Preliminary contract for sale

The preliminary contract for the sale of immovable property is an agreement between
Seller and buyer.

It undertakes the obligation in the future to conclude a final contract (the notary deed) with which to transfer the right of ownership or to create a real right on the immovable property.

In materially legal terms, the preliminary contract is regulated in Art. 19 of the Obligations and Contracts Act. Here are the conditions of validity, one of which is the written form of the contract, which is a sufficient guarantee to secure the interests of the parties concerned in case of non-fulfillment of the other.

The Preliminary Contract contains the basic and essential elements of the final contract (seller and buyer data, property data, price, etc.). When the preliminary contract is concluded through a proxy, it is a prerequisite that a power of attorney is certified by a notary. If it is missing, the pre-contract is invalid.

The Preliminary contract for the sale of immovable property itself has no substantive effect – it merely justifies the claim of one of the parties to the other for its conclusion in the final form. He does not transfer ownership. The latter shall be transferred only upon conclusion of a final contract in a notarial form or by a judicial procedure for declaring it final (Article 298 of the CCP).

In order to safeguard the interests of the claimant, the claim for a final contract should be entered in the notarial books.

This is necessary in order to prevent the property being sold to a third person before the court decision enters into force and before the notarial deed is entered. In this case, the contract will be deemed to have been concluded from the moment when the court enters into force, after which it must be entered and replaced by the notarial deed.

Upon signing the Preliminary Contract the Buyer pays the Seller a deposit equal to usually 10% of the value of the property. It is also possible for the deposit to be of higher value.

GOOD ADVICE

The pre-contract must necessarily be concluded in writing. It is then valid and is a guarantee that adequately protects the interests of both parties.

Forms of the Preliminary Contract for Purchase and Explainations here:

 

 

The texts are from the 100 issue “100 questions, 100 real estate replies”, supplemented by the book “200 questions, 200 real estate replies”. Prof. Maria Gajova, Ph.D. Editor: Vasil Stoyanov; Consultants: Daniela Krasteva notary, Eng. Tsvetka Bostandjieva, Liliana Hristova; Publishing house – Plovdiv