Trying to Get Out and Wondering "loopholes"

[Chuck Smillie]

I have been down a ton of rabbit trails from groups charging big bucks to sell our unit to giving it away here and craigslist with no success.

Right now looking at two companies who claim to legally get you out ... Timeshare Exit Team, who appear to not be a legal team but rather a guise for a re-sale group and LoneStar Transfers who want $4000 to get me out with no guarantee on past due fees ...

My question is ... can I hire a local attorney to sue the timeshare to remove me from ownership? If so can anyone recommend someone near Ormond Beach?

Chuck

 

[PigsDad]

My question is ... can I hire a local attorney to sue the timeshare to remove me from ownership?

Sue them for what? How is the timeshare in breach of your contract?

When trying to give your timeshare away, have you offered to pay all closing costs, plus a year or two of maintenance fees? I would think that would be cheaper than dealing with any of those timeshare "relief" scammers.

Kurt

 

[TUGBrian]

lets be frank here...

every timeshare owner has an option to end their ownership...and that is just to stop paying.

what you are looking for is a way to get out of the financial responsibility and or repercussions of defaulting on your contract.

the best way to do that, is to find a willing owner to sell/give away to...and in many cases you will need to sweeten the deal by offering to cover closing costs and prepay maintenance fees to attract said buyer.

all of these options however are cheaper than paying a company thousands of dollars. (on top of the apparent hundreds if not thousands of dollars you have apparently already paid to other upfront fee scammers). not sure why you would want to keep repeating that mistake!

 

[Saintsfanfl]

My question is ... can I hire a local attorney to sue the timeshare to remove me from ownership? If so can anyone recommend someone near Ormond Beach?

Chuck

That is the problem with timeshares. For most people it is a liability but you own it, it belongs to you and only you. It isn't possible for the owner to legally "force" it to belong to someone else. It is an interesting concept though. File a foreclosure against yourself...

 

[Chuck Smillie]

all of these options however are cheaper than paying a company thousands of dollars. (on top of the apparent hundreds if not thousands of dollars you have apparently already paid to other upfront fee scammers). not sure why you would want to keep repeating that mistake!

Fortunately , nothing has been paid out ... just looked at and after closer examination ... I have found that they are all mostly scams.

Thinking of ways to just stop the madness of owning something I will never use again.

 

[TUGBrian]

looking at your other thread, it appears you are already in default on your payments....so that doesnt leave you with many options.

 

[Chuck Smillie]

looking at your other thread, it appears you are already in default on your payments....so that doesnt leave you with many options.

True ... but am willing to "get caught up" if someone is willing to take it.

 

[Passepartout]

If you own it free and clear, and your maintenance fees to the resort are up-to-date, make a nice ad up, outlining the virtues of the resort and area. Post some pictures if you have them in the Bargain Deals forum just below this one, and a price of FREE!, and I think someone will see the ad and be happy to take it off your hands. You might have to sweeten the pot by paying for closing or a year or two's MF, but you'll be out of it for FAR less than ANY of those scam artists. Good Luck!

Jim

 

[Saintsfanfl]

If you own it free and clear, and your maintenance fees to the resort are up-to-date, make a nice ad up, outlining the virtues of the resort and area. Post some pictures if you have them in the Bargain Deals forum just below this one, and a price of FREE!, and I think someone will see the ad and be happy to take it off your hands. You might have to sweeten the pot by paying for closing or a year or two's MF, but you'll be out of it for FAR less than ANY of those scam artists. Good Luck!

Jim

The problem is that the resort isn't even open due to the hurricane damage last year. It appears that it will be open soon with nice refurbished rooms, but 2018 is an unknown at this point.

If it were me in the OP's situation I would sit tight and once the knowns are in place and it looks like a giveaway is doable I would pay to date and list for free. If the situation doesn't bode well for the future I would leave as is and let them foreclose. I don't see any other options especially right now.

My guess is the resort is extremely active on collections right now. With not being open and the fee increases there are likely a large portion of owners that decided to wait before they paid 2017. Let the owners that were paid thru 2016 pay up and then have management reassess. I wouldn't give this advice if the OP wasn't behind several years but it is what it is. There is definitely no point in paying even a semi "legitimate" rescue company.

 

[Passepartout]

The problem is that the resort isn't even open due to the hurricane damage last year.

If it were me in the OP's situation I would sit tight and once the knowns are in place and it looks like a giveaway is doable I would pay to date and list for free.

I wouldn't give this advice if the OP wasn't behind several years but it is what it is. There is definitely no point in paying even a semi "legitimate" rescue company.

I had not read the whole thread and wasn't aware of the extenuating circumstances. That said- I'd follow your advice.

 

[bluehende]

I would like to go back to the original question. It does seem that the responsibilities only go one way. The entity collecting your fees has to have some responsibilities also. I would assume they are set out in the original documents. I find it hard to believe that a good lawyer could not find something in them that could void the owners responsibilities. We can go to an extreme and say if your management entity sends you a bill for 1 million dollars I cannot believe you would lose in court if you did not pay it. Any lawyers want to chime in on the nuances of the legal relationship between management and timeshare owners. As much as we know all of these offers are scams it does seem like a legitimate business could crop up that sues management entities for breach of some kind of contract. I probably do not have the terminology correct.

 

[TUGBrian]

unfortunately you are forgetting that the timeshare developers themselves also used "good lawyers" to write up the contract you signed.

if your timeshare suddenly sent you a 1million dollar bill, youd certainly have a legitimate complaint yes. however unless there is something in your sales contract that is not being upheld by the timeshare...youd just be throwing money away...money better spent (and cheaper) using to sweeten the deal to actually find a legitimate new owner.\


again, as I already mentioned...every single timeshare owner has a legitimate way to dispose of their timeshare...and that is to stop paying for it.

What you are looking for is a magical way to avoid the punishment and consequences of defaulting on your contract.

 

[theo]

I find it hard to believe that a good lawyer could not find something in them that could void the owners responsibilities....

Believe it, although I'm reasonably sure that's not at all what the OP wants to hear.

A timeshare owner is essentially SOL regarding any "easy exit options" after the expiration of the purchase contract rescission period provided by applicable state law.

Let's cut to the chase --- a buyer willingly and voluntarily entered into a legally valid, binding contract which some very capable attorneys prepared (and have likely refined and fine tuned over the years). There are no "loopholes" to exploit, nor is there any Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.
An owner can ask to be released from the contract, but we all know the most likely answer to that particular request. An owner can always exit their ownership by simply ceasing to continue to pay their fees and ultimately face foreclosure, but there are potential consequences to doing so.

Someone with time and money to waste can surely find a lawyer (or pay non-lawyers like Timeshare Exit Team et al) to take their money and make some meaningless and unproductive noise, but to what end? They will still own the timeshare after the noise fades away (and the check clears).

Does the timeshare ownership exit model stink? You betcha. It reeks, but it is what it is. There are no magic beans or secret potions in possession of even the most competent and capable attorneys to magically effect a Houdini-like escape. That's the blunt, honest truth; don't shoot the messenger.

 

[Talent312]

A lot of peep seem to think that lawyers have magic wands they can wave to make their troubles go away. Sorry, but the truth is that they don't. Could you find a lawyer who'd be willing to take your money and file a frivolous lawsuit -- maybe. But when its tossed out on a motion, you may be held liable for fees+costs of the other side, as well as your own, and end up losing your shirt.

Or you could simply breach your financial obligations, as you've been doing, duck collections calls, and wait for a foreclosure suit. If they make noises about a deficiency judgment, you can make noises about Bankruptcy, which would discharge your personal liability.

.

 

[bluehende]

I was not thinking of something in the contract that would void it. I was thinking more in terms of the management side of the contract doing something that would put them in breach of their side. I imagine that the big boys are very careful. but certainly not perfect. I think that was what the op was wondering. Grasping at straws I am sure. FYI I have no interest in getting out of my 2 timeshares.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

I was not thinking of something in the contract that would void it. I was thinking more in terms of the management side of the contract doing something that would put them in breach of their side. I imagine that the big boys are very careful. but certainly not perfect. I think that was what the op was wondering. Grasping at straws I am sure. FYI I have no interest in getting out of my 2 timeshares.

How about they allowed a Hurricane to come and damage the property? Or they didn't do more to accommodate an owner that moved too far away? Jokes aside here is the problem with the timeshare being deed property. Even if the timeshare side can somehow be attacked, you would still own the actual real estate. One doesn't magically make the actual ownership go away. You can't use the real estate without the timeshare so it would't work. The best owners can do when the property is being mismanaged is to band together and hire a different management company. That has happened before especially with the older timeshares.

 

[ronparise]

There are certain real estate developers that as a matter of course, borrow tons of money to buy land and build buildings, then go back to their lenders to renegotiate the terms of their loans or do what Ive heard called "strategic defaults" and lawyers are involved with the negotiations. I read about one of these developers right around the time of our last presidential election

On a much smaller smaller scale I know individual homeowners that have renegotiated their mortgages in short sales and some who bought their mortgages back from their lenders at a discount, and others that have negotiated a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Some of these negotiations included the requirement that the lender report to the credit bureaus, that the loan has been satisfied.

So these same things can be done with timeshare loans and fees. and the negotiations can be done with or without the help of a lawyer. Just know that the lawyer wont necessarily be any more successful than an individual working on their own, and their fee may be more than what a successful settlement is worth.

Contrary to popular opinion not all lawyers are bad people out to steal your money and there are even some that work with timeshare owners that do a good job for the money they are paid

 

[theo]

OP: If you are bound and determined to seek a (non-existent) "magic act" directly from an attorney not contributing to these TUG forums, you might consider having a conversation with attorney Michael Finn (Finn Law Group, Largo FL). Mike knows the timeshare industry very well, dislikes (and has written extensively about) deceitful timeshare developer practices and is hated by ARDA (...all admirable and positive attributes, in my book).

An older and successful practitioner, Attorney Finn certainly doesn't need or want your money, but if you think that you actually have a case (and that does not mean a "case" of buyer's remorse or a "case" of having grown tired of paying maintenance fees), he's the man to talk to. You might not actually like what he has to say, but he'll give you the blunt, unvarnished truth regarding your particular situation. That being said, you might very well not find his input to be much (if any) different from what you can read from knowledgeable and experienced people right here in these TUG forums.

Edited to add: For the record, I have no affiliation whatsoever with Finn Law Group and I am certainly not "plugging" Mike Finn or his law firm.
On the contrary, I repeat my earlier observation that no attorney has any magical elixirs or secret processes to effect a "timeshare escape".
I am merely suggesting that if the OP (who specifically mentioned Florida) pursues the attorney route, he should at least make certain to contact one licensed in Florida and who knows all about the timeshare industry and its' sleazy practices. I'm suggesting no more and no less than that.

 

[Northwoods]

Have you contacted the management at your timeshare and asked whether they have a policy of accepting return of the deed to the Homeowners Association? I just retired from the Board of a California beach resort, and we readily accepted the return of intervals where there was a hardship on the part of the owners. We asked that they pay the cost of transfer (less than $1000) and any delinquent fees.

 

[LannyPC]

Have you contacted the management at your timeshare and asked whether they have a policy of accepting return of the deed to the Homeowners Association? I just retired from the Board of a California beach resort, and we readily accepted the return of intervals where there was a hardship on the part of the owners. We asked that they pay the cost of transfer (less than $1000) and any delinquent fees.

That's good that the HOA does this but my questions are (based on what I've put in bold) How does the HOA know that there is a "hardship on the part of the owners"? Does the owner have to fill out an application form stating his situation? Will the board reject an application if it deems that the owner does not really have any hardship?

Since you are new to these boards (welcome, BTW), you might have missed the many threads we've had discussing this matter. Some controversial topics are Should HOAs accept all requests for deedbacks just willy-nilly? Or should there be a prerequisite in place? If HOAs accept some deeds back but not others, is this unfair and discriminating, etc.?