Private loans, receipts and payment demands in Bulgaria
Between private individuals in Bulgaria, money and belongings often change hands without paperwork, and the argument later is about what was agreed. Under the Obligations and Contracts Act (Закон за задълженията и договорите), a loan transfers ownership of money or other fungible things to the borrower, who undertakes to return the same sum, or things of the same kind, quantity and quality. Where no date for payment was fixed, the debtor is in default only once the creditor has demanded payment, so a written demand with a clear deadline is the first step in recovering a debt. The general limitation period is five years, and three years for interest and other periodic payments; an acknowledgement of the debt by the debtor interrupts the period, which then starts again.
The documents are in Bulgarian, and each page describes its document in English. The loan agreement between private individuals records the amount in figures and in words, how and when it was handed over, and when it is to be repaid. For a thing lent free of charge that has to come back itself, there is the loan for use. Cash handed over is evidenced by a receipt for money received, and at the last payment the debtor asks for a receipt for a discharged debt. An unpaid debt is pursued with a demand for voluntary payment, and a debtor who can pay in parts signs an agreement for payment by instalments, which acknowledges the debt and sets the schedule.
A private sale of equipment, furniture or tools uses the sale of movable property, and a present the deed of gift. A car is a different case, because the signatures on its sale contract are certified by a notary; see the vehicle documents. Each template is filled in online and downloaded as a finished PDF, or blank, to be signed by hand.
The documents
8 forms available to fill out or download.
Deed of gift for movable property
A gift between people close to one another is ordinary enough, but an undocumented gift creates two problems: there is later no proof of whose the thing is, and no proof that it was not a sale. The contract fixes who gives what to whom and from which date. A gift between lineal relatives and between spouses is normally exempt from tax; in every other case the municipality charges local tax, so check before signing.
Loan for use
For when you lend out a thing free of charge — a tool, a piece of equipment, a car, a room. It differs from a lease in that nothing is paid, and from a money loan in that the same thing comes back rather than its value. So the description of the item and its condition at handover carry the whole weight of the contract: without them there is no way to show that what came back is not what went out.
Agreement for payment by instalments
For when a debtor cannot pay in one go but can pay in instalments. The agreement acknowledges the debt, sets a repayment schedule with dates and amounts, and settles what happens on a missed instalment — usually that the whole balance falls due. For the creditor it beats silence; for the debtor, enforcement.
Receipt for a discharged debt
The document a debtor should ask for at the moment of the final payment, and then keep. The receipt identifies which obligation has been discharged, with what sum, and that the creditor has no further claim under it. Without one, a debt that has been paid goes on existing on paper — including if the creditor assigns it to someone else.
Demand for voluntary payment
A written demand is the step at which a debt stops being a conversation and becomes a matter of record. It identifies the obligation and the ground for it, gives a specific deadline, and states what follows if it is not paid. Send it so that there is a trace of its receipt — recorded delivery with a signature, or a notarial demand if the sum justifies it.
Sale of movable property
For a private sale of equipment, furniture, tools, instruments — anything handed over by hand. The contract describes the item, the price in words and in figures, and the seller's declaration that the item is theirs and is not pledged. Note that it will not do for a motor vehicle: there the law requires the signatures to be notarised.
Loan agreement between private individuals
When you lend money to a relative or a friend, this is the document that turns a spoken arrangement into an obligation that can be proved. It records the amount in figures and in words, when it was handed over and how, when it is repaid, whether there is interest and what is owed on late payment. The amount in words is not a formality: where the two disagree, a court reads the words.
Receipt for money received
Written evidence that a sum has been paid and received — on a private sale, a deposit, rent or a loan. It is completed by the person receiving the money and signed as the money changes hands.