One Day to Register Property
Bulgaria: Registration and Cadastre Project

• Overview
• Results
• Counterparts
• Task Team
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In the early 1990s, Bulgaria launched extensive reforms. The principles of private real property rights and liberalized land markets were restored in the legislation, so several land restitution laws were passed, affecting farmlands, forests, nationalized immovable properties, and expropriated properties. The farmland restitution, completed in the year 2000, produced nearly 8.3 million individual plots, belonging to approximately 1.9 million former owners. A land administration reform was called upon to solve a number of critical issues, including the fragmentation of land records, the lack of tenure security and the lack of trust in government institutions. Both in urban and rural territories, the maintenance system and technology for updating land records did not guarantee a reliable, continuous or timely update. As a result, the functioning of the real estate market was impaired by the poor quality of the official land records and land information services. This resulted in numerous disputes and it is estimated that 40 percent of all civil court cases were related to land tenure issues.

In 2001, the Bulgaria Registration and Cadastre Project was started to improve the coverage, completeness, accuracy, and responsiveness of the cadastre and property registration system. Improved cadastre and property registration systems contribute to a secure and efficient real estate market, and hence ultimately increased investments and economic growth. The project is in its final stages.

"The new system has made service much faster and better. Now we no longer have to go to several institutions, but receive services at one desk." —A Family From the Town of Lovech

"We are extremely happy with the implementation of the Cadastre and Registration Project, and our relations with the Bank team are excellent. Under the project we have covered the most active land market areas of greatest interest to investors with a cadastre map, and we hope to be able to cover the whole territory with the next project. We are ready to continue our work with the Bank on this and other projects." —Asen Gagauzov, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works

• Turnaround times for registering a real estate transaction and mortgage, and for cadastre map services, were reduced from seven days to one day.
• Security of data is being ensured through new computer technology introduced under the project.
• 3.5 million properties are covered by cadastre maps.
• The number of real estate transactions rose by 27 percent per year in the past three years.
• Rapid mortgage development facilitated 70 percent of recent property transactions.
• The cadastre office completed 275,358 services in 2007, while the registry agency completed more than 800,000.
• A joint information technology system collects the previously scattered property and cadastre data from several institutions in one place, allowing for easy access, transparency, and security of data.
• The newly established Cadastre Agency is functional with 28 regional offices fully renovated and equipped to service citizens. The Agency won the award of the Public Administration Ministry for efficient service to customers.

• Cadastre Agency
• Registration Agency
• Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works
• Ministry of Justice

• Anna Georgieva, Team Leader
• Gavin Adlington, Sr. Land Administration Specialist
• Blaga Djourdjin, Procurement Analyst

• Registration & Cadastre Project