T.O.C. - Timeshare Owners Community

TIMESHARE AND YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Have you ever received a notice in the mail announcing that you were a "Guaranteed Prize Winner"?

The announcement makes it look as though you will get something valuable for nothing. But that is not true. You will have to earn it by sitting through a long sales pitch, often of more than two hours, and frequently using high pressure tactics. For that, you will earn the cheapest of the "gifts" listed.

The notices are part of a "come-on" for various kinds of promotions. One form now commonly seen is called "time-sharing."

Time-sharing is presented as an affordable way to buy a vacation home. The consumer buys the use of a facility in a resort area for a particular time during the year and for a specified number of years. Time-sharing has been used to sell three-bedroom condominiums in the Bahamas or tent sites in undeveloped campgrounds. A feature promoters emphasize is that customers can exchange their facilities for similar accommodations at other areas around the world.

Although time-sharing has blossomed in the United States, confusion still exists about forms of ownership, investment, and resale potentials, and exchangeability.

The two most common types of time-sharing purchases are deed and title (sometimes called interval ownership), and right to use (sometimes called license to use).

"Deed and title ownership" means the buyer acquires:

* a specific facility, for

* a specified length of time each year, for

* a specified number of years (40 is a common span), and

* a deed (and sometimes a title policy).

"Right to use" means the buyer acquires the right to use:

* a particular kind of facility at a specific resort, for

* a specified length of time each year, for

* a specified number of years.

DIFFERENCE: This is important. Deed and title buys legally registered real property that is a tangible asset no matter what happens to the management of the resort. Right to use is only a contractual promise by the resort management that you will get what you paid for and is only as good as the integrity of the promisor.