# What will happen if I don´t pay my anual maintenance fee?



## jannec (Feb 8, 2017)

What will happen if I don´t pay my anual maintinans fee? I have tried to surender my timeshare contract with Summer Bay Resort Orlando.
 But they seems not so interested to help me
Now I´m thinking about the  anual maintinans fee. If I not pay it what happens.


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## theo (Feb 8, 2017)

jannec said:


> What will happen if I don't pay my annual maintenance fee? I have tried to surrender my timeshare contract with Summer Bay Resort Orlando. But they *seem not so interested* *to help me.*
> Now I'm thinking about the  annual maintenance fee. If I not pay it what happens?



I hope that you have submitted your "deedback" request *in writing* to the resort HOA President and are not just having phone conversations with desk clerks who, whether "interested" or not, have no authority to make any decisions about "deedbacks" in the first place. You need to reach the people in authority who can actually make a decision on your request. That's the BoD / HOA --- *not* resort employees on site.

If you stop paying fees, at some point foreclosure will occur. Foreclosure may result in a negative credit report, if that is of concern to you.


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## Passepartout (Feb 8, 2017)

To add to Theo's advice, when you write to the president of the HOA, point out that while it will cost you in terms of a bad credit report if you default, it will also cost the HOA in legal fees to accomplish the foreclosure. All this can be eliminated by simply accepting a deed-back, AND they get an interval that they can re-sell to a presumably happy customer who will pay them upfront, AND pay maintenance fees, which you won't.

Good Luck and best wishes.

Jim


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## TUGBrian (Feb 8, 2017)

http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/stop_paying_for_timeshare.html

Welcome to TUG!

Where have you listed your timeshare for sale for $1 in an effort to give it away to a willing owner?


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## gnipgnop (Feb 14, 2017)

Passepartout said:


> To add to Theo's advice, when you write to the president of the HOA, point out that while it will cost you in terms of a bad credit report if you default, it will also cost the HOA in legal fees to accomplish the foreclosure. All this can be eliminated by simply accepting a deed-back, AND they get an interval that they can re-sell to a presumably happy customer who will pay them upfront, AND pay maintenance fees, which you won't.
> 
> Good Luck and best wishes.
> 
> Jim



From the quote above in the red text, I would like to add this:   I wrote to my HOA and also to the BOD and received a letter back from them stating that if they have to forclose I would be responsible for all fees associated with the forclosure.  Can they do that??  And if so, how could they expect me to pay foreclosure fees if I am unable to pay MF's??


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## Passepartout (Feb 14, 2017)

gnipgnop said:


> From the quote above in the red text, I would like to add this:   I wrote to my HOA and also to the BOD and received a letter back from them stating that if they have to forclose I would be responsible for all fees associated with the forclosure.  Can they do that??  And if so, how could they expect me to pay foreclosure fees if I am unable to pay MF's??


That would be standard boilerplate talk when threatening foreclosure or other legal action. How they would expect you to pay? would be by getting a legal judgement against you then they can seize such assets as they can- garnishments, liens, whatever to satisfy the judgement. But you can write the board back, telling them that they can easily sidestep all this expense and unpleasantness and simply accept the deed back (along with a reasonable charge to transfer it into the HOA's name). They avoid legal fees, and presumably get something they can sell to a new owner who will presumably love and us the interval and pay their annual fees. Which you have no intention of doing.


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## gnipgnop (Feb 14, 2017)

First of all let me make clear that all fees are paid on my timeshare and I owe nothing.  I must admit that this week is not a very desirable time to vacation in the East and perhaps that is the reason they don't want to take the deed back.  It might be hard for them to re-sell.  Age, health reasons and medical bills are all preventing us from future MF payments on this timeshare week.


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## theo (Feb 14, 2017)

gnipgnop said:


> <snip> I wrote to my HOA and also to the BOD and received a letter back from them stating that if they have to foreclose I would be responsible for all fees associated with the foreclosure.  Can they do that??  And if so, how could they expect me to pay foreclosure fees if I am unable to pay MF's??



Can they? Yes. Would they? No, quite frankly. I've *never once* heard of *any* timeshare facility *anywhere* ever pursuing *any* further action after foreclosure on a fully paid up owner account.

I'm saddened that your BoD / HOA would not be more accommodating; some places stubbornly hold their ground on "deedbacks", even when it is made abundantly clear to them that foreclosure is now their only remaining alternative. For the big corporate "chains", it's financially painless to accept deedbacks. At smaller independent resorts without those "deep pockets" however, some have tunnel vision (and financial fear) and just don't want to willingly "let go" of a historically reliable fee-paying owner.

Many states now have greatly streamlined (non-judicial) foreclosure procedures available, so foreclosure is frankly neither particularly difficult nor expensive to accomplish. It quite simply would *not* be worth the time or effort to initiate or pursue any post-foreclosure actions, despite the implied threat and unfortunate bluster that you have apparently received from your resort in response to your deedback acceptance request.
The fact is that foreclosure would very likely cost them *considerably* *less* than a years' worth of maintenance fees on an interval.


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## Ty1on (Feb 14, 2017)

gnipgnop said:


> From the quote above in the red text, I would like to add this:   I wrote to my HOA and also to the BOD and received a letter back from them stating that if they have to forclose I would be responsible for all fees associated with the forclosure.  Can they do that??  And if so, how could they expect me to pay foreclosure fees if I am unable to pay MF's??



Have you ever heard the phrase "squeezing blood from a turnip"?

When we signed the lease for our current home, the property manager gave us this explanation that if we were evicted for non-payment, there would be an additional $500 charge.  My response was, "If I haven't been paying you the rent, what makes you think I'm going to pay you the $500?"  She laughed hysterically and said no one had ever brought that up before.


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## jannec (Feb 15, 2017)

theo said:


> Can they? Yes. Would they? No, quite frankly. I've *never once* heard of *any* timeshare facility *anywhere* ever pursuing *any* further action after foreclosure on a fully paid up owner account.
> 
> I'm saddened that your BoD / HOA would not be more accommodating; some places stubbornly hold their ground on "deedbacks", even when it is made abundantly clear to them that foreclosure is now their only remaining alternative. For the big corporate "chains", it's financially painless to accept deedbacks. At smaller independent resorts without those "deep pockets" however, some have tunnel vision (and financial fear) and just don't want to willingly "let go" of a historically reliable fee-paying owner.
> 
> ...




I am a Swedish citizen, so I think that make it a bit more difficult for them??


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## theo (Feb 15, 2017)

jannec said:


> I am a Swedish citizen, so I think that make it a bit more difficult for them??



The *foreclosure* process certainly does not require your involvement or approval; it is a unilateral action initiated by the resort.
If you are in Sweden, foreclosure would be the end of the matter if there are no large unpaid loans also associated with the ownership.

If you are in Sweden, I would recommend just sending written, signed correspondence to the resort BoD / HOA, overtly requesting that they send you a Quit Claim deed for your signature and return to them to complete a "deedback". In that same correspondence, advise the BoD / HOA very clearly that if they do not wish to voluntarily accept a deedback, then to simply go right ahead and foreclose, as you have no plans or intentions to pay *any* further maintenance fees. Make it very clear that they have only *two* choices and tell them very clearly to pick *one*.


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## Talent312 (Feb 15, 2017)

jannec said:


> I am a Swedish citizen, so I think that make it a bit more difficult for them??



Yes... Much so.
Their foreclosure attorney would need to serve you in Sweden, and while they might get a post-foreclosure judgment in US-$, they'd need to use a Swedish lawyer to pursue it in Sweden. If Sweden has exempt-asset or Bankruptcy laws, you could use those to defeat any effort to collect.

Many people in the U.S., are called "judgment-proof" - meaning, they have no assets other than those protected from the claims of creditors.  I suspect that they wouldn't even try.

Frankly, they're using these threats as a scare tactic and nothing more.
While a lost MF will impact other owners, you must do what's best for you.
.


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## theo (Feb 15, 2017)

Talent312 said:


> <snip> Frankly, they're using these threats as a scare tactic and nothing more. <snip>



Agreed, but note that the implied threats to which you make reference were actually cited by an entirely *different* poster (gnipgnop).
I'm not at all sure that the poster you quoted and responded to (jannec) has even made any overt "deedback" request at all yet.


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## gnipgnop (Feb 17, 2017)

Thank you for clarifying this Theo, I was really getting confused with these last few posts.


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