timeshare Know your Rights

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Timeshare: Know Your Rights
22 February 2010

TIMESHARE: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

Timeshare is where you buy the right, for at least three years, to spend time in a villa or apartment at specific times in the year. You don’t actually own the property itself but just the ‘time slot’.

In the UK, the Timeshare Act 1992, as amended by the Timeshare Regulations 1997, gives you a minimum of fourteen days ‘cooling off’ period to cancel the contract. If you buy a timeshare in the European Economic Area, you have a ten-day cooling off period from the day the contract is signed. You are not required to pay any money during this time, the documents and contract should be in your own language and the contract should include the following:

– The vendors details

– The price

– The location

– Description of the property

– If the property is under construction, a completion date

– How the property is to be managed

– Maintenance and repair of the property

– The provision of services such as water or electricity

– Common facilities

– The consumer’s right to cancel and the procedure for cancelling or withdrawing from the contract.

If you decide to cancel the contract, any linked credit agreement is also concealable.

The European Timeshare Directive 94/47/EC protects consumers who enter into a Timeshare contract. The Directive only covers timeshare schemes that are more than three years duration. If any product is offered for less than three years you will not be protected by the legislation.

Our advice is that, if you are interested in timeshare, do your research first and get all the relevant details in writing before committing yourself.

Inam Ali is a Solicitor at Lawdit, specialising in Commercial and Intellectual Property Law, and can be contacted via email: inam.ali@lawdit.co.uk