Buying a timeshare can be tempting, with the lure of a guaranteed home from home in a tropical location being a big draw for many.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK currently own timeshares, and while many of them have been sold legitimately, many have been mis-sold.
If you’ve been mis-sold a timeshare, you should be entitled to potentially thousands of pounds in compensation.
So how do you know if your timeshare has been mis-sold?
Breach of contract
When you buy your timeshare, you should receive a contract (if not then you most certainly have been mis-sold!).
It’s crucially important that you read through this contract yourself multiple times, and that you get a professional opinion too, as they can be complex documents with lots of small print and technical terms that can be easy to trip up on.
If the timeshare company aren’t completely faithful to what was agreed in the contract, or if they included misleading information then you may have a case to argue that you’ve been mis-sold.
Keep a copy of your contract handy so that you can always refer back to it if any problems should ever arise.
(It’s also important to note that breach of contract can also refer to things that aren’t necessarily in the contract. For example, if you were promised things at a sales presentation, but these promises were later broken, this could still count as a breach of contract.)
Misrepresentation
Unfortunately, many timeshare companies can be quite deceitful when selling you your timeshare, and will talk up a dream property, only for you to discover that the reality is quite different when you turn up.
It’s important to note that in legal terms, misrepresentation has to be based on solid fact. By this we mean that the timeshare company have to have outrightly lied or given you false information.
For example, if they have told you that your property will only be five minutes from the beach but it is in fact a thirty-minute walk, then this is misrepresentation and you have been mis-sold.
However, anything that can be up to interpretation unfortunately cannot be classed as misrepresentation.
For example, if they’ve told you that your property is a ‘beautiful beachside villa’, and the actual thing is anything but ‘beautiful’, unfortunately this is down to interpretation and would be difficult to argue as misrepresentation.
Misrepresentation is most commonly encountered at a timeshare presentation, where salespeople will often make claims such as that your timeshare will be a good investment for later in life that you will be able to sell on for a profit.
This is the ultimate misrepresentation as the timeshare market is actually very depressed and timeshares are very rarely (if ever) sold for a profit, so make a note of things such as this which are promised at the presentation.
Misleading omission
Sometimes a timeshare company may try and mis-sell you a property by intentionally leaving out some crucial information about the property.
For example, the company might tell you that your property is right next to the beach. This may well be the case when you turn up, but it isn’t much good if you’re also right under the flight path of the local airport.
They aren’t lying after all, just forgetting to mention something, so does this count as mis-selling?
Fortunately, yes, this is mis-selling and you would have legal justification to compensation.
It’s important that this information needs to be something which would have put you off buying the timeshare had you known it.
Aggressive sales tactics
The high pressure environment of the timeshare presentation is notorious, and it can be a bit of a grey area when it comes to determining whether this is actually a case of mis-selling, or just annoying and aggressive.
One thing to watch out for which certainly would be classed as mis-selling is the ‘free gift’ or ‘competition’ which you may be offered.
If you’re offered a free gift but are then expected to pay anything further (other than perhaps a legitimate delivery fee) then this isn’t free, and has been misrepresented to you.
When it comes to the actual sales pitch, it can be quite difficult to actually prove that you have been mis-sold anything, as high pressure tactics themselves are technically legal.
Our best advice would be to make lots of notes of what you’re being told and promised, especially anything that sounds too good to be true.
Where things would certainly cross over into possibly being illegal would be if the salespeople create the impression that you cannot leave the premises until a contract has been signed and try to keep you on the premises against your will.
If you believe that you have been mis-sold a timeshare in any way feel free to get in touch with one of our advisors at the Timeshare Consumer Association who will be able to let you know if you have been mis-sold your timeshare and if you have any legal rights to compensation.
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