaria for use when you're here. It might also be useful if/when you decided to enroll in the Bulgarian public health system (NHIF). Voluntary contributions for non-workers are about 20 euros per month, which entitles you to free public care and heavily subsidized care in affiliated private hospitals. This is a bit more comprehensive than the emergency coverage of an EHIC.

Separately, paying an attorney to review a rental contract seems a bit unnecessary.

@gwynj

Thanks for the information and your comments. And you are absolutely right about the lawyer.

Why is there so much advice on other sites to hire one? Mainly because people don’t read carefully and don’t understand the local terminology?

Since you seem to be well informed about many things: is it better to go through a real‑estate agency (and who pays them anyway? And if it’s me, what is the usual fee?) or to try through several websites?

And do many owners speak at least some English?

@mmietz1954

The attorney issue might be a confusion, as most folks are recommending them for a real estate purchase.

You can look for local agents when you arrive in Varna, but, personally, I'd prefer to be looking online in advance. You might find a few owner listings/websites, most will be agents. I like and recommend Bulgarian Properties as they're large and reputable with a pretty wide selection of properties all over Bulgaria. They specialize in expats and it's easy to do a rental deal remotely with them, in advance, or you can shortlist a few and then view when you get there. Or you can look at websites like Alo or Imot (both dot bg).

Most agents will charge you a commission, typically a month (or perhaps half a month) rent.

I suppose many owners will speak some English, but not all. That can be another advantage of having an agent to deal with. However, once you've signed the rental contract and moved in, you shouldn't need frequent chats with your landlord anyway. :-)

I'd be very reluctant to do a rental deal remotely: part of the contract should be an inventory and it'd be pretty much impossible to confirm that inventory and the condition of the premises without being physically present - even a virtual photo/video tour can't show you everything and they can be easily manipulated these days. It could prove expensive when you leave..