Issues Involving Timeshare Cancellation

By: Lance T. Denha, Esq.

If you bought a timeshare and feel you were pressured into the deal or have since determined that it does not fit into your budget, you likely can cancel the purchase—but you’ll need to act quickly. The amount of time you have to cancel the purchase (called the rescission period) depends on state law and is typically only a few days.

Once the rescission period has passed, it becomes readily apparent to timeshare owners of the difficulty that comes with selling their timeshare interest should they seek out the option to do so. Many have sought other options to relieve themselves of their timeshare ownership. Some lucky timeshare owners can work directly with their resort to cancel their timeshares, but most owners aren’t as fortunate to have such option.

Many timeshare resorts have no interest in letting their owners out of their contracts because they’d prefer to keep collecting maintenance fees from each owner year after year regardless of whether those owners are even using their timeshare anymore. That is when the use of experienced professionals or a timeshare exit company are useful in negotiation the cancellation, buy out, transfer of ownership, deed of interest back to the developer, or selling the interest to a charity, if eligible.

In Florida, the purchaser has the right to cancel the contract until midnight of the tenth calendar day following the execution date or the day on which the purchaser received the last of all required documents, whichever occurs later.

It’s important to understand all of your rights when purchasing a timeshare. If you sign a timeshare contract early in your vacation, the rescission period could very well expire before you even get home. To avoid missing the window of opportunity for cancelling the contract, be sure to read all of the terms of the contract at the time you purchase the timeshare and contact a legal professional immediately.