SPECIAL: The Illegal Town near Varna - What the Inspection of the Notary Chamber Found

Certificates of tolerance are at the core of the title deeds issued for properties in the illegal settlement near the coastal city of Varna. This is what an investigation currently being conducted by the Notarial Chamber has established. The leadership of the professional organisation spoke exclusively to BNT on June 3.

Four notaries in Varna have issued title deeds for properties in the illegal settlement. The transactions were certified mainly during last year and this year.

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Luiza Stoeva, Chair of the Notarial Chamber:

"The notaries carried out these transactions on the basis of official evidentiary documents presented to them, including the Certificate of Tolerance. Some of the transactions concern properties located in old buildings that were formerly owned by the so-called State Agency for Refugees -Varna."

The old buildings had been reconstructed, and certificates of tolerance had been issued for them on the basis of previously existing structures. Other buildings had been newly constructed. Notaries are unable to verify whether such documents are genuine or forged.

Since 2021, the law has provided for the establishment of a unified electronic public register of construction documents.

Ivaylo Ivanov, Deputy Chair of the Notary Chamber:

"It would contain issued building permits, occupancy certificates, construction documentation, including certificates of tolerance such as those in question here. The idea of such a register is to make it possible to establish whether a document presented to a notary is authentic or not."

Luiza Stoeva, Chair of the Notary Chamber:

"This unified public register under the Spatial Planning Act is provided for in the legislation, but it has not yet become operational. Clearly, it is not ready."

It was only on 28 May, after dozens of transactions had already been certified, that notaries in Varna were informed that an investigation was under way into the issuance of allegedly forged certificates of tolerance dated 2023.

The notaries who certified the property transactions near Varna established that part of the land had been acquired through land swaps between 1999 and 2009, while another part had been restored under the laws governing the restitution of forests, agricultural land and other restituted property, and subsequently sold to the investor.

Kamen Kamenov, Deputy Chair of the Notary Chamber:

"We must have formal legal grounds in order to refuse a transaction, and based on the documents presented to us, we cannot even issue a refusal."

The seller and buyers completed the transactions at prices that complied with the law, but notaries are not in a position to verify whether those prices reflect market value.

Changes to the law were passed in 2021, but the introduction of the register is by a supplementary Ordinance. Over the past five years, the state administration has failed to prepare the document to be submitted to the government for adoption.

The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works has published the draft for public consultation, which will conclude on 8 June. It is therefore likely that it could be submitted to the Council of Ministers during the second half of the month.

The creation of this register is of great importance because, in addition to enabling verification of document authenticity, it will also help citizens, who will no longer have to act as couriers carrying paper documents from one institution to another.