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Timeshare

The Act, as amended by the Timeshare Regulations 1997, implements a European Directive. It provides consumers with useful safeguards when buying a timeshare from a UK based company. These include:

• a 14 day cooling off period during which the buyer can withdraw from the contract;
• the seller may not ask for or accept any money from the consumer during the cooling off period;
• a brochure in the consumer's preferred language setting out information about the timeshare;
• written notice of the right to cancel the contract and a cancellation form.

Timeshare resales

The Department continues to receive reports about the trading activities of some timeshare resale companies who approach timeshare owners and offer them a marketing service to sell their timeshare for an up front fee. This contractual relationship is not covered but the Timeshare Act. Some of these companies claim to have potential purchasers wishing to buy at lucrative prices but once the fees are paid sales rarely take place and, where they do, it is often at a selling price that barely covers the fee.

Holiday Clubs

Holiday clubs are a more recent phenomena and are not covered by the Timeshare Act 1992.

These are schemes where consumers buy what amounts to a promise by the club to provide them with holidays for a very long period into the future - sometimes their lifetime. The schemes look very like timeshare but membership of the club is not linked to any rights in any particular property. Instead the club offers them the opportunity of supposedly cheaper holidays in a particular resort or a variety of different locations and sometimes is based on spare-time in traditional timeshare resorts.