Original Message:
Re: WHERE CAN WE GO TO GET FREE LEGAL ADVICE ON DUMPING TIMESHARES? (by R P.):
CPA DAVEM FROM TUG CONCERNING THIS ISSUE:
"If you buy your own home, you're responsible for the maintenance, repair, roof replacement, landscaping, utilities, etc.
Similarly, if you buy a condominium, the condo association pays for all of the expenses you would normally have paid for a single-family home, except that you'll pay for some of the utilities yourself. The condo association charges each owner a fee to provide funds to pay those expenses.
If you (and perhaps some other owners) stop paying your condo fees, the condo association will not have enough money to cover expenses and the property will soon be in a shambles. Thus, condo associations are formed in a manner such that acquiring ownership in a condo legally obligates the owner to make the required fees. Doing otherwise would make the financial arrangements for condos completely unworkable and condos would not exist.
A timeshare resort is set up exactly like a condo association. The primary difference is that instead of one owner for each condo unit, there are usually 50 or 51 owners for each condo unit.
Thus, in order to make a timeshare resort financially viable for both you and me, we are each legally obligated to pay our maintenance fees on units we own." Dave M
"Because you are legally obligated to pay the MFs, based on the legal documents (called CC&Rs) to which your ownership in a timeshare resort or condo association is subject, any or all of the following can and often do happen when an owner stops paying:
The delinquent payments are reported to credit agencies, as Werner accurately states, damaging the owner's credit rating.
The resort adds late fees and interest to the unpaid amounts, as entitled by the CC&Rs. The resort turns the unpaid amount over to a collection agency, which adds its own fee as it collects the unpaid amounts.
Finally, the resort turns the unpaid amount over to an attorney, who might send a warning letter and eventually files suit for collection. Based on the wording in the CC&Rs, the owner, instead of having to pay $500 or so for the annual maintenance fee, must now, after the court judgment, pay upwards of several thousand bucks in maintenance fees, interest, late charges, collection fees, attorneys fees and court costs.
Still there are a few resorts that won't bother with strenuous collection efforts and will, in fact, start foreclosure proceedings to take back the week. There are other resorts that, if contacted, will be willing to take a week back. However, to simply stop paying maintenance fees and hope that the problem will go away would be foolhardy. "
Dave M