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[size=75:1bz3xn8d]novinite 22 March 2010

Bulgaria Govt Orders Demolition of Illegal Black Sea Buildings

The demolition of illegally constructed buildings on the Black Sea coast is set to begin, the Chamber of Builders in Burgas reported Monday.

The Chamber has received a letter from the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works to collect bids for the removal of illegal constructions, all of which have been proved in court to be built without permission.

Buildings in the old town of Nessebar, Obzor, Sozopol, Kiten, the village of Emona and a swimming pool in Sunny Beach will all be removed according to reports.

Environment Minister Nona Karadzhova also reported Monday that a large number of building projects that have been approved on the Black Sea coast actually do not involve the intention to build – instead after approval the land is just sold at a larger price.

The European Commission is set to launch legal proceeding regarding some of these projects in Bulgaria, Karadzhova reported.

when I purchased my house it was for different reasons than today. Right now it is just investment that can just sit.I am one of the lucky ones in so far as I have no loan on it or against it and was just bought from savings. I do wonder what a REALISTIC price would be for a house in BG in these times.

[size=55:v6f322w2]novinite 09 October 2010

Bulgarian Govt to Tear Down Illegal Luxury Villa Resort

Bulgaria's PM has vowed to either confiscate, or destroy a wholly illegally luxury villa complex on the banks of the Ivaylovgrad water reservoir.

Prime Minister Borisov was in the Black Sea city of Burgas Saturday for the inauguration of new coast guard patrol ships.

He commented that the illegal resort of 45 high-class luxury villas, which is not even on the map, and was built completely illegally, could be confiscated to the benefit of the state.

The luxury mansion properties belong to people from Sofia and the south-eastern border town of Svilengrad, who are mostly senior civil servants such as customs agents and traffic controllers as well as businessmen.

"
There is no option of legalizing this illegal construction. These palaces have existed for so many years on state-owned land. There is only one explanation for that. They belong to the people who gathered money and gave it to the political parties. That is I have instructed my staff to find me a legal provisions that will allow the government to either confiscate to the benefit of the state, or to tear down these properties,"
Borisov said.

He slammed anybody who suggests that the owners of the illegal buildings should pay the government in order to legalize them, and promised to have a final decision about the luxury villa resort by Monday.

An report of Nova TV has shown that the Ivaylovgrad reservoir, one of the largest in Bulgaria, is owned by the state, and is managed by the National Electric Company NEK but is used as a private lake. There is hardly any way to reach the reservoir as it is fenced off with large mansions guarded by private security companies.

The owners of the properties include the deputy director of the "
Road Fees and Permits"
in the Svilengrad Customs Office, Tencho Vasilev, and the director of the Svilengrad Customs Stefan Marashev.

Even though the luxury properties are illegal, they are connected to the public electricity and water supply network.

PM Borisov Pulls down Customs Officers Villas
[size=85:cxai2h4u]The stately masons of customs officers will be ether demolished or confiscated

Bulldozers will raze the illegally built village near the town of Ivailovgrad that became notorious as “The Ministry of Joy.” The palaces in the village of Stavri Dimitrovo will be either pulled down or confiscated, PM Boiko Borisov said flat during his visit to the Black Sea city of Burgas. Tomorrow a team of legal experts will come out with a proposal that will decide the future of 45 illegally built masons. “I have assigned to expert to prepare a list of all optional arguments. Their report will decide whether this village will be demolished or confiscated to the benefit of the state. “There is only one explanation to this outrage – their owners, customs officers, collected the “gate money” and then shared it with the political parties,” Borisov told the journalists.
Meanwhile it transpired that the owners of the deluxe villas are in panic. Some of them put out “for sale” signs. However, no one showed interest so far because of a dubious status of the village that doesn’t exist on the map of Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Govt to Tear Down Illegal Luxury Villa Resort




Bulgaria's PM has vowed to either confiscate, or destroy a wholly illegally luxury villa complex on the banks of the Ivaylovgrad water reservoir.

Prime Minister Borisov was in the Black Sea city of Burgas Saturday for the inauguration of new coast guard patrol ships.

He commented that the illegal resort of 45 high-class luxury villas, which is not even on the map, and was built completely illegally, could be confiscated to the benefit of the state.

The luxury mansion properties belong to people from Sofia and the southeastern border town of Svilengrad, who are mostly senior civil servants such as customs agents and traffic controllers as well as businessmen.

"
There is no option of legalizing this illegal construction. These palaces have existed for so many years on state-owned land. There is only one explanation for that. They belong to the people who gathered money and gave it to the political parties. That is I have instructed my staff to find me a legal provisions that will allow the government to either confiscate to the benefit of the state, or to tear down these properties,"
Borisov said.

He slammed anybody who suggests that the owners of the illegal buildings should pay the government in order to legalize them, and promised to have a final decision about the luxury villa resort by Monday.

An report of Nova TV has shown that the Ivaylovgrad reservoir, one of the largest in Bulgaria, is owned by the state, and is managed by the National Electric Company NEK but is used as a private lake. There is hardly any way to reach the reservoir as it is fenced off with large mansions guarded by private security companies.

The owners of the properties include the deputy director of the "
Road Fees and Permits"
in the Svilengrad Customs Office, Tencho Vasilev, and the director of the Svilengrad Customs Stefan Marashev.

Even though the luxury properties are illegal, they are connected to the public electricity and water supply network.

The southeastern border town of Svilengrad is known as the Bulgarian town with the largest per capita number of millionaires thanks to the fact that it is the home of most customs officers from the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing point, which is the major land route of Turkish goods and passengers into the EU.


[size=55:509zx24g]novinite 13 October 2010

2 Fired over Bulgaria's Illegal Luxury Property Scandal

Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister, Rosen Plevneliev, announced Wednesday the Head of the State Agency for National Construction Control, Ivan Simidchiev and the Head of the Svilengard Customs, Stefan Marashev, are being dismissed.

The discharges were made on the personal request of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, according to the cabinet's press center.

The decision came on the heels of the disclosure of pictures made last week by employees of the National Revenue Agency who flew in a helicopter over 45 properties, constructed illegally on State lands on the shore of the Ivaylovgrad dam in southern Bulgaria.

In the aftermath, owners rushed to legalize their sprawling real estate, which has been built over 10 years ago.

One of these villas that acquired legal status hours after the helicopter flew over belongs precisely to Marashev. The latter was already fired once, in 2008, from the post of Head of the Svilengrad Customs, but was reinstated by the Supreme Administrative Court.

Simidchiev will be fired over his long-time failure to undertake necessary and adequate measures for construction control, Plevneliev said, confirming there is evidence beyond legal doubt the 45 properties are illegal.

Over the last weekend Borisov declared the illegal villas would be either demolished, either seized by the State. The Regional Minister now explains the demolition could end up being a long process over legal procedures and appeals.

Bulgarian environmentalists have long insisted for Simidchiev to be fired over illegal construction in protected areas.

The vacation village Stavri Dimovo, on the banks of the Ivaylovgrad dam, is better known by its nickname – The Customs Agents Village over the luxury mansion properties belonging to people from Sofia and the southeastern border town of Svilengrad, who are mostly senior civil servants such as Customs agents, traffic cops as well as businessmen.


Bulgaria Tax Agency: Sofia Outshines Varna in Luxury Properties

A luxurious house with a lake, located in a village near the Bulgarian city of Varna, has impressed the National Revenue Agency (NRA) the most during the probes of upscale real estate at the Black Sea coast.

The NRA's Head of Communications Directorate, Rosen Bachvarov, has refused to disclsoe the name of the village or the owner of the house.

On Wednesday, the tax agents were taking pictures of beach properties from a helicopter. This was part of a massive NRA probe on luxurious real estate.

"
The campaign aims at mapping upscale properties all over the country, which for one reason or another have not been accessible overland,"
Bachvarov said.

He explained that about 20 properties have been noted during the first helicopter flight over the Varna region. They included several hotels and big houses with huge yards and pools.

However, he pointed out that they could not come close to the luxurious properties that have alreasy been established near Sofia.

About 300 properties have been mapped for a week during the NRA air campaign, which registered illegal constructions, tax frauds and suspicions of malfeasances.

Several regional Prosecutor's Offices have been included in the operation because of potential tax frauds.

In Sofia, the tax inspection has included other institutions as well, like the Prosecutor's Office, the Construction Control Directorate and municipal authorities.

Bachvarov has stated that due to the cases of illegal construction, even Sofia's main architect, Petar Dikov, had decided to join the checks. In his words, the pictures taken from the helicopter did not exist in the municipal registers.

Two more flight are expected on Wednesday, aiming at mapping properties south of Varna. On Thursday, the tax agents will inspect the southern Black Sea coast.

"
Next week, the helicopter will take pictures of luxurious properties at the heart of the country,"
Bachvarov said and refused to specify the exact region.

I like the idea of auditing these morons, throwing them in prison, and then the government auctioning off all these properties built with stolen money. Greed is not good, What a joke! and this country wants to be member of Schengen?

[size=55:2h823hbs]Eu observer 19 October 2010

Bulgaria deploys helicopters to hunt tax dodgers

Bulgaria has deployed helicopters fitted with cameras to fight internal tax evasion, which has become something of a national sport.

Officials from the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA) are flying over areas where the country's 'nouveaux riches' have built undeclared villas and houses. They plan to use aerial photographs in court to discover where the money to build these residences originated from and to recover unpaid taxes.


[size=85:2h823hbs]Villas with swimming pools look suspicious to Bulgarian fiscal authorities

Although the helicopters have been flying for over a week there is still no news about the value of their finds, but the images – widely publicised in the media – are impressive.

Travelling over the scenic Rhodope Mountains to the south and along the eastern coast, the helicopter cameras have shot pictures of whole villages of luxurious country houses complete with green lawns and swimming pools. Near the capital Sofia they have spotted posh mansions and even small palaces.

In one of the most dramatic cases, agents photographed a village of around 80 illegal villas built in the mid-1990s in a no-entry safety zone around an artificial drinking-water dam in the Rhodopes. Most of the buildings lack mandatory construction permits and no taxes have been paid for them. They are predominantly owned by customs officers, a group notorious in Bulgaria for corruption.

Prime minister Boiko Borisov has ordered all the dam-side villas to be demolished, and officials in charge of tax and building control to be fired instantly.

"
In recent years tax dodging has turned into a national sport,"
said NRA agency chief Krasimir Stefanov. "
It is unusual to play by the rules in Bulgaria and my job is to instil a certain discipline."


But why does it take a helicopter to discover such bulky pieces of real estate? Would it not be easier to drive there or to look in Google Earth?

"
Much of the property is hidden in the woods and can't be seen,"
said NRA spokesman Rossen Bachvarov.

"
There are huge paradoxes,"
said Mr Stefanov. "
Houses built in the woods, outside urban regulation lines, without any construction permission and without a single cent paid in taxes."


Bulgarian authorities have turned a blind eye to the illegal buildings during two decades of chaotic post-Communist transition.

"
For more than 20 years now the state has been idle or absent,"
said the Bulgarian agriculture minister Miroslav Naidenov. "
Now we have just one option – to demonstrate that it is there."


Mr Stefanov said one in three luxury buildings in Bulgaria are not registered to their real owner but under assumed names, clearly to evade paying tax.

"
Physical persons surviving on a minimum wage possess property worth seven-digit sums,"
he said. "
In our practice we meet hundreds of proxies who are jobless, have no incomes, but own property worth millions."

Well what can I say it amazes me that the Bulgarian government will go to these lengths but when it comes to looking after others like the Orphans !! where are they then?

sarah

Sarah wrote:

Well what can I say it amazes me that the Bulgarian government will go to these lengths but when it comes to looking after others like the Orphans !! where are they then?

sarah

Totally agree with you Sarah - I am lost for words

Oddy

Road to Bulgaria's 'Customs Agents Village' Built with EU Funds



The order to build the notorious vacation village "
Arda,"
better known as The Customs Agents Village, was signed in 2000 by the then Regional Minister, Evgeni Chachev.

The information was reported Wednesday by the Governor of the southern Haskovo Region, Rumen Danev, upon the conclusion of the probe he requested in the vicinity of the Ivaylovgrad dam.

The probe was triggered by the disclosure of pictures made by employees of the National Revenue Agency, who flew in a helicopter over 45 properties, constructed illegally on State lands on the of dam and involved properties in the village of Stavri Dimovo aka The Customs Agents Village and those located between the villages of Malki Voden and Borislavtsi.

Danev says illegal buildings in Stavri Dimovo have been located as early as 1998, leading to the 2000 order.

Based on the order a municipal cadastre map was prepared but everything stopped there because the village was not approved, according to the Governor.

The current probe found three electric power distribution posts. The village also has plumbing and sewage. Information about who is paying the electric bills has been requested by the power utility EVN along with information about the water bills.

The only new water-main is connected with the villa of the Head of the Customs in the town of Svilengrad, Stefan Marashev, and it is unclear how the other owners get water and pay for it, Danev says.

Municipal data shows that only 6 to 8 of all buildings in Stavri Dimovo are legal.

The probe also found about 11 illegal trailers and sheds between Malki Voden and Borislavtsi and the authorities are looking for their owners.

Meanwhile, another scandal broke involving The Customs Agents Village after it was discovered the road leading to it was built with EU funds, as the sign at the junction reads.

Also on Wednesday, the Director of the Bulgarian Customs Agency, Vanyo Tanov, informed that Head of the Customs in the Southern city of Svilengrad, Stefan Marashev, is keeping his job and would not face legal proceedings, because the preliminary probe failed to collect any evidence in order to press legal charges, despite the fact his dismissal was personally requested by Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov.

Marashev is insisting his property is legal.

The vacation village Stavri Dimovo, on the banks of the Ivaylovgrad dam, is better known by its nickname – The Customs Agents Village over the luxury mansion properties belonging to people from Sofia and the south-eastern border town of Svilengrad, who are mostly senior civil servants such as Customs agents, traffic cops as well as businessmen.

From the Sofia Echo

Legal procedures that would enable the demolition of illegal buildings on the Iskur Dam and the fishing village near Bourgas have been launched so that the actual demolition can start by the end of the year.

Scores of illegal properties and buildings have been earmarked for demolition, according to Minister of Regional Development Rossen Plevneliev, as quoted by the Bulgarian National Television on November 2 2010.

Plevneliev said that in the area of the Iskur Dam alone, the legal procedures for properties pending demolition totalled 96 requests, while in the fishing village near Bulgaria's second largest coastal city there were about 120 structures that would be razed.

Near the Ivaylovgrad Dam, there were 90 orders which have been issued for the demolition of properties, but these were still being appealed in court. Meanwhile, the owners of a further 40 properties in the same area already have received eviction orders, and were told to clear out.

The demolition would cost the Regional Development Ministry would likely exceed 110 000 leva according to the report. The action would be relentless however, and there will be no let up, no matter what the cost.

"
It is about time the Bulgarians feel the power of the state,"
Plevneliev said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Finally, the Ministry was contemplating amending existing rules, or making new ones altogether, which would make it significantly easier to demolish such illegal properties in the future.

===============================================================================

A few people to be eating lead over this no doubt

This could be interesting but I don wonder where they will stop? if they were to get rid of all the illegal buildings then Bourgas will be desolate

Residents of Nessebar protest against demolition of homes (novinite)

Residents of the old town of Nessebar have blocked access to Bulgaria's iconic port town and have threatened to protest against the planned demolition of illegal homes, Bulgaria media reported.

The Directorate for National Construction Supervision has earmarked several buildings in town for demolition, seven of which are due to be razed on November 15. Some of the buildings are to be flattened completely. Others will have their second floors removed because the structures are considered "
too tall"
.

Nessebar is a World Heritage site and has a Unesco status since 1983. But concern have been raised repeatedly that because of the ongoing construction in and around the town, Nessebar may lose its status.

But the home-owners have cried foul play on the side of the Government, stating that there is a double standard employed especially for unnamed "
owners"
, investors and businessmen from Sofia.

"
They (people from Sofia) can come in here and build whatever they like, they pay what and where they need to pay, and everything is legal in the end,"
people in the crowd told reporters from the private Bulgarian television channel bTV

Four people have so far been arrested by the police, as protesters and officers clashed on the bridge leading to the ancient town, but there were no further disturbances reported afterwards. Protesters, however, have vowed to remain there indefinitely, saying bulldozers and other equipment will not be allowed in the town.

"
The entire problem with Unesco is overinflated and exaggerated by the media. Those people (the protesters) have been systematically lied to by the National Institute for Monuments and Culture,"
Nikolai Dimitrov, mayor of Nessebar, told reporters.

"
For some people it is permissible to build and for others it isn't,"
he added. "
People from Sofia who built large hotels had them legalized while citizens here who built one or two extra rooms are told they must have them demolished – simply because they don't have the connections in Sofia"
.

The ancient part of Nessebar is situated on a peninsula (previously an island) connected to the mainland by a narrow man-made isthmus. It bears evidence of occupation by a variety of different civilisations over the course of its existence. Its abundance of historic buildings prompted Unesco to include the Bulgarian town in its list of World Heritage Sites in 1983.

Traditionally, "
the Pearl of the Black Sea"
has been a prominent tourist destination, a favourite among Bulgarian and foreign tourists alike. Its popularity, however, has also contributed to over-construction and the town's urban expansion.

Court Case Filed against Demolitions in Bulgaria's Nessebar (novinite)

A case has been filed with the Administrative Court in the Black Sea city of Burgas against the State's move to demolish illegal buildings in the historical, coastal "
Old Town"
Nessebar.

The Old Town is on UNESCO's world cultural heritage sites list.

The case is against the action of the State National Construction Control (DNSK) agency, scheduled for Monday where six illegally-built houses and two stores were to be taken down. The claim has been submitted Friday by one of the affected owners, Maria Lyahovich, on the grounds the move comes right before the beginning of the winter and would leave families homeless and the demolition would damage legal construction as well.

Residents hope for a speedy legal procedure of no more than 10 days. The claim, however, cannot stop the planned DNSK activities while the Court can postpone the demolition, but not ban it.

People, who have made a human fence in the area, vow to remain there and to not allow their homes to be destroyed.

Gathered under the motto "
Old Nessebar – Eternal but Alive,"
about 100 people and 50 vehicles have been blocking the bridge over the isthmus connecting the old part of the town with the new one since Sunday evening.

Clashes between the police and the demonstrators, waiving black flags and posters, and four arrests, have been reported over the authorities' attempt to break the human fence.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Regional Development, Rosen Plevneliev, vowed his institution will follow the laws in the country, adding it is high time for Bulgarians to understand the easiest construction is the legal one.

Owners of Illegal Residential Buildings in Sofia to Face Penalties (novinite)

More than 2000 residential buildings in the Bulgarian capital are illegally occupied because they have not been registered in the city's land records, the Sofia Chief Architect, Petar Dikov, informed.

The illegal buildings have been found during the operation Helicopter by the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency, which mapped out luxury properties and mansions around the city through air surveillance in order to identify their owners and investigate their sources of wealth.

In Dikov's words, the 2000 buildings were found in the Sofia districts Pancharevo, Vitosha, Ovcha Kupel and Bankya. They were not only family houses, but also apartment blocks.

The architect said that the owners of all illegal buildings that have not paid taxes to the Sofia municipality will be penalized.

"
The Sofia municipality will request the relevant interest on the taxes for the last five years. We might propose to introduce a fine for such occasions. It is very possible,"
Dikov said.

He has explained that the number of illegal company buildings is far smaller than the 5% unregistered family residential buildings. He added that the most difficult is the situation with apartment blocks that have not been registered in the land records.

"
In these cases, we have many specified buyers and incorrect entrepreneurs. We should not evict someone who has bought an apartment, has given a lot of money, has moved in, only because the entrepreneur did not do his job and has not fixed the power, the power station and the street,"
Dikov said, adding that the buyers' culture in terms of legislation needs to improve.

Dikov has explained that the information system for all permits and other documents, issued by the Architecture and Urban Spatial Development Service since 2006, will be ready by the end of the year. In his words, the system will put all documents in order and they will be available as soon as they are requested, as they will be in electronic form.

In September and October, the Bulgarian tax authority started Operation Helicopter, which aimed at mapping luxury properties and mansions around the country.

In October, the tax agency said in a statement the good results, i.e. bringing a turnover of BGN 2 B out of the grey economy and extracting the respective VAT, was the result of the many tax inspections.

Royal Palace Hotel in Nessebur is also illegally built



The siege of Nessebur has been spiced up with yet another bizarre twist. For more than a week now, local residents of Nessebur's old town have manned the barricades, protesting against the Government-led Operation Bulldozer, a plan to raze small stores or "
add-ons"
to people's buildings, under the pretext that they ruin the look of the old town, and threaten its Unesco status.

Residents, however, are enraged at what they perceive to be a Government double standard. They claim that their "
little stores"
are being sacrificed so that authorities can "
wash their eyes"
while large hotels, built by people with money and political influence who have "
obviously"
flouted the law, are immune.

The latest development comes after a report from Bulgarian National Television. The investigation revealed that the controversial Nessebar Royal Palace Hotel, built near John the Baptist church, symbol of Nessebur, was erected there with false documents.

The hotel is perched on what used to be the Nessebar Baths. The site was then bought by Georgi Iliev in the 1990s. Initially, the place was transformed into a food outlet. In 2002, however, a new owner bought the site, which was then restructured again and a hotel was erected by architect Kalin Tiholov, the current deputy deacon of the Architecture Faculty in Sofia.

At the time the project was approved by the National Institute for Monuments of Culture. However, the BNT report revealed the original blueprint of the hotel – a design portraying a significantly smaller building than its actual size, a building which is dwarfed by the church. In reality however, the hotel is significantly larger, and taller than the church.

According to the report, Tiholov was not only the architect of the hotel, but also the owner of the entire establishment, as well as the land. But when asked why is the church smaller, he could not give a straight answer to reporters.

"
So are those documents falsified?"


"
You are asking a very tendentious question,"
Tiholov said.

"
Ok, so I will ask a straight question – is the church taller than the hotel on this blueprint?"


"
Well, the way it is drawn – it is apparent that the church is level on from this side..."
Tiholov said.

If this hotel proves to be illegally built, Nessebur's residents will have more reasons to want justice, or in the worst case scenario – demand that their town is stripped of its Unesco status.

The tension in the seaside town has been continuing for a second week, as authorities pursue the demolition of properties and stores that were constructed without permission – and as such – threaten the status of the town as a World Heritage site.