Question: I am buying a property in Bulgaria and the construction is now several months overdue. I was rather hoping to be able to use the property myself this year and also to rent it out for some of the summer, but this doesn’t look like it is now going to be possible. Is there anything that I can do about this?
Answer: This will depend very much on the contract that you have signed. The contract should have penalty clauses in it which set out what should happen if the construction is delayed. The penalties may be structured in several ways. Sometimes the penalties allow for a certain financial penalty of the property is not finished on time – either a set amount of compensation per day or a set percentage for the delay. Sometimes (but less frequently) the penalties are of a different nature – for example an upgrade on the specifications, a free furniture pack and so on.
Sometimes there are no penalties for late completion at all. In some cases the actual date for the finalisation of the construction is vague and therefore it is difficult to establish when eth penalties should start from.
The answer is to speak to your lawyer about the contract and they will be able to tell you what (if anything) you can do.
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