House Transfer

After escaping from the heat of the minibus we continued to Sofia Central Bus Station and took the next bus to Pernik. 
The process of transferring ownership of a house is very different from that in England. Instead of transactions completed by solicitors, the exchange taking place and the money being paid from bank to bank via the lawyer authorisation, it was much more of a physical step by step. First we met the former owners and the estate agent at the notary in Pernik. There then followed explanation of documents and triple signatures. This was all witnessed by an official interpreter and accompanied by coffee, water and biscuits. 
It was only recently that non Bulgarian citizens were allowed to own land in the country. It was explained to me that as a foreigner I was only able to own one piece of land in Bulgaria. This of course prevents large scale foreign ownership in the country.
There then followed a walk to the bank where the monies were transferred. Then it was back to the notary to complete the documentation.
Without going into every detail, basically that was it.
Irina, the estate agent, (who had done so much work to make sure the deal went smoothly), Margarita and me then had lunch in the pedestrianised centre of Pernik, before returning to Sofia from Pernik Bus station.
My reserved stay at the Rotasar came to an end and I moved temporarily into Mihail and Velina's apartment in Dianabad, Sofia until we moved into the house on the 10th June. Summer had now kicked in and I felt somewhat conspicuous walking around dressed in winter boots and jeans.
I spent the next week travelling on the bus into Sofia, taking photos and generally getting used to the capital.