The answer is that the HOA would most likely own them. The important distinction is that having the HOA own these weeks, means that the HOA benefits fully from the rental income and the revenue should any of these weeks be sold.
Would that be any different than what you have now? Yes and no.
On the m/f and special assessment side it is a wash, since Cliff does not pay m/f and assessments on his inventory. So the expenses are shared only by actual owners. This is no different then if the HOA owned the weeks.
The major difference would be when a week is sold. If the HOA owned the weeks, then the HOA would receive the proceeds from the sale. So the HOA would benefit from the sales price of the two weeks that were recently sold. Currently the HOA received nothing. And in part the special assessment has improved those units (at your expense), allowing them to be sold at a higher price. So Cliff is directly benefiting from the improvements that you, as a owner, are paying for. This is typically referred to as "unjust enrichment".
Now to give Cliff some credit, he has previously stated that he has ceded all rental revenue from his inventory to the HOA. Legally I think it would be hard for him to do otherwise, and maintain his position that he does not have pay m/f. Clearly if he is receiving beneficial use of the units, his position that he is exempt from m/f would be diminished. I think he knows that, and that it influenced his decision to do so.
So the bottom line is that you are paying to improve his property. So that can in turn sell it at a greater profit or convert into more Festiva credits for Outfield to sell. As an owner, how can you be comfortable with that arrangement?
If the HOA actually owned the weeks, they could sell them for $1 or give them away for free to get them in the hands of dues paying owners. They would have zero incentive to keep those weeks as HOA weeks. They want every week bringing in revenue in the way of dues to help them operate the resort with lower MF's for all. They have no reason to hold out for $500, $1000, or even $18,000 for a week. Sell it to the first person who will buy and pay the annual dues because giving it away to someone for free beats the heck out of keeping it an HOA week with no income generated for the resort.
Cliff on the other hand has plenty incentives to not sell weeks. As long as he owns enough weeks he controls the resort. He controls the resort, he keeps Outfield selling Festiva Points to deeded owners, he keeps himself and Outfield owners/employees as trustees at the resort making all decisions, and he doesn't have to pay anything ever for any weeks he owns that remain unsold. If he sells too many he no longer will control the resort. Selling too many weeks would allow owners to get rid of him. He doesn't need to dump weeks to generate income for the resort because if it doesn't generate income for Cliff why do it. The weeks he owns don't cost him one cent to keep. All of the owners are paying the taxes, electricity, insurance, employees, upkeep, and upgrades for the weeks they own, and the weeks Cliff owns too. If someone offered me $100 for a week I owned that didn't cost me anything, why sell it? Jst sit on it until an uneducated buyer stumbles in and then make some big bucks.
Cliff has some type of a deal with Outfield/Festiva. Perhaps they backed him financially to buy Southscape/ Sandcastle, perhaps he gets a percentage of the proceeds from what Outfield sells,perhaps a combination of the two. We will probably never know what the deal is for sure, but we all know that Cliff isn't letting Outfield market to his resort owners for free and he didn't place them as trustees at the resort just for the heck of it. Cliff controls the resort with the other trustees, the trustees assess to improve the resort making it easier for Outfield and Festiva to sell points, and the owners pay to make the resorts more attractive to owners and new buyers. The resort does get better, but it gets better because of the owners expenditures without any help from NEVS, Outfield, or Festiva. however the triumvirate of evil benefits like parasites from the owners monetary injections to maintain and upgrade the resorts.
Since Outfield/Festiva has some kind of interest with Cliff/NEVS in these resorts, they probably wouldn't want him to sell out and leave because their access to owners and on site sales would leave too. However when Outfield sells enough FAC points and Festiva acquires enough deeded weeks to gain control of enough votes to run the resort on their own, Cliff can then give/sell them the remaining inventory and Southscapes/Sandcastle both become Festiva managed and Festiva owned resorts. When that happens Festiva will (like Cliff) not have to pay anything annually for the unsold inventory they own, but they (unlike Cliff) will be able to try and sell-out all of that unsold inventory because Festiva's control over Southscape/ Sandcastle will then be the deeded weeks they own from swapping owners to points, not the unsold inventory. When that happens Festiva will forever own control of both of these resorts and Cliff will no longer be needed (sorry Cliff).
If Festiva ever does become owner of the majority of weeks, the owners will have to do whatever Festiva and the Festiva mgt company wants, or simply sell their weeks. That is how the final irrevocable loss of owner control at these resorts will probably occur. The plan is in motion now. Every deeded week that becomes Festiva's deeded week places owners closer and closer to no say in their resort and no way to reverse the situation. Get legal advice before it is too late.
