Timeshares are appreciated among owners thanks to visiting a variety of luxury hotels and apartments every year. However, the burdensome obligation to pay annual maintenance and membership fees, not to mention real estate and other taxes, can make things worse. The truth is that these fees tend to increase over time and become the first reason why multiple individuals decide to exit timeshare. Today, we’ll try to find out how to get out of timeshare maintenance fees following a few steps.
Timeshare maintenance fees at the glance
Timeshares require regular maintenance to make sure all the amenities are running well, and the burden to pay for it falls on timeshare owners. Such annual fees are collected by a timeshare management company every year or occasionally every month to cover costs for maintaining the property. Besides, timeshare maintenance fees involve:
- Repairs for landscaping (like mowing grass or repairs of a sprinkler system).
- Business (like insurance on the property).
- Amenities (like cleaning of the swimming pools and repairs for golf courses).
The usual timeshare maintenance fee ranges around $1.000, although they tend to grow over time. The last tendency for these fees is related to around 2% every year! It is worth mentioning that no matter whether you visit a resort this year, maintenance fees should be paid every year.
If you read your timeshare contract carefully, you will find a clause that provides the maintenance fees are non-negotiable at all. These fees are part of income for multiple timeshare companies to tell the truth. That is why timeshare companies aren’t interested in leaving timeshare ownership by the owners.
What happens if an owner stops paying maintenance fees?
Many timeshare owners think once they stop making required payments for timeshare maintenance, they will get rid of them, but it is a wrong consideration. Be sure a timeshare company will do anything to collect fees – starting from consistent phone calls to the involvement of collections companies.
A timeshare company can even take legal actions against you, apart from lifetime debts and possible foreclosure. If you are willing to completely get rid of timeshare maintenance fees, your only way is to get rid of an entire timeshare initially.
How to get out of my timeshare maintenance fees?
An issue of how to get out of timeshare fees if no income remains widespread among timeshare owners. As it was mentioned, existing the timeshare itself and finally getting rid of burdensome obligatory costs is your best bet.
You can call your timeshare company and ask whether they provide a deed-back program for owners to get out of a timeshare without any penalties. If your timeshare contract is relatively new, you might use a rescission period to cancel your purchasing decision legally. Another variant to get rid of unwanted property remains selling it on the online resale markets or forums.