Yard sale for "dog" properties

[kjd]

I know that there are state laws that specifically govern timeshares to one degree or another. That said, I have a question about the liability of ts owners.

We've all seen the timeshares that sell on EBAY for less than $100. These owners want to get out from under the maintenance fees and assessments. As the economy and the resale ts market worsens it's likely there will be more of them for sale. Almost like a yard sale.

Under the MVCI system owners receive a real estate deed. I'm sure that many of these "dog" properties have also issued deeds to their owners. My question is: Is a deeded owner responsible to cover the additional debt of the owner's association caused by other owners abandoning their ts?

While it's hgihly unlikely that anything would ever happen to MVCI owners it could severely affect the ts market if enough of these other properties fell into default. There are several instances here in Florida where deeded homeowners had to declare personal bankruptcy in order to avoid paying for millions of dollars of debt created by their master homeowners associations.

 

[AwayWeGo]

The Answer Is Yes.

Is a deeded owner responsible to cover the additional debt of the owner's association caused by other owners abandoning their ts?

Yes, absolutely. Owners are not only on the hook for paying all expenses of their own individual deeded intervals, they are likewise totally on the hook for their share of the financial trouble & economic distress caused by the deadbeats who don't pay or who abandon their deeded timeshare weeks.

That's why the No. 1 job of the timeshare HOA-BOD is collections -- making sure every dollar owed by everybody is collected promptly & taking quick, aggressive action against all late payers & deadbeats. It's not a matter of being hard-hearted mean-ball skinflints, but more a matter of looking out for the responsible owner's interests & seeing to the very survival of the timeshare condo association. Otherwise, the responsible owners' fees go up because of other people's unpaid timeshare bills. Sheesh.

By No. 1 responsibility, I mean even ahead of upgrading the units, even before installing wi-fi, even before doing anything by way of improvements & modernization.

The main ongoing task is keeping the ownership & billing records accurate & complete & up to date. Can't bill'm if you can't find'm. It's easier to keep the lists up to date than to get'm that way after they've been let go. But whatever it takes, it has to be done & it is worth it.

Next is sending out those bills & following up promptly. It's not smart to rack up $5,000 in attorney fees going after foreclosure on a timeshare week worth half that, but it's vital to follow an orderly collection process, meanwhile locking owners out of their units if they're paying late, & renting out the deadbeats' units as a way of compensating for some of the lossses. State timeshare laws have lots to say about how that must be done.

Keeping up the quality of the resort is also important in the collections process -- that is, making sure the timeshare remains so nice & desirable for vacations that owners will not want to get behind in their timeshare fee payments, much less turn their backs on the resort & walk away.

It's a tricky business running a timeshare & my hat is off bigtime to the officers & board members of those quality timeshare resorts who do all it takes year in & year out to collect every dollar that's owed & to make sure that every dollar spent returns value to us regular, walking around timeshare owners.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​