Timeshare Contract is expiring. Help!

[tfh13]

Barclay Towers, Phase One and Phase Two have expiring 40 year contracts with the building. There weren't enough yes votes to renew the contract for ten more years. All units have to be sold. What are my rights legally as an owner of 4 weeks? They are saying I'll be lucky if it doesn't cost me to dissolve everything. What do I actually own? Who should I talk to as far as real estate and legal matters. I know I need to read the bylaws at some point. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[TUGBrian]

this is whats commonly known as a sunset clause, as the years go on this is happening more and more....here is a very lengthy discussion on it:

Timeshare "Sunset" or Self-Destruct clause - 2020! Every timeshare owner should read!

While I had heard the term before, until the recent presentation I attended I had not had it explained to me in great detail to a point where I believed it was as bad as everyone said it was. I am now convinced this is an extremely real issue that will impact many many resorts in florida where...

tugbbs.com

 

[tfh13]

Thank you. Will deep dive when I can. I wonder if there is a quick answer, like suck it up and go with it or stand your ground and hold out?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Who is "they?"

 

[TUGBrian]

Thank you. Will deep dive when I can. I wonder if there is a quick answer, like suck it up and go with it or stand your ground and hold out?

well sadly in this situation the owners had to vote and it does not appear enough of them voted to continue operations as a timeshare.

 

[andre10056]

Barclay Towers, Phase One and Phase Two have expiring 40 year contracts with the building. There weren't enough yes votes to renew the contract for ten more years. All units have to be sold. What are my rights legally as an owner of 4 weeks? They are saying I'll be lucky if it doesn't cost me to dissolve everything. What do I actually own? Who should I talk to as far as real estate and legal matters. I know I need to read the bylaws at some point. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

The question, "What do (you) actually own" is one that I'm also wondering as this is the first time I've heard or read about "sunset clauses". Without question, you're a part owner of the property as your ownership interest was and is a deeded interest in real estate. And I believe your sunset clause doesn't say that "all owners will own nothing from this date on" but merely says the property will no longer be used as a timeshare property.

So I assume that means you and all other owners will no longer have any week's timeshare occupancy. But you will still have a very specific ownership interest percentage in the property. So I guess (and this is speculation on my part) the outcome of all this is what management and the board of directors plan on doing now. Is it to sell the property to a commercial property investor? In which case, you should get a cut of the proceeds. Is it to operate the property as a hotel? In which case, again, you should get a cut of the proceeds.

But, in the latter case (i.e., operation as a hotel), if it's unprofitable, will you have to pay your share of the loss? And a hotel on Virginia Beach, because of its cold winter and a fairly long drive to where most people work (meaning lesser demand from business travelers), may not be an optimal business plan.

Seems to me that a condo business plan may work, so a sale to someone who wants to get involved in something like that may make some sense.

Who to ask about this? I would say your resort management and your Board of Trustees. Find out what ideas they have as to what they might do with the property.

 

[davidvel]

Barclay Towers, Phase One and Phase Two have expiring 40 year contracts with the building. There weren't enough yes votes to renew the contract for ten more years. All units have to be sold. What are my rights legally as an owner of 4 weeks? They are saying I'll be lucky if it doesn't cost me to dissolve everything. What do I actually own? Who should I talk to as far as real estate and legal matters. I know I need to read the bylaws at some point. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

No one here can give you a "quick answer" as none of us have read your governing documents (not bylaws.) Likewise there is no way to determine what "stand your ground and hold out" means as we don't know what the ground is.

You must read your governing documents to know the answer of what happens at sunset. You could also post them here and we can try to decipher them. In all cases I have seen, the developers build in a bunch of phantom expenses, so the owners end up with nothing (and are threatened with actually paying), and the developers get the proceeds of any sale of the property. Such is the perpetual scam of many timeshares.

 

[sponger76]

Barclay Towers, Phase One and Phase Two have expiring 40 year contracts with the building. There weren't enough yes votes to renew the contract for ten more years. All units have to be sold. What are my rights legally as an owner of 4 weeks? They are saying I'll be lucky if it doesn't cost me to dissolve everything. What do I actually own? Who should I talk to as far as real estate and legal matters. I know I need to read the bylaws at some point. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

Basically, each week you own represents a fractional ownership interest in the property as a whole. Usually each week represents 1/52 of a given unit at the resort, and then you have to figure that there are usually at least dozens if not hundreds of units. So if there are 100 units and they are all exactly the same, a week might represent 1/5200 of the property. And the math may get more complicated if not all units are the same size or type (think 2 vs 3 bedrooms or standard vs deluxe units with different square footage at some resorts) so some weeks might represent a higher fraction of the overall property. As others stated above, what it means for you in particular depends on the specific bylaws of your property. But in general, once a timeshare is sold, after all outstanding debts plus sale expenses are paid out any remainder from the proceeds (as well as any reserves held by the HOA) goes to the previous owners such as yourself. What you would receive out of that remainder is in proportion to your fractional ownership stake, i.e. if you owned 1/5200 of the property then you would get 1/5200 of the net profit from the sale. And if the property was in terrible financial shape such that the sale price exceeds all debt and expenses of sale, you could theoretically get nothing or even owe. I've heard of some owners getting little to nothing in these situations, but others have also reported receiving a nice check. I haven't personally seen any reports here of individual owners actually owing after a timeshare was sold.