European property law
Squatters' rights in Bulgaria: acquisitive prescription, and why self-help is a crime
Ten years of continuous possession, or five if the possession is in good faith. Bulgaria is also unusually strict about owners who enforce their own rights: changing the locks in a dispute can be the crime of self-help.
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- Statutory period
- 5 or 10 years
- What's different here
- an owner who changes the locks can be charged with self-help
- Statute
- Zakon za sobstvenostta (Property Act), art. 79
Article 79 of the Bulgarian Property Act (Закон за собствеността) provides that ownership of real property is acquired by prescription through continuous possession for ten years, and through five years where the possession is in good faith. Courts require direct and complete proof of every element: possession, the intent to hold as owner and the full period.
Public state and municipal property cannot be acquired by prescription at all. Private state and municipal property was covered for years by a moratorium that stopped the clock, until the Constitutional Court declared it unconstitutional in Decision No. 3 of 24 February 2022, after which prescription on such property runs again.
Breaking into another person's home by force, threat or trickery is an offence under art. 170 of the Criminal Code. On the other side, art. 323 punishes self-help (самоуправство): exercising a disputed right yourself, outside the procedure the law sets, which can include an owner changing the locks on an occupant. It carries up to five years in prison. An owner recovers the property through the courts instead.
Where Bulgaria sits against the rest of Europe, in years
Of 31 places in Europe on these pages, 0 have a shorter clock and 28 a longer one or none at all.
How it unfolds
From the day someone moves in to the day a claim is possible
The same three stages in most places. The exact rule, and whether the last stage exists at all, is on each place's own page.
- Day oneMoving inCaught in the act, it is usually a matter for the police: a trespass, not a tenancy.
- Weeks to yearsSettled inOnce someone lives there, removing them usually takes a court order, the same route as for a tenant.
- After 5 or 10 yearsA claim becomes possibleOnly if every test held, without a break, for the whole period. Where the law allows no such claim, this stage never comes.
Not yours to do, once they have moved inChanging the locks, cutting the water or power, or removing belongings yourself. It is illegal in every US state and most places on these pages forbid it too. Each page says how removal works there.
Before it is ever a court case
The record a court asks for, kept as you go
Wherever your property stands, removing an occupant usually comes down to showing who had the right to be there, and since when. Dardaris files every lease, message and document for a building by date, so that record already exists on the day you need it.
- Every lease, with who signed it and when
- Every message with a tenant, on the thread it was sent in
- Every document, filed against the building it concerns
Frequently asked questions
How long is adverse possession in Bulgaria?
Ten years of continuous possession of real property, or five years if the possession is in good faith. Property Act, art. 79.
Can state or municipal land be acquired by acquisitive prescription in Bulgaria?
Public state and municipal property cannot. For private state and municipal property, a long moratorium ended when the Constitutional Court struck it down in February 2022, and prescription runs again.
Can I change the locks on someone occupying my property in Bulgaria?
Doing so where the right is disputed can be the crime of self-help under art. 323 of the Criminal Code, punishable by up to five years in prison. The lawful route is a court claim to recover the property.
Elsewhere in Europe
The same question, on a different clock. Every place sets its own period and its own shortcuts.
This is general information, not legal advice.Laws change, and a county or a city can add its own wrinkle on top of the state rule, the way New York City does. Confirm the current rule for your address before acting on it, and talk to a local attorney before relying on any of it in a real dispute.
Know who is actually in your property, before it becomes a court case.
Hand over one building and see every lease checked against what is actually happening on the ground.
14 days before the first charge · Nothing is switched on until you say so