The hardest transactions that come through our office rarely stall over price. They stall over a signature — from someone who lives in another city, does not answer the phone, or simply does not want to sell. There is one property, three owners, and each of them holds an undivided share, not a room.
This guide sets out what a single co-owner can do alone, what requires the others, and what is left to the courts. The framework is Bulgaria's Property Act and the Code of Civil Procedure; fees were verified in September 2026 and are stated in euro.
Before any conversation about price, the full set of co-owners has to be clear. For an inherited property that means a certificate of heirs (issued by the municipality of the deceased's last permanent address), a death certificate, every title deed in the property's history, cadastral sketches and plans, and an encumbrance certificate from the Registry Agency.
This is not paperwork for its own sake. Court division requires every co-owner to take part. If one is left out — including a descendant or collateral heir nobody knew about — the judgment is void as against that person, who can then bring a fresh division claim. The whole process restarts.
So for inherited property the check runs backwards through the chain of title, not just across the latest deed. The same logic applies from the buyer's side; what exactly gets checked before signing is set out in Legal checks before buying a property.
This is the fastest, cheapest and almost always the most profitable route. All co-owners appear before the notary, sell the property as a whole, and split the price in proportion to their shares.
The financial difference is substantial. A whole flat sells at market price. An undivided share in a flat does not. A buyer acquiring one third of a home acquires a potential dispute along with it, so such shares trade at a heavy discount — and frequently find no buyer at all outside the circle of co-owners. If there is any realistic prospect of everyone signing, it is worth the effort of getting there.
The tax side of a sale — when capital gains are due and when they are not — is covered separately in Tax when selling property in Bulgaria in 2026. Inherited property has its own quirks around the holding-period rules, and they are worth working out before the sale rather than after it.
If agreement is impossible, any co-owner may sell their undivided share. But not immediately, and not to anyone they choose.
Article 33(1) of the Property Act requires a co-owner who wants to sell their share to a third party to first offer it to the other co-owners on the same terms. In practice the notary will require written evidence that the offer was made — usually a notarial notice served on the other co-owners, or notarised declarations from them stating that the share was offered at a specified price and that they decline to buy.
What happens if the duty is breached? The sale is not void. It stands. But the prejudiced co-owner acquires a right of buy-out under Article 33(2) — a court claim to step into the buyer's position on identical terms. The limitation period for that claim is two months. This is settled Supreme Court practice and is confirmed in the legal literature.
Two classic traps follow from this:
In Decision No. 273 of 5 May 2026 in civil case No. 2638/2024, the Supreme Court of Cassation clarified how far the buy-out right reaches.
The facts: a co-owner transferred undivided shares to a third party, who then gifted them to a company. Other co-owners later won a buy-out claim under Article 33(2) against the parties to the first transaction. The question was whether that judgment also stripped the company, which had never been a party to the case.
The Court held that the decisive point is when the statement of claim was entered in the property register:
| When the transaction was concluded and registered | Consequence |
|---|---|
| After the buy-out claim was entered in the register | The transaction cannot be set up against the buying-out co-owner |
| Before the claim was entered | A successful buy-out claim does not affect rights already acquired, provided the acquirer was not a party to that case |
The practical lesson runs both ways. If you are a co-owner planning to seek a buy-out, registering the claim is not a formality — it is the protection itself, and every week of delay works against you. If you are buying an undivided share, the title deed alone is not sufficient diligence; you also need to check whether any claims have been entered against the property.
When co-owners want to end the co-ownership but keep property rather than cash, the route is voluntary division. It works only with the full agreement of everyone.
The form requirement is strict. Article 35(1) of the Property Act: voluntary division of immovable property must be done in writing with notarised signatures. The form goes to validity — an agreement without notarisation is void and transfers nothing. The agreement is then entered in the property register.
Voluntary division makes sense where the pool of assets allows a genuine split — an estate consisting of a flat, a house and a field between three heirs, say, or a plot that can be subdivided into separate parcels. Differences in value are equalised in cash between the parties.
One flat between three heirs, however, generally cannot be divided in kind. There, voluntary division does not help and only a sale or the courts remain.
The right to demand division is unconditional. Article 34 gives every co-owner the right to end the co-ownership regardless of the size of their share — a holder of one twentieth has exactly the same right as a holder of one half. The claim is not subject to limitation: it can be brought thirty years after the co-ownership arose. The competent court is the district court where the property is located, and the statement of claim must be entered in the property register.
Proceedings under Articles 341–355 of the Code of Civil Procedure run in two stages.
Stage one — admitting the division. The court decides three things: between which persons, over which properties, and in what shares. It may also order interim measures determining who uses the property until the case ends, with the occupier owing the others compensation for loss of use, measured against market rent.
Stage two — carrying out the division. The court must appoint an expert to determine whether the property is divisible and what it is worth. A property is divisible if it can be split into real shares without significant reconstruction and within building regulations — a large plot often is; a flat generally is not. If it is divisible, a division protocol is drawn up and the properties are allocated by drawing lots or, where lots would be impractical, at the court's discretion. Differences between share and value are equalised in cash.
A hard deadline to note: all claims for unsettled accounts between co-owners — taxes paid, repairs, improvements — must be raised no later than the first hearing after the division is admitted. After that they are barred, permanently.
Where the expert concludes the property cannot be divided, the law offers two endings.
Award to one party. A co-owner who meets the statutory conditions — for example, having lived in the home when the succession opened and owning no other home — may ask for the property to be awarded to them in full, against a cash equalisation of the others. The request must be made no later than the first hearing after the division is admitted. The equalisation must be paid within six months, and that period is preclusive: if it is not paid in full, the award lapses automatically and the property goes to public sale.
Public sale. The property is auctioned under the Code of Civil Procedure. Anyone may bid, including the co-owners themselves. Sale costs are deducted from the proceeds, any encumbrances are satisfied, and the balance is distributed according to the shares. Co-ownership ends when the sale is completed — not when the court orders the property to be put up for sale.
It is worth saying plainly: public sale is almost always the most expensive outcome. Auction prices rarely approach what the same property would fetch on the open market after normal preparation and marketing.
| Action | Fee |
|---|---|
| Court division — state fee | 4% of the value of the shares |
| Court division settled before the division protocol is drawn up | 2% of the value of each share |
| Division claim dismissed, or case terminated other than by settlement | up to €51.13, not less than €12.78 |
| Application to renounce or accept an inheritance | €10.23 |
| Certificate issued by the court | €2.56 |
| Entry in the property register | 0.1% of the value on which the instrument was assessed |
| Court expert, lawyer | by agreement; the expert is paid before stage two begins |
The figures come from the Tariff of State Fees under the Code of Civil Procedure (Sofia District Court extract, in euro since 1 January 2026) and the Registry Agency tariff. Costs in the division case are borne by the parties in proportion to the value of their shares.
Note the sequencing: a settlement reached before the division protocol is drawn up cuts the state fee from 4% to 2% and shortens the case by months. It is the most underused move in the whole procedure.
Notary fees on a voluntary division or a sale are calculated on the transaction value — you can run an indicative figure through the notary calculator on our site.
The honest answer is that no official national statistics exist. From the practice of firms that handle division cases, the working estimate is roughly eighteen months to two years from filing to a final judgment in stage two — longer where the shares are contested, a will is challenged, adverse possession is claimed, or an award is sought.
By comparison, a voluntary division can be executed in days where there is agreement. The difference between the two routes is almost entirely a difference in the relationship between the co-owners, not in the law.
We do not take on a co-owned property "as is". Before listing one we establish the full set of co-owners from documents rather than from an account of the family; we check the property for registered claims, injunctions and mortgages; we clarify who is in actual possession and on what basis; and where an undivided share is being sold, we prepare the Article 33 offer so that the transaction does not hang under the threat of a buy-out claim for two years afterwards.
In many cases the most useful thing we do is not legal at all. We sit down with the heirs and show them, in figures, the gap between the price of the whole property and the price of scattered undivided shares. Once that gap is visible, agreement usually arrives more easily than a court date.
The related legislative context — the Ministry of Justice's proposals on wills, powers of attorney and adverse possession — is covered in our piece on the package against property fraud.
A co-owner cannot sell "their room" — only an undivided share, and only after offering it to the others under Article 33; otherwise they risk a buy-out claim within two months. Voluntary division is quick and cheap but requires unanimity and notarised signatures. Court division always works, but costs a 4% state fee, runs through two stages, and ends in an award or a public sale where the home is indivisible. Between these three routes, the difference in money received is often larger than the difference in legal costs.
If you have inherited a property together with others and do not know where to start, call us or come by the office. We will look at the documents and tell you honestly whether the case belongs with a notary, at the negotiating table, or in court.
The legal position is stated as at September 2026. Fees follow the tariffs in force and change with amendments to the legislation. This material is for information and does not replace advice on a specific case.
