site.btaParliament Imposes Harsher Punishments for Unlicensed Nursing Homes

The organization and management of unlicensed nursing homes will be criminalized, the National Assembly decided on Thursday, adopting amendments to the Penal Code at second reading. Providing a social care service without a license will be punishable by up to five years in prison if the offender has already been subjected to an administrative penalty, according to the adopted amendments.

Lawmakers stipulated that anyone who provides a social or integrated health and social residential care service, or a social service for the provision of shelter, without the legally required license, after having previously been sanctioned administratively for the same offence, shall be punished by up to five years imprisonment and a fine of between BGN 1,000 and BGN 5,000.

The sanction also applies to any person who manages or represents a legal entity providing such services without a license and who has already been administratively penalized for the same violation.

The amendments foresee prison sentences of one to six years and fines ranging from BGN 5,000 to BGN 20,000 when the offence is committed by two or more persons who have conspired in advance, by using a document with false content, a false or forged document; for financial gain.

Sentences of two to eight years imprisonment and fines of between BGN 10,000 and BGN 50,000 will be imposed when the offence is committed by a person acting on behalf of, or in execution of a decision by, an organized criminal group, or in cases of dangerous repeat offence.

At the proposal of GERB–UDF MP Denitsa Sacheva, Parliament rejected a provision that would have introduced criminal liability for “anyone who provides social or integrated health and social residential care service, a shelter service, or an assistance support service, or performs work as a provider of such services, and who violates or fails to comply with quality standards, thereby endangering the life or health of a service user, unless the act constitutes a more serious crime, shall be punished with imprisonment of up to three years or probation.” The sanction would also have applied to persons managing or representing legal entities providing such services.

BSP–United Left MP Nina Dimitrova objected to the rejection of the provision and called for its adoption. Criminal liability, she argued, is a guarantee that no elderly person will be locked in an unlicensed social care home. It would also serve as a safeguard for those working in the system, helping to distinguish conscientious staff from unscrupulous ones, the MP said.

In 2025 Bulgarian authorities uncovered several cases of illegal nursing homes and unlicensed elderly care facilities, described as “horror homes”, with shocking conditions and mistreatment, where elderly residents were kept in abusive and unsafe conditions.

Authorities rescued dozens of people, arrested suspects, and expanded inspections. The Ombudsman’s Office proposed the establishment of a unified register of all social services in Bulgaria. All of these accelerated legal changes to impose criminal liability on unlicensed care providers for the elderly, initiated by the Justice Ministry.