Timeshare ownership legalities
Discussion
Morning all,
I got this question from my Pa yesterday.....was wondering if there was anyone on here (i bet there is) with some knowledge......this is all I currently know!
"The lady we met today has a time share with de Vere's in Scotland. She has to pay £750 a year for the privilege of retaining said timeshare even if she doesn't use it. She would like to sell it but cant. They have said she has to go on paying until she sells it.
She says that if she stops paying they will come after her through the courts. Personally i think they are trying it on. If she stopped paying and waived her rights to ownership can you ask if there is anything legal that they can do. She doesn't want to ask a solicitor for advice as she might just as well go on paying. This is in perpetuity by the way and she can see the cost being passed on to her children.
It seems to me that if she gives up her rights then they can re-sell them and make a profit of her original payment."
I have obviously asked "what does the contract say" - but i find it unlikely that any sort of 'for eternity' type clauses are actually legally enforceable....but I may well be wrong
Any views anyone? ta muchly
I got this question from my Pa yesterday.....was wondering if there was anyone on here (i bet there is) with some knowledge......this is all I currently know!
"The lady we met today has a time share with de Vere's in Scotland. She has to pay £750 a year for the privilege of retaining said timeshare even if she doesn't use it. She would like to sell it but cant. They have said she has to go on paying until she sells it.
She says that if she stops paying they will come after her through the courts. Personally i think they are trying it on. If she stopped paying and waived her rights to ownership can you ask if there is anything legal that they can do. She doesn't want to ask a solicitor for advice as she might just as well go on paying. This is in perpetuity by the way and she can see the cost being passed on to her children.
It seems to me that if she gives up her rights then they can re-sell them and make a profit of her original payment."
I have obviously asked "what does the contract say" - but i find it unlikely that any sort of 'for eternity' type clauses are actually legally enforceable....but I may well be wrong
Any views anyone? ta muchly
Nightmare said:
She doesn't want to ask a solicitor for advice as she might just as well go on paying.
Many solicitors will give an initial session FOC or at low cost. Also, she should check her household insurance as she may have free legal advice. Scottish law at a guess, so treat English solicitor advice with caution unless they are aware of the differences.An infinite debt could not be passed to the children.
If she can't sell it, could she give it away? And how can she be sure that de Vere would be able to make any profit out of selling it if she can't?
As a matter of English law, a timeshare would be a discontinuous lease; the landlord could forfeit for failure to pay ground rent/service charge but that would not extinguish the contractual liability to pay the sum due. And the landlord is not obliged to forfeit. I have no idea about Scottish law though, so this is absolutely irrelevant.
As a matter of English law, a timeshare would be a discontinuous lease; the landlord could forfeit for failure to pay ground rent/service charge but that would not extinguish the contractual liability to pay the sum due. And the landlord is not obliged to forfeit. I have no idea about Scottish law though, so this is absolutely irrelevant.
Edited by Jobbo on Thursday 4th September 15:40
Vaud said:
Scottish law at a guess, so treat English solicitor advice with caution unless they are aware of the differences.
An infinite debt could not be passed to the children.
To be honest if they don't know that it is different they deserve to get sued if they pipe up and are wrong!An infinite debt could not be passed to the children.
Wrong side of the boarder for me so I will take my own advice and keep mum. That said I am also in the "I can't see how the debt can be multi generational" camp!
Just to confirm: you are asking on here a question asked by your father in respect of some some random woman he has met? Did you dad say "Hang on, I will ask my son to ask some people on a predominantly English based car forum about some contract they have never seen about a property in Scotland. That will solve it"?
If this random woman exists, tell her not to be so tight and to pay a Scottish solicitor for advice.
If this random woman exists, tell her not to be so tight and to pay a Scottish solicitor for advice.
Breadvan72 said:
Just to confirm: you are asking on here a question asked by your father in respect of some some random woman he has met? Did you dad say "Hang on, I will ask my son to ask some people on a predominantly English based car forum about some contract they have never seen about a property in Scotland. That will solve it"?
If this random woman exists, tell her not to be so tight and to pay a Scottish solicitor for advice.
Yep - 100% correct! My guess is this is someone he met whilst doing his 'drive old people to the hospital' thing. I can be absolutely certain this is a relayed story for his interest in finding out a general view...NOT an attempt to actually help her. The obvious answer is 'get a solicitor if you want this sorted' - I'm sure this is for interest only, not an attempt to solve it......If this random woman exists, tell her not to be so tight and to pay a Scottish solicitor for advice.
Truffles said:
Corpulent Tosser said:
Why can't she sell it ?
Surely it would be better to sell cheap than walking away from it.
It takes a willing buyer, and perhaps there are none.Surely it would be better to sell cheap than walking away from it.
She owns a share of a building. A bit like a flat in a block. There are service charges, maintenance, etc etc. The main difference is that, instead of having permanent access to a part, she has part-time access to the whole. If she doesn't pay for her share, then the people who own the other chunks have to pay more for the same amount to be in the pot.
If she didn't like the idea, perhaps she shouldn't have bought into it.
If it came as a surprise to her, perhaps she ought to think a bit harder about big purchases.
If she doesn't see why, I've got a bridge for sale.
If she didn't like the idea, perhaps she shouldn't have bought into it.
If it came as a surprise to her, perhaps she ought to think a bit harder about big purchases.
If she doesn't see why, I've got a bridge for sale.
Rude-boy said:
To be honest just the word 'Timeshare' triggers my flight instinct, makes my mind scream 'Oh F..K' and prompts memories of wasted half days of holidays to Tenerife and Florida to get a free hire car for a day or Disney passes when I were a nipper 
Lol - same here (though it was for quick ski passes and $75 chips for local casino!) I do recall that they made a big deal about the fact you could ALWAYS sell it on......which amused me at the time; but could arguably be a confidence point for someone more elderly and less cynical. Be interesting to see what de Veres initial pitch claimed.
Timeshares can be an absolute nightmare have read several articles how as people get older and infirm they cannot use them but are still lumbered with the service charges
Need to take professional advice as they are a minefield - even ask if they can leave the "asset" to the chairman of the timeshare company in her will so as to not lumber her children with the bills
This will become more and more an issue as time goes on.
Nearly got lumbered with one years ago but backed out just in time after reviewing the feedback on the web
Need to take professional advice as they are a minefield - even ask if they can leave the "asset" to the chairman of the timeshare company in her will so as to not lumber her children with the bills
This will become more and more an issue as time goes on.
Nearly got lumbered with one years ago but backed out just in time after reviewing the feedback on the web
There was a piece on this 'in-perpetuity' thing regarding time-share on Radio 4 (so must be right then!)a few months ago, and the legal 'experts' admitted it is a mess. In this case, The contract indeed said that they could go after beneficiaries or next in kin of a deceased, and the lawyer admitted that it had yet to be tested in court.
Sounds like a slightly flaky lawyer, as if such a contract was made under English law, any attempt to enforce it against non parties to the contract would be thrown out.
If someone obtains an interest in land, then that interest may be subject to pre existing encumbrances, but you cannot become party to a contract without your consent, save in special contexts such as, for example, in employment law when TUPE applies (the employer may find itself contracting without wishing to, the employee still has a choice).
If someone obtains an interest in land, then that interest may be subject to pre existing encumbrances, but you cannot become party to a contract without your consent, save in special contexts such as, for example, in employment law when TUPE applies (the employer may find itself contracting without wishing to, the employee still has a choice).
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 4th September 19:44
I know of time-share cottages available to buy for £45 for a two bedroom cottage.
Out of season and I presume the service charges must be high and are reflected in the low purchase price.
But I'm sure the OP's 'friend' could sell for a similar low price just to get rid and save £750 per annum.
Being DeVere I presume it's at Cameron House or The Carrick which one would think would have a decent level of interest.
http://www.deveretimeshareresales.com/how-to-sell....
Out of season and I presume the service charges must be high and are reflected in the low purchase price.
But I'm sure the OP's 'friend' could sell for a similar low price just to get rid and save £750 per annum.
Being DeVere I presume it's at Cameron House or The Carrick which one would think would have a decent level of interest.
http://www.deveretimeshareresales.com/how-to-sell....
I owned a DeVere Timeshare until a couple of years ago. Mine was a 4 bedroom at Slaley Hall in Northumbria. It was absolutely beautiful but we only ever went there once and used it to trade abroad instead.
Initially the annual maintenance fee was sensible but latterly it got close to £1000 and I can get a week's pretty s
t-hot digs almost anywhere in the world for that with no obligation if I chose NOT to goone year.
We had it for sale for several years with no joy until we finally found a resale firm who came up with a buyer - they paid £1000, the year's outstanding fee, and the transfer cost. Having paid over £12k to buy it I was gutted at the scale of my loss but glad to be shot of the ongoing liability.
DeVere won't try terribly hard to sell your property while they still have their own inventory to offer so best look at external resales companies but do not under ANY circumstances EVER pay any fee to anyone claiming to be able to sell for you. If I can find the details of the firm that found our buyer I'll post up here.
I can only tell you that my property had a 69 year lease, rather than in perpetuity, but that's where the good news ends! The resort owners can and seemingly do pursue defaulting payers though I never got to that stage.
Initially the annual maintenance fee was sensible but latterly it got close to £1000 and I can get a week's pretty s
t-hot digs almost anywhere in the world for that with no obligation if I chose NOT to goone year.We had it for sale for several years with no joy until we finally found a resale firm who came up with a buyer - they paid £1000, the year's outstanding fee, and the transfer cost. Having paid over £12k to buy it I was gutted at the scale of my loss but glad to be shot of the ongoing liability.
DeVere won't try terribly hard to sell your property while they still have their own inventory to offer so best look at external resales companies but do not under ANY circumstances EVER pay any fee to anyone claiming to be able to sell for you. If I can find the details of the firm that found our buyer I'll post up here.
I can only tell you that my property had a 69 year lease, rather than in perpetuity, but that's where the good news ends! The resort owners can and seemingly do pursue defaulting payers though I never got to that stage.
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