Acquisition of movable property by possession in good faith

Under Bulgarian law exists the possibility of acquiring ownership of movable property or bearer securities by possession in good faith. It is provided for in Art. 78 of the Property Act. Under this provision, whoever acquires possession of the movable propety or bearer securities for consideration on a legal basis, albeit from a non-owner, but without so knowing, they have acquired the property, unless the transfer of ownership of the movable property requires a deed or notarized signatures. This rule also applies to the acquisition of other property rights over movable property.
The scope of Art. 78 PA includes two types of property - movable property and bearer securities. Movable is all property that is not real estate. According to Art. 110 PA immovable propety includes: land, plants, buildings and other structures, or anything that has been naturally or artificially firmly fixed to the ground or to the structure. Bearer securities are securities, whose rights that can be exercised by simple possession and presentation thereof.

There are exceptions to this rule and they are referred to in Art. 78 (2) PA, according to  which the owner of a lost or stolen property may seek it from a bona fide possessor within three years from the theft or loss.

In order to benefit from the Art. 78 rule, it is necessary to evidence several prerequisites. Firstly, the new holder have to have custody over the property. They need to have received it from the last holder, who must be a non-owner. Moreover, the possession must be surrendered on a valid legal basis - for example, a legal transaction. The legal basis should be supported by consideration. The new possessor must exercise good faith, i.e. at the time of the acquisition of custody they must not know that the supposed transferor is not the real owner. The existence of these prerequisites is presumed.