Christmas may be the most wonderful time of the year, but for many timeshare owners, the festive season comes laden with a burden. Maintenance fees are coming, and it may be with some dread that you anticipate the arrival of your annual bill. What with presents to buy, decorations, Christmas dinner, and all the rest, these fees could not possibly come at a worse time.
You have probably noticed that your timeshare maintenance fees rise every year, sometimes at an alarming rate. When you bought your timeshare contract, you most likely did all your budgeting and worked out that the maintenance fees were manageable, only to find that this annual rise is making your timeshare unaffordable. Equally, your circumstances may have changed and you no longer have the means. So, what should you do?
The first thing you can try is to request a full breakdown of what your maintenance fees are paying for. Whilst it’s unlikely to result in a reduction in the fees, at the very least you can know precisely what you are being charged for. You can query anything that seems out of place, and it also gives you that clarity should you choose to pursue the path of extricating yourself from the contract.
Speaking of extricating yourself from the contract, you should know that this isn’t something that your resort is likely to agree easily to, though it’s certainly worth a try. Write to them and explain your circumstances. It is a good idea to enclose a breakdown of your financial state – your income versus outgoings – to explain to them why you need to leave timeshare.
Should this result in a refusal from the timeshare company or resort, then it is time to pursue the issue with legal assistance. Timeshare law can be tricky, and your resort is likely to try any method, including intimidation and harassment, in order to keep you. This is because there is a shortage of new timeshare buyers, and the resort needs to keep a certain number of timeshare units occupied so that they can remain in business. This is, nonetheless, not an excuse to hold you captive within an unaffordable timeshare contract.
With this in mind, it’s important that, if you can’t afford timeshare anymore, you must seek advice from an expert in timeshare law. Not only will they know the relevant processes that must be followed to leave a timeshare contract, they’ll be able to comb your contract for discrepancies that may lead to further claims against the resort. These can include things like illegal clauses in timeshare contracts, malpractice by the resort, negligence, or a range of other factors that may make it easier to leave timeshare for free or with less financial outlay than you may otherwise incur. There might even be timeshare compensation should wrongdoing be proven.
If you can’t afford timeshare anymore, then get in touch with the team at Timeshare.Lawyer, who will be able to help guide you through what can be done.