The Landlord Declaration in Bulgaria: What the Owner Actually Signs

If you rent in Bulgaria and need to register an address, the owner's declaration is the document that most often holds things up. Not because it is complicated, but because three misunderstandings are remarkably persistent: that everyone involved has to go to the notary together, that one declaration covers a married couple, and that “notarised” can only mean one thing.

The short answer: Only the owner signs. The tenants do not sign it and do not accompany them to the notary. Which type of notarisation is needed follows from the tenants' residence status – not from the owner.

Who signs – and who does not

The owner's declaration is a one-sided statement. In it, the owner confirms that named people may live in their property and may use and register that address as their residence address. They have two routes:

• Attend in person – they come along to the competent office and present the declaration themselves. In that case the notarisation question does not arise in this form at all.
• Sign before a notary – they have the declaration certified in the appropriate form, and you submit it.

Either way, the tenants are not party to this declaration. The residence-document application is filed separately, normally by each adult in person.

Which notarisation – and why it can get expensive

Here is the real trap. There are two variants, they cost different amounts, and they are not interchangeable:

Tenants' status	What to ask the notary for
EU, EEA, Switzerland	Нотариална заверка на подписа – by reported practice, signature notarisation is enough where the owner does not attend in person
Third country	Нотариално удостоверяване на подписа и съдържанието, извършени едновременно – signature and content, certified simultaneously

Note what this keys off: the status of the person who needs the address, not the owner's nationality. A Bulgarian landlord signs in the more demanding form for a Canadian tenant and, usually, in the simpler one for a German tenant.

Confirm the variant with the competent office beforehand. The wrong notarisation is paid for and still gets rejected – and the owner has to make a second notary trip, which noticeably dents some landlords' willingness to help.

What belongs in the declaration

So the authority can verify who signed and what they signed for, the declaration should carry all of this:

• The owner. All three names, ЕГН or ЛНЧ, ID card number with issue date and issuing authority, permanent address.
• The property. Town, district, street, number, entrance, floor, apartment – and the cadastral identifier where there is one.
• Proof of ownership. The notarial deed details: number, volume, register number, notarial file number, date, and the notary's name and register number.
• The people. Each person with full name, date of birth, nationality, document number and – if already issued – their ЛНЧ.
• The express consent that the address may be used as a residence address and registered with the authorities.
• The basis of occupation, meaning the reference to the rental agreement with its date and term.

A complete Bulgarian draft to copy – with both legal bases to choose from – is on our overview page, Address registration in Bulgaria. It is explicitly a template for the notary appointment, not a form to file.

Two originals, not one

The classic couple's mistake: one declaration naming both spouses, properly notarised, one original. The first authority files it – and the second application is left with no proof.

So take either two notarised originals of the same declaration, or two separate declarations, one per person. It adds little at the notary and saves an entire second trip to the authority.

Do you also need the notarial deed?

A copy of the owner's notarial deed belongs in the safe package. The authority needs to be able to verify who signed as owner. For municipal address registration, proof of ownership or right of use is part of the document list anyway.

Ask the landlord for a clearly legible copy showing the number, volume, register and file numbers, date, the notary with their register number, the property address and the owner's name.

Frequently asked questions

Do the landlord and tenants have to go to the notary together?

No. Only the owner signs the owner's declaration. The tenants do not sign it and do not accompany them to the notary.

Is one declaration enough for a married couple?

Only with two notarised originals or two separate declarations. If the first office keeps the only original, the second application has no proof.

Which notarisation does the declaration need?

It depends on the residence status of the people registering the address. For EU, EEA and Swiss cases, reported practice is that signature notarisation is enough. For third-country nationals, signature and content are certified simultaneously where the owner does not submit the declaration in person.

What if I own the apartment myself?

Then you need no declaration from anyone else. As the owner you evidence the address with your proof of ownership.

The landlord refuses to go to the notary. Now what?

The alternative is that they attend the competent office with you in person. If they will do neither, you are missing the central document for a rented property – which makes this a point to negotiate when signing the lease, rather than a formality to solve afterwards.

Does the declaration also work for the municipal registered address?

Municipal address registration has its own prescribed form (“Декларация по чл. 92, ал. 3 ЗГР”). A free-text declaration written for Migration is not a substitute for it.

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Template and procedure in one place

The draft declaration, the matching notary wording and the document list by status are bundled at Address registration in Bulgaria. Why the original question – does the rental contract need notarising? – gets answered wrongly so often is covered in part one. If you are unsure which procedure is yours, talk to us.

As of July 2026. This article is editorial orientation, not legal advice. The competent authority is always the binding source.