What Are Your Legal Rights When Owning A Timeshare?

By Author: Ivan Cuxeva Jr
Total Articles: 779
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Many people make it a point to learn their rights when the lease or buy property or even when they make an investment to secure their retirement.

However, when the time comes to put some of that disposable income towards a time share a lot of individuals falter in understanding their legal rights. People with a considerable amount of disposable income tend to overlook the importance of knowing and understanding their legal rights for their timeshare mainly because it doesn't affect the security of their future.

It is due to the inadequate attention paid to the information and lack of knowledge while signing any time share contracts or agreements that many investors are caught in fraudulent time share scams.

As with any industry, the timeshare industry is also prone to unethical tactics by unscrupulous individuals. Very often there are stories of innocent people being duped into buying a timeshare where the property doesn't even exist or in some cases, is not up to the standards promised. In order to learn from these situations as well as prevent them from happening , every individual should adhere to a few ...
... rules while buying a timeshare.

The first step is to understand that there are two main types of timeshare plans -deeded time share and right to use or license timeshare.

With a deeded timeshare, the buyer can own the timeshare and use the facility for a certain period of time every year for a specific number of years and also gets a deed or title. The number of years for using a property with deeded timeshares is about 40 years and because there is a deed or title involved, this property can be inherited.

License time shares on the hand means that the buyer is in fact a licensee and can use the facility like with deeded time shares but does not receive a deed of ownership and this type of acquisition is not inheritable as the lease expires after a set number of years

In the recent past, the Timeshare industry has started employing tactics like the retail or automobile industry. The company will attract attention by offering what seems like a tempting present but in reality is a ploy. Time share companies invite individuals to presentations about a property in the development stage, however these presentations turn out to be intense, high pressure selling sessions lasting for hours. The guests are caught unaware in a situation where the company will not let a person leave till they have signed a deed or booked a property. The attractive gift is no longer attractive once a person gets an idea of what is really happening.

Legally, invitees to any event are required to be informed of all details like the venue, agenda and duration of the whole program. With timeshares this does not happen. In addition to not informing the guests with these details, time share companies never divulge the truth as legally required about the market value and property condition.

Many timeshare companies are not supposed to misinterpret the information about the resale or exchange potential of such properties. The law prohibits timeshare companies from excluding oral agreements made prior to the purchase of the property in the actual deed as well as including any kind of fees not verbally mentioned. However, that being said, time share rules vary by state where some states have made it compulsory to include a cool-off period of two weeks that allow buyers to cancel their contracts.

In addition, buyers need to be very sure whether they really want the timeshare, if they want to purchase or lease the timeshare and be definite about the number of times they want to exchange their sites. A buyer must inspect the facility and contact the better business bureau. Contacting the existing owners of the timeshare property would give the prospective buyer the real picture about the property.

These aspects require special attention prior to purchasing any time share in any part of the world.