Timeshare properties 'worthless'
Updated on 06 June 2007
Timeshare properties bought for thousands of pounds are now virtually worthless, it has been claimed.
Far from keeping pace with house price inflation, the value of a partial stake in a holiday home has slumped in parts of Europe, according to the Timeshare Consumers Association (TCA).
Timesharing boomed about 20 years ago, particularly along the Spanish and Portuguese holiday coastlines. Britons unable or not wanting to invest fully in a second home could buy permanent ownership of a week or two's occupancy - with the expectation of a portion of the property's rising value if they chose to sell.
But there is growing evidence of a vast gulf between the financial rewards of buying bricks and mortar and buying short-term possession, says the Association's Sandy Grey.
He said: "There are few takers for resale timeshare and, with the exception of very, very few high-grade timeshare weeks in peak season in prime international resorts, timeshare owners who thought they were making an investment are now finding there is no residual value in something they may have spent £10,000 on."
Mr Grey was speaking on the eve of new European Commission proposals to tighten legal protection for consumers buying or reselling timeshare properties. The aim is to boost consumer confidence in a European timeshare industry now employing 40,000 people and worth more than £7 billion a year.
EU-wide timeshare safeguards were introduced in 1994 after years of scare stories about timeshare scams and timeshare "touts" patrolling the Spanish costas, enticing holidaymakers into unbreakable deals. The new proposals, if approved by EU governments, would extend from 10 to 14 days the existing "cooling-off period" and would apply for the first time to short-term timeshare agreements of less than three years. They will also stop timeshare sellers and resellers charging unjustified extra fees, for access to holiday club websites or help to resell timeshare weeks.
But the proposals will not help the apparent market slump in timeshare second-hand prices , which Mr Grey's Timeshare Consumers Association's website says are now so poor that "existing timeshare owners are having very great difficulty getting rid of their ownership."
It goes on "Most timeshare weeks are now worthless on the open market. But owners of school holiday weeks, especially in a top-notch resort, should be able to find a buyer at prices above £1,000, and in exceptional circumstances (the most sought-after weeks and resorts) owners could receive over £2,000."
Some timeshare owners are simply "walking away", the website says, resisting the legal threats of resort owners by asserting that they were told a "blatant lie" - that their purchase would be a good investment, and that they would get all their money back.
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