We live in the UK and own a timeshare in Florida outright no finance. The annual fees are now U.S. $1300 having tripled in the 7 years we've owned it. We can no longer afford this and have tried without success to sell it. The Company has said it does take timeshares back and recommends we sell it. Our questions are :
1) If we just don't pay the next due fees will they just likely foreclose and that's the end of it.
2) As we live in the UK we are not concerned about any adverse US credit ratings on us as we will never need it, but could or would they try and pursue legally in the UK for these fees in the future ?
3) Could our UK credit rating be adversely affected as a result of this ?

Thank you very much for your advice.

To the right of your post there are some options you can try before you go to the extreme and let it go into foreclosure.

I don't know how much time you have but you could try Kijiji.com to sell it. Canadian and US dollars are off and on at par, or sometimes within a few cents; Canadians are always looking for property in Florida.

Tick

Sorry , I meant to say the Company will NOT take the timeshare back..

1) If we just dont pay the next due fees will they just likely foreclose and thats the end of it.

Since it's all equity, that would be my guess.



2) ... could or would they try and pursue legally in the UK for these fees in the future ?

If they don't foreclose? They could, but unless they are in the habit of pursuing delinquent fees in the UK, I guess it wouldn't occur to them.


...
3) Could our UK credit rating be adversely affected as a result of this ?

As in (2), would they know the procedure to report you to the UK credit reporting agencies? Most people are creatures of habit. So in my opinion it's not likely.

Thanks , in your experience do these Cpmapies tend to pursue maintenance fees in the UK when there is no debt outstanding on the property ? Surely its better to just foreclose , take back the ownership and then resell it or let it out ? Thanks again

... Surely its better to just foreclose , take back the ownership and then resell it or let it out ? ...

One would think so. Assuming they can sell it for what is owed in maintenance fees plus the costs of foreclosure and of re-sale.

I used to work as a collector for a company that sold vacation property. The issue was similar in that the sales contract allowed for repossession of the property. If the company won't take the property back, its probably because it has been fully sold and they no longer have a sales staff. This also means that the maintenance is being collected by the property owner's association not the developers. So, if a owner doesn't pay the maintenance, it means the POA doesn't have enough money to pay its bills. So yes, they might pursue this since it means they have to raise rates for everyone else.

Your best bet is to continue to try and sell it, or maybe donate it to a charity for a raffle, whatever you can do to have someone take over ownership.

There are some firms that will take it as a donation ( a few require you to pay some limited fee for them to take it) and then they resale it for what they can get.

But yes, not sure if you owe any thing on it, that will be the issue, They are selling now for about 10 cents on the dollar for what you paid, so if you can afford to basically give it away, that would be about the best.

Also when is your time there, go and use it, then when you are there, you should meet people visiting the area that may want to buy it.