A CONSUMER group has warned an initiative by Macdonald Resorts to enable owners to exit timeshare contracts on payment of up to £2,500 per week of ownership is unenforceable and owners could walk away.
Macdonald's proposals are being voted on this week by more than 20,000 owners at eight resorts including three in Scotland, with the first vote at a resort in England having already received 90 per cent backing from owners.
It is endorsed by The Association of Timeshare Owners Committees (TATOC) as a solution to the crisis of an ageing timeshare ownership locked into "in perpetuity" contracts.
But the Timeshare Consumers Association, an independent voluntary group, says TATOC has strong industry links. It is urging owners to take legal advice if the resorts adopt the new 30-page constitutions being proposed by Macdonald - part of the Bathgate-based hotel group .
Meanwhile owners at the Dalfaber resort near Aviemore plan to challenge the proposals at their club's special meeting tomorrow, accusing Macdonald Resorts Ltd (MRL) of trying to "asset strip" the resort and gain control of a "valuable estate" from the presently-constituted club committee.
Owner Joan Scott said the proposal to convert from a fixed week in a fixed property to a flexible week in a flexible property, based on a points system, would mean satisfied owners potentially surrendering the property and week they had paid a capital sum for. She has told Macdonald: "The committee fails to clearly explain that this apparent much-desired flexibility comes at a huge price - the passing of all operational, physical and financial control of the Dalfaber estate to MRL."
In future MRL would have the power to remove properties, develop the estate, decide points values, and set the maintenance fees. Mrs Scott said: "The proposed constitution essentially removes all our rights. If we don't want to be part of this new arrangement we have to pay to hand over this asset which we own to MRL at the not inconsiderable cost of four year's annual maintenance charges."
She said this appeared to be a penalty clause which "cannot be inserted into an existing contract without the agreement of the party who might be penalised".
Mrs Scott added: "Those who don't want to participate in the new arrangements must be allowed to walk away with no penalty imposed."
Gary Smith, a director of Praetorian Legal, a claims firm trying to extricate owners from contracts, said the exit fee was "still a very hefty sum of money for a retired pensioner to find". He added: "We would say that the demand of four times the current maintenance fee charge is tantamount to exit penalty which is unlawful."
The TCA says TATOC, which styles itself the Timeshare Association, was "a pseudo owners association linked to trade body RDO" (Resorts Development Organisation), and owners needed independent advice.
Harry Taylor, executive chairman of TATOC, said the organisation was not run or funded by the industry.
A spokesman for Macdonald Resorts said: "The proposed changes in the constitution that members are being asked to vote upon have been drafted by the same legal firm that created the original club constitutions.
"The club committees and Macdonald Resorts have every confidence in their legal robustness.
"Individual members may share a different view or have sought separate advice including that from the Timeshare Consumers Association a self-appointed body.
"However, should the proposals be approved at the respective SGMs, Macdonald Resorts will be in a position to provide a simple exit mechanism as requested by various club committees and owners over recent years."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article