Seventy four British citizens stormed on Wednesday into an apartment complex in the Bulgarian ski resort of Bansko, saying this is the only way to gain access to what they say is their property.

Scores of British people have, over the past two years, paid out large sums of money - estimated in millions of pounds sterling - on family housing in the Four Seasons complex in the town.

However, they have not been able to take possession of their property, because it has been sold on to a third party.

The angry foreigners called for justice and sticking to the laws and hinted that the sham owners are enjoying protection by high-level officials.

The investors are accusing the Bulgarian real estate company "Zekom" and its director, Roman Romanov, of illicit dealing. They say that Romanov lied not only to them, but to the real estate agency involved in the transactions - "Rockarch Estates", a London-based company.

The British contingent had bought up to 70 apartments at a "green" stage, paying out more that GBP 6 M between them, but they still cannot gain access to their properties.

The current problem with the Bansko complex is that the owners, who are business former associates - Nadia Sabeva and Reneta Kachashka - are entrenched in a legal battle.

Nadia Sabeva had sold 70% of the residential area to her partner Roman Romanov without notifying Kachashka, forging company documents and inserting false signatures on them on her behalf.

Both criminal and civil cases have entered Razlog Regional Court and Blagoevgrad District Court, according to Boris Borisov, a lawyer who is representing Reneta Kachashka.

She has argued that her associates Nadia Sabeva and Roman Romanov drained bank accounts large sum of money from the company by forgery of documents and her signature, in order to sell on the luxury apartments in the Four Seasons Hotel to another of their companies.

The British group have already tried mass protests to draw attention to their ongoing problems. They held a similar demonstration outside the complex at the end of February, and attracted considerable attention in the British press.