Timeshare was an extremely popular way of buying a holiday home abroad around 20 to 30 years ago but many owners have found that the annual fees which used to be around £100 for a week have now rocketed to £500 or in some cases £1,000.
They often want to get out of the commitment but timeshare is now very hard to sell. ‘People who have been happy with their purchases for many years have been hit with large increases in their maintenance fees over the last few years. This cost, which used to be manageable and acceptable has now, for many people, turned into a financial burden and an emotional worry, particularly for the older generation who are not comfortable with having debts and don’t feel comfortable facing up to aggressive timeshare companies,’ said a spokesman for property investment recovery specialists Judicare.
‘With some owners having been persuaded to buy several weeks you can see how owners dread receiving the annual maintenance fee invoices each year and how something that was supposed to be an enjoyable purchase has turned into a nightmare for millions of people around the world,’ he explained.
Traditionally there were several different solutions to this problem. Unfortunately these solutions have often stopped working over time. For example selling the timeshare is hard as people don’t want to take on the rising maintenance fees.
‘People are not even able to give their timeshare weeks away, let alone sell them for anything approaching the original purchase price. There is also a huge potential for people trying to resell their timeshare to fall foul of one of the many resale scams that have arisen from people’s desires to get rid of their timeshare, which means that this option is not only often fruitless but also has the potential to get owners into deeper trouble,’ said Judicare.
It is possible to hand the timeshare week back to the resort but increasingly resorts do not want the weeks back as to do so simply mean that the same maintenance costs are then divided between less people, which in turn increase the annual fees even more. The resort can sell the week to somebody else but until they do so they are responsible for the maintenance fees themselves.
Some have opted to stop paying and hope for the best. In the past if you simply stopped paying the resort would normally take your week(s) back after a certain period of time. But resorts stopped doing this and insist that the maintenance be paid. Some owners will risk the fact that the resort will not try and come after them should they stop paying but many are scared that the costs due abroad will impact on their credit rating back home.
‘Judicare has been able to use a little known part of Spanish law to find a legal and cost effective solution which allows owners of timeshare in Spain to get out of their timeshare ownership, and therefore their obligation to pay the annual maintenance,’ added the spokesman.
‘For owners of Spanish timeshare we have a solution which we have tested over numerous cases and to date have attained a perfect record of cancelling the timeshare membership for our clients. However, the solution won’t work for everybody so we will carry out a free initial assessment prior to putting the solution into place. After all there is little point in spending money on legal fees if there is no chance that it will work for you,’ he said.