Im from the UK...some advice needed [March 2015 update]

Hi, I live in the UK and have a timeshare at Westgate which I jointly owned with my husband. Sadly he passed away last year and I can no longer afford to travel and pay the maintenence fees. I have been reading on here about 'deedbacks', is this something that I could ask Westgate about? There is no outstanding mortgage and I have just paid the 2015 fees ( as I wont default ). The unit is every odd year.
Best Regards

Yes, it is highly recommended that you ask about deedbacks. That is probably your best option. If the people in charge at the resort have any sense, they will take it back. They might require that you pay closing costs ($200-300 USD) and probably the next maintenance fee but it will well be worth it.

3 things worth trying

Hi,

Sorry to hear your situation.I would do 3 things post it on marketplace to sell it but also separately to rent it out this year.

As you have paid the MF's you have the year to sell it.

Contact Judi Koz to sell it for you and Seth Nock you will find details on TUG.

You can simply find Judi Koz on Google she is very reputable.

Is your home resort a desirable one? That would help selling it

The above posting might apply if it was Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, but is not applicable to Westgate. (Worthless)

Since you are in the UK just ignore any attempts for them to collect and walk away if they wont take it back for free

Yessa!

Rent_Share said:

The above posting might apply if it was Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, but is not applicable to Westgate. (Worthless)

Since you are in the UK just ignore any attempts for them to collect and walk away if they wont take it back for free

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+1 to all of this quoted response. The Westgate EOY ownership at issue is literally worthless, has no market value and likely couldn't even be given away for free.
Judy Koz (although she is good and reputable) would want a minimum $1,500 commission for something that can't be given away for free. That math doesn't work.

Westgate may very well accept a "deedback", if overtly offered in writing, knowing full well that they have no leverage whatsoever on a UK resident.
No "kindness", it would simply be less costly to Westgate in time, effort and money to just simply accept a "deedback" now than to have to initiate foreclosure later.
The sooner Wastegate takes back the deed, the sooner they can then just peddle off the ownership to someone else --- and they certainly know that.

I would not recommend agreeing to pay any closing costs or any further fees in any amount to accomplish the deedback, particularly since the 2015 fees have already been paid. I would instead politely present Westgate with two very clear and precise options; either voluntarily accept the "deedback" now at absolutely no further cost whatsoever to the (UK resident) OP, or choose to have to undertake the effort and expense of initiating foreclosure later when no maintenance fees ever get paid again.
Pick one Wastegate; the two choices to (hopefully) be presented in writing by the OP are truly crystal clear.

Thankyou to everyone that has responded, I will write ( if i can find correct dept and of someone senior ) and explain my situation and hope that I dont get fobbed off.
Best regards

USDave said:

Is your home resort a desirable one? That would help selling it

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USDave - I know you are trying to be helpful, but this timeshare has no resale value, and because of Westgate's reputation, may even be difficult to give away. So a reputable broker is not going to accept it, and the upfront fee brokers will just take her money and disappear.

Also, I think you mean Judi Kozlowski.

alijay said:

Thankyou to everyone that has responded, I will write ( if i can find correct dept and of someone senior ) and explain my situation and hope that I dont get fobbed off.
Best regards

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Don't know what fobbed is, but you have the leverage, if you stop paying he fees it will be a lot more expensive for them to resale than to stand your ground insisting on them taking it back for free. If they insist on a notary of your signature, let then incur the expense of foreclosure

Hi...fobbed off, just giving me any reasons/ explanations in the hope that I go away. I am paid up to date with everything and I have now written to them explaining my situation so fingers crossed..Didnt realise Westgate had such a bad name, we never get any info about them in the UK.
Thanks again for all of your advice.

Im from the UK....Westgate update. [March 2015 update - merged]

I posted a question to yourselves in Dec 2014 about Deedbacks with Westgate Resort. Following on from your responses I contacted them and we were exchanging correspondence over the following 10 days. Today,after no correspondence for the last 8 weeks I emailed them asking for an update and received the following reply.....recorded in Osceola public records releasing title back to Westgate and you are now released out of all contractual and financial obligations with Westgate resorts. I have emailed back to them asking if I will be receiving any paperwork confirming this but im yet to get a reply.If i hadnt emailed how would i ever have known.As im from the UK im not sure what to expect, here we would get something in writing sent to us.

Very happy to hear they took your unit back after the passing of your husband. at least that is one less thing you have to worry about! So glad you got the help you needed here!

alijay said:

I emailed them asking for an update and received the following reply.....recorded in Osceola public records releasing title back to Westgate and you are now released out of all contractual and financial obligations with Westgate resorts.

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This all you will ever hear from those weasels. Fortunately, those records mentioned in Osceola County are public and can very likely be searched online. You'll need the legal description of the property, but once done, you'll know for sure that it's no longer in your name.

Condolences for your loss, and with all that goes with a spouse's passing, I know dealing with a timeshare is a fairly low priority detail, but it appears that this is now behind you. All the best....

Jim

Not so...

Passepartout said:

<snip> records mentioned in Osceola County are public and can very likely be searched online. You'll need the legal description of the property... <snip>

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Actually, if online access exists to Osceola County public records , a deed search can very easily be conducted using only the grantor name(s), regardless of the property name and / or its' legal description. In other words, the OP can simply enter her own name as "grantor" in the search field and promptly pull up a copy of the recorded deed --- if online access access exists at all in that particular FL county.

Even if online access does not exist there, a written request sent to the County Clerk can also produce and provide a deed copy, although there would be a fee imposed through that latter approach (and international postage costs as well).

Just a final post to say that i did get an email from Westgate with an attachment of the Recorded Quit claim Deed paperwork.
Thanks once again for all of the info given to me from yourselves.

alijay said:

Just a final post to say that i did get an email from Westgate with an attachment of the Recorded Quit claim Deed paperwork.
Thanks once again for all of the info given to me from yourselves.

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Did you actually sign the quit claim deed. I don't get the impression from any of you prior posts that Westgate sent you anything to execute and return to them? If you are released of the ownership, you would have had to sign the quit claim deed. Unless they did a non judicial foreclosure and it was signed back to them that way.

Hi, yes they Fed-Exd lots of paperwork for me to read/ sign, I returned the same way (at no cost to myself )

Confirm and verify...

alijay said:

....they Fed-Exd lots of paperwork for me to read/ sign, I returned the same way (at no cost to myself )

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With all due respect, you would surely be well advised to confirm and verify, by whatever means necessary, that a new deed out of your name and back into theirs was actually recorded at the appropriate County level. Regardless of whatever "volume" of paperwork you may have received, signed or returned to Wastegate, until and unless that final critical step of new deed recording is successfully completed, in the eyes of the law you remain the owner of record, with all of the associated financial responsibilities and contractual obligations.

Westgate does not exactly enjoy a stellar reputation for honesty and / or integrity , so independent verification of anything and everything they say is certainly both warranted and appropriate, at least in my personal opinion.

theo said:

With all due respect, you would surely be well advised to confirm and verify, by whatever means necessary, that a new deed out of your name and back into theirs was actually recorded at the appropriate County level. Regardless of whatever "volume" of paperwork you may have received, signed or returned to Wastegate, until and unless that final critical step of new deed recording is successfully completed, in the eyes of the law you remain the owner of record, with all of the associated financial responsibilities and contractual obligations.

Westgate does not exactly enjoy a stellar reputation for honesty and / or integrity , so independent verification of anything and everything they say is certainly both warranted and appropriate, at least in my personal opinion.

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Not necessarily. As long as the OP kept copies of what they signed and returned, they would be covered. Recording a deed DOES NOT make it a legal document. Signing that deed DOES. Recording of the deed only puts the public on notice of where ownership lies.

Of course with a timeshare, making sure that the management company (which is Westgate in this instance) actually transfers ownership in their system is really the last critical step. The only way to do that is by contacting the management company and them verifying in writing. Which it seems they have done?

Frankly, the threat of foreclosure is a lot less scary when you live in a different country, my understanding is it's much harder to impact a cross-border credit rating, which is the big stick they use.

So it could be they saw the writing on the wall and decided to just take it back.

But if the OP signed stuff and then got a copy of a recorded deed back, that seems pretty clear.

I have my copy of the Quit claim Deed form and also the completed same form with a 'stamp' stating ..notary public..state of florida ?
Westgate also stated that ' relationship has been terminated and no need for them to contact me'.
I really do hope that I am no longer the owner...its all so confusing and stressful .

Alijay, even though Wastegate has as poor a reputation as they could possibly have, in this case, I think you can take them at their word, and move on.

If, on the wildly unexpected side, any notification should come along, you have the copies of the Quit Claim, and their letter absolving you of any further involvement with them.

Have a great life, and I hope you got more help than anxiety from TUG.

Jim

Jim, thanks for this. I will file all of my paperwork and put Westgate behind me.

BevL said:

<snip> ....if the OP signed stuff and then got a copy of a recorded deed back, that seems pretty clear.

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I agree, but recorded is the critical and operative word here from a legal standpoint, any and all all other armchair opinions and viewpoints notwithstanding.
Not officially recorded equals completely meaningless and irrelevant.

Does it really matter if she's on a deed in a foreign country?

theo said:

With all due respect, you would surely be well advised to confirm and verify, by whatever means necessary, that a new deed out of your name and back into theirs was actually recorded at the appropriate County level. Regardless of whatever "volume" of paperwork you may have received, signed or returned to Wastegate, until and unless that final critical step of new deed recording is successfully completed, in the eyes of the law you remain the owner of record, with all of the associated financial responsibilities and contractual obligations.

Westgate does not exactly enjoy a stellar reputation for honesty and / or integrity , so independent verification of anything and everything they say is certainly both warranted and appropriate, at least in my personal opinion.

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persia said:

Does it really matter if she's on a deed in a foreign country?

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It certainly would matter to me (...maybe not to you), if Westgate (in the U.S.) overtly asserted to me (assuming for a moment that I resided in the UK) that a new deed out of my name had been recorded, legally terminating my former ownership --- but that assertion was actually false, deliberately or by procedural error.

You'll pardon me if I am personally inclined to believe nothing from Westgate without independent confirmation and verification. Nothing.

What are legal / credit consequences to OP if Westgate failed to conclude the transfer by recording a new deed out of UK resident's name? Probably none, truth to tell. What is the value of conclusively closing that book for good when so very little cost or effort is required to do so? Priceless, in my personal opinion. YMMV.