Building technical passport in Bulgaria. What a buyer should check

 Bulgarian building technical passport records the construction's identifying and technical characteristics, documented alterations, maintenance measures and safe-use instructions. It is important evidence for a buyer, but it is not a guarantee that the building has no defects. Its legally defined scope is why it should be read together with the construction file and an inspection of the actual property. [Ordinance No. 5, Articles 4-7, Bulgarian State Gazette]

A missing passport does not automatically prove that an older building is unlawful. There is no longer a universal passport deadline for existing privately owned constructions. The building's date, construction history, applicable procedure and the reason why the document is unavailable must be established first. [Ministry of Regional Development on the 2021 change]

The statutory sources were checked on 19 August 2026. The English legal terms in this guide are explanatory translations of the binding Bulgarian texts. This is general information, not a technical or legal conclusion about a particular building. Use a structural engineer and Bulgarian property lawyer where there are alterations, visible cracks or inconsistencies between the documents and the physical property.

When is a technical passport prepared?

For a new construction, the passport is prepared after completion and before commissioning. For this procedure, Ordinance No. 5 generally defines a “new construction” as one with a building permit issued after 1 January 2007; it also captures certain earlier permitted constructions that had not yet been commissioned. A passport for an existing construction is based on a prescribed survey and assessment. [Ordinance No. 5, Articles 2 and 12-14 and Additional Provision § 1]

The law also requires a passport following reconstruction, comprehensive renovation, major repair or alteration of an existing construction. Later changes affecting its principal characteristics must be entered in a passport that has already been prepared. This can include certain works that do not need a building permit if they affect those characteristics. [Spatial Development Act, Articles 176a and 176b, Ministry source in Bulgarian] [Ordinance No. 5, Article 14(3)]

Where a development is lawfully built and commissioned in independently usable stages, passports may be prepared for those stages and later combined into one passport. In a phased development, therefore, ask which building or stage the document covers. [Ordinance No. 5, Article 3]

What does the passport contain?

The ordinance divides the passport into three parts. Part A records the principal characteristics, including identification, construction year, structural system, installations, energy characteristics, documented alterations and a list of available construction papers. Part B records survey results, required measures and repair periods. Part C gives safe-use instructions, including protecting the load-bearing structure and maintaining the building systems correctly. [Ordinance No. 5, Articles 4-7]

That structure turns the document into a practical set of questions. Is an urgent measure recorded? Has a recommended inspection or repair period passed? Is a known reconstruction included? If the passport calls for action, ask for evidence of what was done.

The passport is not a diary of every crack and it does not replace an apartment handover report. A new construction's passport is based on its completion documentation. For an existing construction, the survey includes review of the technical papers, inspections, measurements and calculations where needed. The basis on which the passport was prepared therefore affects what its information can tell you. [Ordinance No. 5, Articles 13 and 20-24]

What does the passport not prove?

The technical passport is not a permit for use or a commissioning certificate. It is one of the documents used in the commissioning procedure, but the competent authority issues the commissioning act separately. [Ordinance No. 2 on commissioning, Article 5, Bulgarian State Gazette]

It is not a cadastral scheme either. An energy performance certificate is also a separate document. The statutory list for commissioning a new building names the technical passport and the energy certificate separately. [Ordinance No. 2, Article 5(2)(10)]

Finally, the passport is not a current structural opinion about a particular crack or intervention. It may contain structural data and survey results, but a newly observed problem needs a site-specific assessment by an engineer.

Where is the passport kept?

One original is delivered to the developer or owner and another to the authority that issued the building permit. The owner must retain the passport, while the competent authority maintains an archive. Since the 2021 statutory amendment, the Spatial Development Act also provides for passports to be published in the Unified Public Register for Spatial Development. [Ordinance No. 5, Articles 15-18] [2021 amendment to the Spatial Development Act, § 59]

In a condominium building, request a copy from the seller and ask the building manager where the shared construction documentation is kept. If no copy is produced, also check with the authority that issued the building permit. Do not assume that the manager necessarily holds the only original.

How should a buyer review it?

Request the complete current document, not a photograph of its cover. Check the registration number, address, construction identifier, construction year and legal basis for preparation. Where an approved cadastral map exists, the passport's registration number for a building or separate unit corresponds to its cadastral identifier. [Ordinance No. 5, Article 4(2)]

Then compare the passport with the permit for use or commissioning certificate, the approved or as-built design documents and the physical property. The buyer does not need to diagnose a technical fault. The aim is to identify questions for a specialist: an unrecorded alteration, intervention in a common part, a different identifier, an outstanding measure or visible damage.

If something does not match, obtain a written explanation and the supporting records. Where the issue concerns the structure or the lawfulness of an alteration, defer any irreversible payment until the technical and legal review is complete.

Is there one deadline for all older private buildings?

No. The 2021 amendment retained a 31 December 2032 deadline for the categories of existing public state and public municipal constructions specified there. It set no universal compulsory deadline for other existing constructions. [State Gazette No. 68 of 17 August 2021]

The old blanket statement that “all buildings needed a passport by 2022” is therefore no longer correct. For a particular purchase, check whether a passport was required because of new construction, commissioning or later building works.

Next steps

Before paying a reservation amount, request the technical passport together with the commissioning document, [cadastral scheme] and title papers. If you are buying new construction, use the practical guide to [Act 14, Act 15 and commissioning] as a separate stage check. TV Property can organise the document set and sequence of independent checks for the particular property.

[Request a document review from the TV Property team]

Official sources

1. [Ministry of Regional Development: Ordinance No. 5 of 28 December 2006](https://www.mrrb.bg/bg/naredba-5-ot-28-dekemvri-2006-g-za-tehnicheskite-pasporti-na-stroejite/)
2. [Bulgarian State Gazette: original text of Ordinance No. 5](https://dv.parliament.bg/DVWeb/showMaterialDV.jsp?idMat=3183)
3. [Bulgarian State Gazette: 2021 deadline amendment](https://dv.parliament.bg/DVWeb/showMaterialDV.jsp?idMat=160759)
4. [Ministry of Regional Development: Spatial Development Act, consolidated through State Gazette No. 47 of 10 June 2025, Bulgarian](https://www.mrrb.bg/bg/zakon-za-ustrojstvo-na-teritoriyata-84665/)
5. [Bulgarian State Gazette: Ordinance No. 2 on commissioning](https://dv.parliament.bg/DVWeb/showMaterialDV.jsp?idMat=119224)