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Re: Important Update Affecting Resale Purchasers

Basically all timeshare owners are bound to the terms of their HOA, which includes the HOA's ability to report late/failed payments to credit agencies regardless of whether the owners feel the fees are acceptable. It kind of comes down to "if you don't like it, sell your unit". The only way I can think of to challenge excess assessments is for owners to gain control of their board, fire the property management company, and use a new company to hopefully provide superior management. This could cause your resort or phase to lose affilitation with SVO or worse, lose use of critical common facilities or pay SVO higher fees for use of critical common facilities. I called the FTC who referred me to (since I'm in CA) California Consumer Protection Agency / California Atty General 800-952-5225, but the FTC said in all likelihood any bill unpaid can be reported to credit bureaus after 30 days overdue. I called the CA agency and they were less than helpful "we can't provide legal advice or comment" but they did eventually say the 30 day rule was the primary trigger and more detailed inquiries would have to be made thru the Department of real Estate or ask a lawyer. for those of you who want to do some reading, here is the Fair Credit Billing Act http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcb/fcb.pdf Having said all that, I am an owner who prefers to have more attractive units. I feel special assessments show how the Board has failed the owners in properly anticipating costs for the facility and properly controlling costs. I do not own at Fountains but I suspect Fountains is SVO controlled and not owner controlled, resulting in higher management fees and expenses than would be incurred under an owner controlled board.