Security options

Hello, have you asked your mayor or neighbours.

In my village we paid for sercurity at mayor's office.

I don't know if they're any good or if they cover the villages, but there's an SOT with an office in the bus station in Toshevo.

@mickg

Im reading these post so im now wondering when you take out secure on ypur home do ypu do it throw the village . Or a security company connected to the village .

@Janearnasalam

SOT is a bit hit and miss in the villages, and you have to factor in response times when the village is sparsely populated or remote from the company's base.

They also don't have a particularly good reputation, even including claims that they burgle you themselves. If you feel you need SOT then make sure you have good insurance on the property and contents; you may well find that you'll get a better deal insuring through a UK broker/company. You'll find discussions on these topics if you search on this site.

Hello, have you asked your mayor or neighbours.
In my village we paid for sercurity at mayor's office. - @mickg

And what do they offer in terms of security? Just look at the big supermarkets with their geriatric "security guards"....😂

My Bulgarian neighbours (retired) also pay for security.

Suppose it keeps the thieves on their toes.

Was viewing a property once when alarm went off, 3 guys looked like bouncers turned up pretty quick. Would not want to mess with them.

@JimJ

Thank you, Jim.

Unfortunately, my property was recently broken into and completely stripped. I truly mean everything was taken — doors and frames, electrical sockets and fuse box, the fitted kitchen and bathroom, radiators, and even the flooring. The house was left in such a state that it now resembles a newly constructed shell. I was surprised they did not take the windows or the front door, although I suspect they may have intended to return for those as well.

As a result, the property has been entirely gutted, and I am now in the process of restoring it. I currently have building insurance in place; however, as the house is empty, I do not yet have contents insurance.

I am now considering the most suitable alarm system to install. My intention is to occupy the property for approximately 9 to 12 months of the year, but I want to ensure it is properly secured in my absence. Given the circumstances, I believe there is a strong possibility of repeat attempts if the opportunity arises, so it is important that I am adequately protected.

I am also weighing up whether using a UK-based security provider would be practical, considering the property is located in Bulgaria, or whether a local solution would be more appropriate. I will carry out further research on this.

Thank you again for your advice — it is greatly appreciated

What an awful experience! I hope you can find good security -- and good insurance.

@janemulberry

Thank you Jane. Im Hoping the insurance provider will be adequate as well lol. You know its strange really because there was only 250 people at the time living in my village.  There is only 100 now and one of these family's are young everyone else is pension age and older lol so im hoping its alot safer now lol.

It's a heartbreaking thing to have happen. It may well have been people from another village -- it seems everyone knows which are the empty expat renovated houses.

People must surely have noticed the activity at your house, unless it's quite isolated. But I guess if they haven't seen you for a while, they may have thought it was work you wanted done.

When you're there more often it should be less likely to happen again, especially if you come and go in an irregular pattern so there's n time they can be sure the house is empty.

Insurance --  the local insurers have the same clause that UK ones do -- they won't pay out if the house is ever left unoccupied for longer than a month. Some specifically exclude theft and burglary, so make sure you check just what is covered. In other threads on insurance here, @JimJ recommends his UK insurer who he says offer a very good (though more expensive) cover for holiday homes. With insurance it does seem to be very much "you get what you pay for". Now our place is never empty longer than a week or two at a time I went with local insurance. But getting them to pay out if anything happens could be a challenge!

"Holiday Home" insurance is the best bet if you're not living in the property - they expect the property to be empty for long periods; I'm very happy with the cover I get, and the prompt payment when I was burgled. The main thing with UK-type insurance is that they offer "New for Old" cover - I was unable to find any Bulgarian insurance that offered this but it was some years ago when I was investigating the market so things may have changed. I also find the fixed maximum sum of £1million for rebuilding quite comforting, as well as the Legal Expenses cover.  The only thing to watch out for is that you're required to drain down the water system if the property is unoccupied for a lengthy period, and you need to ensure that it doesn't get cold enough for pipes to freeze and cause subsequent damage (another plus for using AC as your primary heating). 

They won't cover a property that you live in permanently but they're also very flexible about exactly what constitutes a "holiday home", so for example if you live in Bulgaria and happen to have two properties and a spouse/partner then each of you can be registered as resident in one of the properties and can each get a Holiday Home policy to cover the property you're not registered in. 😁

@Janearnasalam

The unpalatable reality is that it was very likely one of your neighbours who burgled you, or perhaps tipped the thieves off - or just talked too much.  I have a British friend who's lived in his Bulgarian village for years; he's been burgled several times and he's pretty sure he knows exactly which of his neighbours is the culprit, but "knowing" and "proving" are two different things. The law also works a bit differently here: in our case the house was burgled from the first floor - the thieves parked a van outside and climbed onto our first floor verandah from the roof of the van. The police managed to track down some of the loot in the possession of a neighbour 100 metres further down the street.  However, the tealeaf came out with the usual "met a man in a pub" routine and they didn't take it any further, although they did relieve him of his booty.  This being Bulgaria, I was then taken aside by another neighbour who explained that this Pink Panther lived with his aged grannie and it would be the end of her if he were to be arrested; presumably grannie is too short-sighted to notice that he's also a drug dealer who's not averse to sampling his own products. We did get eventually our telly back from the cops but they insisted on keeping it for "forensics"; I'm sure it was sheer coincidence that the forensic examination concluded the day after the World Cup finished!

Some foreign residents rely on sharp-eyed neighbours to protect them from burglars and are then surprised to discover that the same neighbours can't protect themselves against thieves.  In fact your neighbours will be delighted to have a (relatively) "rich foreigner" living in the village - you're a MUCH better target than they are. 😎

Thank you to everyone for your help — I truly appreciate all the advice shared. I will take the time to carefully consider all of my options.

I currently have building insurance in place, and I am considering extending this to include contents insurance as well. I am also in the process of installing an alarm system, along with additional solar-powered cameras, which will be positioned discreetly around the property for added security.

Given my location at the end of the village, there is generally no reason for anyone to approach the house. I also expect to be living there for at least 10 months of the year, and the property will be gated. Overall, I am taking all reasonable steps to ensure both the property and my personal safety.

As for my home in the UK, I will be leaving it for my son while he is at university. It will also remain a place I can return to if needed, as well as a base for my other children should they ever require it. With four boys and four girls, it provides a reassuring safety net for the whole family and gives me peace of mind.

Thank you again for all your support.

@JimJ

You made me laught TEALEAF 🤣🤣🤣🤣 how old are you i wonder. I haven't heard this since I was 6 years old lol.

@Janearnasalam

I am decidedly over 21 - several times over.... 😎

@Janearnasalam

I'd think carefully about cameras, especially solar-powered ones - the local footpads and cutpurses will be happy to half-inch them.

You might also bear in mind that you might not like what you see with the cameras: residents in our Quarter of Sofia (supposedly salubrious and generally up-market, at least until I turned up 😎 ) regularly post security camera footage of uninvited and masked nocturnal visitors ransacking their houses while they and their families are asleep inside. Apparently, they're pretty good at getting into, and moving around in, people's homes without waking them..

@Janearnasalam

Sorry to hear of your distressing stripping experience. I'm guessing your best protection will be physically occupying the property most of the year. It's not impossible to burgle someone while they're tucked up in their bed, but I don't think it's typical. It's a little bit awkward if you want to move back in, but I'd recommend you don't restore the place to its former glory until you've got your residence visa sorted and you're ready to live here full-time.

@JimJ

"Footpads and cutpurses"? You must be over 21 by at least ten times for that one!

@gwynj

Yes this is what im trying  to do . But im hoping to get the water on and the electricity. Then I will drive my furniture over and leave my van there fly home and drive back in my car with my doberman. Also as im an avid hunter would I need to apply for a hunting license and a firearms license. 

@JimJ

Im not in Sofia,  im 5 hours drive north thank God, more towards Burges.  But if they want to come into my home uninvited,  they better be prepared I will defend myself . So to be honest I don't scare easy. And it will be quite difficult to get in without hitting some alarm or camera. But you have given me food for thought.

@Janearnasalam

The most likely candidates for your previous nocturnal visitors won't be alone but they will be "tooled up" - they'll also most likely be no strangers to violence and knife fights. The legal system here isn't all it could be and trying to forcibly prevent yourself being robbed (especially if you're insured) may not be worth getting into a world of hassle over. Justice is a rare enough commodity in the UK but BG is on another level! If you do dish out enough to force them to leave empty-handed, and especially if hit even one of them, then that is a family insult and WILL be "avenged", no matter what. Don't ever put yourself in that situation - your only option would be to sell up and move post-haste.

If you really must be gung-ho about it, you will need to better equipped* than they are and be prepared to use it - but it would need to be the last resort. Ideally you need secure external doors and bars on the windows, it's quite likely that your visitors may pop around again one evening..

*If you want a few suggestions about "anti-vermin equipment", feel free.to PM me.

@JimJ
"Footpads and cutpurses"? You must be over 21 by at least ten times for that one! - @janemulberry

Couldn't resist it...😳

@Janearnasalam

You'll have long ago sold up and moved elsewhere before you see a shotgun/rifle permit, I'm afraid.  For starters you have to have Permanent Residency, so that's a five-year wait; that's not really a problem, though - it'll give you a chance to learn to read, write and speak Bulgarian well enough to pass the first stage of getting a hunting licence, which is a written theory test followed by a Shooting Proficiency test.  The tests are usually only held once a year. That isn't the end though: you next need to pass the Safe Firearms Handling Course (lasting about a week, IIRC), written and practical, in Bulgarian again. Once through that, you apply to the KOS department of your local police HQ for a Permit to Acquire; they'll want various additional documents (psych evaluation, Criminal Records certificate) and to inspect your gun safe to ensure it conforms to the regs.

That permits you to buy and own a shotgun, but not a "firearm" in the usual sense.  For that, you'll have another two years to wait before being permitted to purchase a rifle. If the varmints burgle you during the day and hack your gun safe out of the wall with all your goodies in it, you're in serious doo-doo: there's a 2,500 euro fine and a good likelihood of a criminal charge of negligence - "losing" a firearm is treated very seriously here. The cops also carry out surprise inspections, to ensure that the gun safe is being used and to check that the requirement for having every gun stored unloaded is being observed.  You are also the "sole custodian" of your weapons - if the cops ever discover that your spouse/partner/children/anyone else so much as knows where you keep the key to the gun safe, you can kiss your hard-earned permits goodbye..  If you're burgled and you hope to get to the gun safe, open it, load your weapon and be ready to repel boarders then you're going to have to move pretty sharpish.  Even if you do succeed, you've now told the burglars that you have guns in your house and they'll be back for them sooner or later; if you injure or kill one of them, as I said before - you'd better be prepared to sell up and move PDQ because they WILL be back, and not just to rob you. This is the Balkans, wars have started here over less...

@Janearnasalam

As @jimj indicated, firearms licenses are probably a bit of a mission. As a lad, I quite enjoyed a bit of pigeon/rabbit shooting with an airgun, which typically requires no firearms registration (up to 24 joules, fairly hefty, in Bulgaria). On the other hand, you still need your hunting license, which, for foreigners, is probably also a bit of a pain in the proverbial. Unless, as per many things here, you just need to find your local hunting association, find the friendliest, English-speaking member, and he'll be happy to explain who (and how much) you pay to get your hunting permit with minimal aggravation.

I'm not sure that trying to get a dodgy gun licence via a (probably very substantial) "bung" and a propensity for gung-ho sounding-off about "protecting yourself" in a BG version of the early days of Dodge City are a recipe for a peaceful existence in a new country.  Nonetheless, 21 Boulevard “Nikolay Stoletov” is ostensibly a fairly prestige  address, and very handily placed for the large Kaufland just next door 😎 It's also a 5-minute stroll from one of our properties.. 😁

This page is also interesting reading:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati … n-bulgaria

@janemulberry

There are plenty of documentaries on YouTube showing the pleasures of life in Sofia Central Prison; women get a billet in the prison in Sliven, the only one in the country for females..

😀

@gwynj

Thank you I will do my research in this for sure.

@janemulberry

This really dosnt concern me that much. My line of work will protect.

Oh dear! As a solo female soon to be retiree I hadn't considered any of this as a possibility! So .. plenty of big barky dogs, and a trusted house sitter will be a necessity. failing that I'll have to go for one of those 380 Rio solar powered cameras that let you floodlight and track intruders and would allow me to "shout profanities" at them through my phone ??? (And absolutely no signs of wealth, only basic roof repairs until I get my Visa D

@beewoman2

I've found Bulgaria just as safe as the UK for a lone female traveller. Though I'm married, all my time in my Bg house over the past three and a half years has been on my own, travelling as a lone woman in my 60s and somewhat disabled. I was very apprehensive before my first trip to the house -- bought on ebay without seeing it, in a region we'd never visited-- because I had no idea what I was going into.

But I can honestly say despite my initial concerns I've never truly felt unsafe there, even sleeping at night with wide open windows and doors. Okay, some of the night noises startled me initially. Feral cats, hedgehogs, and other critters in the garden are surprisingly noisy and even when the old windows were closed the paper-thin glass made noises outside sound as if they were in the room! But nothing has ever been a threat to my safety. Nothing has been stolen, not even tools left in the garden. The neighbours are friendly and helpful.

I kinda wonder if having a security system just signals to thieves that the house has things worth stealing. Though it may deter casual thefts and probably make your insurance more likely to pay out, it won't stop the serious thieves. Our approach has been lower key. Getting to know people. Making friends and joining in community activities. Trying to learn Bulgarian. Supporting local shops rather than roaring in and out in a 4X4 full of groceries bought in town. Coming and going in an irregular pattern so thieves won't be sure when the house will be empty. Keeping things low key and not showing any flashy suggestions of wealth. I suspect our neighbours may have at least as much net worth than we do, anyway, maybe more. They definitely have the wide-screen TVs we don't have and won't have! 

So far, so good.

Sadly in some areas doing all the right things may not help. Determined thieves will even chisel electrical wiring out of the walls for the value of the copper. I would have thought honest work would pay better for the labour involved there!

But I don't think the risks, at least in my Bulgarian village, are higher than in our "nice" UK market town, where we've had three bikes stolen, garden plants and other items left outside are regularly stolen or trashed, our car and neighbour's cars vandalised, phones stolen, people regularly are seen going up and down the street testing car doors and house doors to see what might open, and hubby has been assaulted twice by the same gang of feral teens who are allowed to run amok because they're under age, and even if one could get the police to do anything, the kids are underage so they can't touch them.

We are counting the days until we can move to Bulgaria!

I do like the idea of a system that lets you shout profanities down the phone to any intruders, though! Like the Phoenix Nights car alarm --"Get back you b*st*ard, I'll break your legs!"

@beewoman2

If you have big barky dogs make sure that they are trained never to eat any "treats" that may mysteriously appear in the garden; burglars, and assorted nutters, in BG have a habit of poisoning dogs, and cats, often for no discernible reason (apart from the burglars, of course).  The preferred concoction is antifreeze and the results are appalling to see or read about when it happens to other people's household pets, and even worse if they're your own.

I have heard about the anti-freeze trick - dreadful! My cats are (and will remain indoor cats. Any dogs will be trained not to pick up anything or take anything without a signal . I need to get the Bulgarian translation for "Get back you b*rst*rd, I'll break your legs!" immediately so I can start practicing. 🤣 I might have to start making silicon security guards to place round the property 🤣

I guess I just have to hope I am choosing the right village

Махни се назад, копеле, ще ти счупя краката! according to Google Translate, though @JimJ may be able to offer a better version.

@janemulberry

Well, if you want to make it short and sweet, I'd suggest "Махайте се от имота ми, боклуци, или ще ви строша скапаните крака!" ("Get off my property, you scumbags, or I'll break your f**king legs!")

If you'd like to up your street cred with neighbours and burglars alike, a longer version might be: "Изчезвайте от тука, шибани копелета, или ще ви изпочупя шибаните крака, майка ви дейба!" ("Piss off out of here, you f**king bastards, or I'll break your f**king legs, you motherf**kers!" However, do NOT use this kind of language in polite company or even jokingly in conversation as you'll have the local Babas fainting in the street...😱

If you chose version 2, you might like to be aware that there isn't really a direct translation in Bulgarian for "MOFO" and, somewhat perversely you might think, the nearest equivalent is "майка ви дейба", which means "I had carnal knowledge of your mother", but expressed very crudely and obviously removing the incestuous aspect while introducing a slur on poor old Mum's virtue.  For the local ethnics, this is indeed a grave insult.. 😎

@JimJ

Thanks for these options 🤣 In the short term I will probably make myself an electronic gadget with a loud speaker connection with option buttons that I can just press. I will hire a native speaker with suitably gruff voice to record the various options. That way I can keep out of sight and press the preferred option button without making myself an obvious target and more importantly not limiting my potential friendships with any local babas 😍

@beewoman2

To paraphrase Virgil, "Timeo Babas vicanas et dona ferentes!"

Very early in my Bulgarian sojourn, I bought a renovated house in a village not far from Sofia (the one burgled some years later, which was when we learned that that the previous, British, owners had a couple of times returned to a stripped house - and once from a shopping trip to the local town to discover that their fridge-freezer.had disappeared while they were gone).

There was an old Baba living next door, with her ne'er do well alcoholic adopted son; she did all the work in her extensive garden and looked after the horse, couple of cows, chickens etc, as well as making cheese. She used to bring us a few eggs and a slab of sirene when she saw us; the cheese was okay as long as.you didn't dwell too long on the lack of hygiene involved in the making. We'd usually pay her for the foodstuff, over her none too strong insistence that it was a gift; after a bit the son would come round instead, bearing the "gifts" and haggling over the payment.

My Bulgarian was pretty vestigial in those days and I was surprised to find Baba at the door unexpectedly one morning, babbling about her son having died and having no money - for the burial, I surmised. I asked her in my broken Bulgarian if she was going to have him interred in the village graveyard and she looked at me, through floods of tears, as though I were insane.

When my wife turned up later in the day, Baba returned and repeated her lamentation. There followed a long and mostly incomprehensible (to me) conversation and an exchange of a fistful of Leva notes. Once Baba had departed, clearly not entirely satisfied with her loot, my wife explained the mystery to me: Baba Doika had two "men" in her life: one was the son, Doncho, and the other was the considerably more useful and reliable Dorcho, who was the horse. Unfortunately for her, it was Dorcho who'd gone to meet his maker and, to add insult to injury, when she'd gone round to invite the Rich Foreigner to buy her a replacement gee-gee, the bloody fool had asked if she'd given her erstwhile steed a Christian burial....😂

Twenty years later, Baba Doika is still going strong, although the livestock has gone and the garden is unkempt. Doncho is long gone, and she didn't even put up a Death Notice for him!

So beware of "gifts" from the "friendly" neighbours, they can lead you down some very unexpected rabbit holes....😎

Never tell stories like that with a writer around, @JimJ! I have a feeling that might end up in a novel! (Fictionalised a little more and with names changed to protect the guilty, of course!)

Hmm, there are several chapters in this thread, thinking about it....