It happens sometimes that hiring certain kind of services is easier than getting rid of them. An original idea could become a burden and we may struggle to get rid of the facilities that have made our life happier and more comfortable in the past. This situation is closely related to the well-known  timeshares.

They were usually introduced as a safe and affordable way to enjoy our holidays in a wonderful and sunny place full of amenities with the sole obligation, apart from the initial payment of the price, to pay an annual fee for covering the maintenance.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and those timeshare rights ceased to be an asset and became a hindrance. These days most people want to get rid of their timeshares and would even pay to dispose of these. In those cases, the most advisable thing is to dust off the title deeds and study this in order to see if there is a way out.

Whether we are talking of a timeshare or a vacation club, the potential scenarios that we can face are the following:

-No title deeds but a proper private contract

This is the rare case where the buyer bought a timeshare in a properly executed private contract but this contract was never formalised into a Deed. In this case, there are different alternatives. The first one is to formalise the contract into a proper Deed. This will involve Notary fees, stamp duty and Land registry fees but at least it will allow us to have a proper Deed and perhaps increase our chances of transferring this legally to an interested buyer. Another option is to leave things as they are and wait until the timeshare expires (usually 50 years).

-Proper title deeds

In this option we can include the cases where the buyer bought a timeshare and formalised the appropriate title deed. The buyer has proper title and is entitled to sell the timeshare. However, the main problem is that no one is interested in buying the timeshare except perhaps for the owner of the property or the company that manages the timeshare. We have recently seen an increase in enquiries from clients who have been approached by the Management agents with offers to acquire the timeshare from them for free. In most of those cases, the client needs to pay for all l the expenses of the transfer but he is happy to do it as this could involve getting rid of the timeshare.

In those cases, the management agents request a very wide power of attorney that would enable them to transfer the timeshare to themselves. We are not comfortable with clients signing this type of powers of attorney but clients sometimes prefer to take the risk and go ahead with the power of attorney in the hope that their obligations will cease. As indicated, we would recommend tailoring the power of attorney to the specific timeshare but we are aware that some timeshare owners have opted for wide powers of attorney due to pure desperation and we hope that no adverse consequences will arise.

-A contract that does not comply with the law. (see the post “everything you wanted to know about timeshares , but were afraid to ask” which was posted in this blog in ………. 2011).

In this type of cases, the buyer has a contract but this contract has many irregularities, some of them so relevant that they may deem the contract null. These contracts can probably be terminated on the basis that they have irregularities and do not comply with former and existent laws.

In our daily practice we have seen it all: proper deeds, proper contracts with no deeds and dubious contracts. Clients are usually surprised when we tell them that a time share does not have to be for life and they always welcome the advice and the options we gave them with the arms open as few people are now interested in keeping their timeshares and prefer to get rid of them. If you are one of them, feel free to give us a call and we will see if we can help you.