British expats flock to former Communist country with £3k properties

Bulgaria: home of rose oil, numerous resorts on the Black Sea, some of the world's finest Byzantine preserved architecture - and somewhere in the region of 5,000 Britons.

The Balkan state, nestled at the edge of the former Eastern Bloc, is welcoming an influx of British expats attracted by its low cost of living, cheap property prices and the promise of Slavic sun.

Results from the 2021 Bulgarian census show there were 4,484 British citizens living in the country, up from 2,605 in 2011. 

Many are fleeing sky-high mortgages and spiralling interest rates in the UK - and snapping up dirt-cheap ramshackle properties to turn into their dream homes.

So enthusiastic are some buyers that they're buying plots and dr shazia faisal homes on eBay, often unseen, and knuckling down to restore them for far less than it would cost to renovate a similar property in Britain.

And they're moving out there despite it being the European Union's poorest state - with the lowest GDP per head of around £11,857, less than a third of the UK's - which is also in the throes of political turmoil.

Three rounds of attempting to form a coalition government last autumn eventually saw the right-leaning GERB and ITN parties form an uneasy alliance with the BSP - United Left. The election was marred by allegations of voter intimidation and fraud.

The spectre of Delyan Peevski, a heavily sanctioned oligarch accused of operating like a mafioso, still looms large despite his failure to win a spot in government.

Have YOU bought a property in Bulgaria? Email jon.brady@mailonline.co.uk 




Donna Hardy, from Scunthorpe, moved to Bulgaria last year and bought a huge house with land for just under £22,000





Jordan Vye pictured with daughter Fae outside their Bulgarian farmhouse





Britons have been moving to Bulgaria in increasing numbers in recent years to snap up bargain properties - like this £8,000 three-bed home primed for renovation





Welsh couple Maxwell and Leah Jones, who have snapped up the house pictured above, with their two kids Lorenzo and Indy





The inside of the house in Bulgaria - which the couple purchased without even viewing 

Peevski has been sanctioned in the UK and US over allegations of bribing government officials and embezzling state funds, while also leaning on the courts and the security services to protect himself from public scrutiny.

But despite being known as a 'mafia state' by many due to claims of political corruption, the allure of cheap homes, a low cost of living and sun by the Black Sea has been too much for expats to resist. 

Gemma Stevenson moved to the country in 2007 and set up Bulgarian Property Experts to help other Britons find their perfect home.