Many people who enter into timeshare contracts find themselves locked into agreements which aren’t what they signed up for, owing large sums of money.
The unfair business practices and high-pressure sales tactics which are rife in the industry have unfortunately led to many becoming trapped, as you can see in this article from The Telegraph. So what are your rights in a situation like this?
Well thankfully, there are ways in which you can legally exit a timeshare, and we’re going to explore five of them in this post.
Cancel During the Cooling Off Period
This is the most straightforward way to get out of a timeshare, but unfortunately, you have to act quickly!
Most timeshare agreements will have a ‘cooling off’ period of perhaps a week or two. During this period, you have the right to fully cancel your contract and receive back any money which you have paid.
Once this period is over, many companies will have you believe that you are bound to the contract ‘in perpetuity’, but this isn’t necessarily the case, as we’ll see.
Get in Touch with the Experts
If you have to go down the legal route to prove that the timeshare company are breaching your contract, then it’s definitely worth getting in touch with the experts.
Timeshare law is extremely complicated, more so than your average property law (which can be complicated enough!), but thankfully there are specialist groups such as the Timeshare Consumer Association on hand, who specialise in such matters.
Such groups will help you to legally terminate your timeshare contract by proving that you have been mis-sold the property, or that you’re unfairly being stopped from cancelling it.
Sell the Timeshare
This is a lot easier said than done, but some timeshare owners do have joy selling the property on.
The reason this can be difficult is because the timeshare market is extremely oversaturated, with many more people wanting to sell than wanting to buy.
This means second hand timeshares sell for very low prices and some even struggle to sell for as little as 99p!
This said, if you accept that you’re not going to see much of your initial outlay back, and simply want to be rid of the maintenance fees, this could be an option.
Donate the Timeshare
There are also a number of organisations that will allow you to donate the timeshare property to a third party, who will then give it away in a charity auction or sell it off themselves.
This can be a very easy process if you can find an organisation willing to take the property, but again, you won’t receive anything back.
Transfer Ownership
If you happen to know of a friend or family member who is willing to take the timeshare on, then you could choose to simply transfer the ownership over to them.
The advantage here is that you might still be able to use the property when they aren’t, and you’ll relinquish the costs.