The trial which began on Monday, January 4th and is underway is said to be based on the case that, Northmont (Resort Properties Ltd.) has breached its contractual obligations to timeshare owners and leaseholders at the resort. said the claimants’ lawyer Michael Geldert, adding that lawyers from Victoria-based Cox Taylor have been representing his clients in court.
Mr Michael Geldert who is the acting lawyer for the Claimant’s stated that the trial is scheduled to run a full three weeks through to January 22nd.
The case began almost three years ago in April 2013, when more than 1,000 timeshare owners (a figure that has now grown to more than 3,200 individual timeshare owners) at Sunchaser Villas entered into a class-action lawsuit against Northmont in a dispute over a costly renovation project and the associated fees charged at the 18,950-unit villa complex. Northmont is a subsidiary company of Northwynd Resort Properties Ltd.
The lawsuit alleges that, among other things, the renovation fees greatly exceed the regular maintenance expenses laid out in the timeshare agreements; that the fees have been improperly charged for expenses not incurred in the past three years and which may not ever be incurred; that the fees include renovation expenses for buildings that Northmont has not and does not intend to renovate or that Northmont seeks to remove from the resort for its own use; and that Northmont has used the fees for purposes other than the renovation project for which they are ostensibly being charged.
The Pioneer sought comment on the case from Northwynd Resort Properties Ltd. representative Brenda Behan, but was also unable to reach her prior to press deadline. When contacted previously, Ms. Behan has declined to comment as it was an ongoing legal matter.
“The timeshare industry has always seemed to have issues with resort managers who, for whatever reason find themselves between a rock and a hard place, and they start making decisions that ultimately attract some liability and concern on behalf of the people they are responsible for managing,” Mr. Geldert had previously told The Pioneer.
Sunchaser Villas was initially managed by Fairmont Resort Properties Ltd., but that company filed for bankruptcy in 2008. Northwynd Resort Properties Ltd. then purchased Sunchaser from creditors, and now manages it through Northmont.
After the takeover, Northmont said that under previous management, owners had been paying unsustainably low maintenance fees and that a large renovation project would be required. Owners were given the option to either pay a $4,195 renovation fee to keep their timeshare unit, or $3,168 to opt out.
In October 2013, a special case hearing dealt specifically with the legal enforceability of the renovation fees. In a November 2013 decision, B.C. Supreme Court Judge Linda Loo upheld Northmont’s ability to impose those fees. But the plaintiffs then appealed that ruling, with the B.C. Court of Appeals overturning Ms. Loo’s order on the grounds that a special case was not the appropriate judicial method to deal with the matter.
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk