Part of the role of the TCA is to spend time researching the global timeshare market, both from the resort and developer point of view and also the peripheral side of the industry. Given that globally the numbers of families that own timeshare may sound enormous, the reality is that in population terms this is a very small percentage. As an example, the UK has an estimated 650,000 timeshare owners, to put this into perspective; if all these owners lived in London this would only represent 7.3% of the current London population. Nationwide the figure becomes 0.9% of the population, so less than 1%.
We quote these statistics to hopefully point out that the timeshare industry will never focus in any Parliamentary debate or generate enough interest for laws to be tightened to protect consumers. Covid 19, the Ukraine war, rampant inflation, old age pensions and even whether the BBC should do away with licence fees all take pole position in parliamentary time, what chance timeshare?
With the exception of the EU Timeshare Directive 2008, which entered UK statute law as the Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Contracts Regulations 2010 (which in turn replaced the Timeshare Act 1992). This legislation was amended in 2018 but only to ensure the law remained current after Brexit, in the past twelve years nothing of significance has changed. We have said on a number of occasions that any legislation that creates greater levels of consumer protection is most welcome but both the EU directive and its UK counterpart fall woefully short of real consumer protection; in fact it’s more akin to a tiger without teeth.
Policing the European timeshare industry
Beyond the provisions of the EU directive, in basic terms the whole timeshare industry is unregulated, as such there are no government bodies established to police the industry. The UK in particular is highly regulated with relevant bodies that not only police the various industries under their remit, but also have powers of prosecution for wrong doers, not so timeshare.
Earlier we used the expression “tiger without teeth” this equally applies to the only timeshare trade association in Europe being the Resort Development Organisation (RDO). The RDO has no regulatory powers at all, so the worst pain it may inflict on any member who transgresses their code of conduct is to throw them out. We can’t really envisage Diamond Resorts or Club la Costa crying on bended knee at the front door of the RDO pleading not to be expelled.
Whilst on the subject of the RDO and taking a retrospective view, let’s come forward from 2010 to October 2013. In an article published on the RDO website regarding a presentation to the European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net), the article went on to quote the following:
“The reason I thought about this is that it is barely a year since RDO embarked on its strategy of meeting consumer issues head-on by dealing with exit strategies in deserving cases, including death and bankruptcy. There is no doubt that the RDO’s Mission Statement has added to the organisation’s reputation as a trade association intent on meeting consumer needs and offering the best products available on the market.”
We have highlighted some important words, yes the RDO have put forward a suggested exit strategy, draconian though it is, but according to the above, owners would need to prove they are “deserving” of being allowed to exit. So if you die or have no money or die with no money then you are a deserving case. Tell us what other trade association or industry makes it so difficult to get out of a contract. Such a strategy does absolutely nothing to enhance reputation and certainly falls miles short of meeting consumer needs.
2023 and beyond
Just the few points mentioned above would indicate that the timeshare industry is not evolving, or more importantly doesn’t feel the need to, we took a much deeper look at this in a recent article. With no hard and fast legislation to give greater consumer protection, no regulatory authority it becomes easy to see why all the inherant problems with timeshare ownership are as prominent today as they were back in 2010, and before for that matter.
Even if every single UK timeshare owner felt they were missold, lied to or defrauded, 99.1% of the national population are not impacted in any shape or form. Drafting legislation is both expensive and time consuming and in the end less than 1% of the population may benefit. The timeshare industry knows this and for this reason carries on the same way as it has always done resting in the knowledge that, from a legal stand point, it’s bullet proof. Being cynical, for any party in power to consider legislation, it would hardly be a vote catcher at the next general election.
Lorraine Conway dutifully publishes a Commons Briefing Paper into the House of Commons library virtually every year; the latest was entered in April this year. In the paper it certainly does cover some of the more contentious points of timeshare ownership, as may be seen in the contents of section 4 below:
Being positive, at least this 24 page briefing is available for MPs to peruse, one has to wonder how many, if any at all have read it. If you wish to read the whole briefing it may be downloaded here:
TCA Comment
The briefing paper certainly focuses on areas of concern, all of which are regularly covered by the TCA and are certainly worthy of consideration by Parliament; however this is extremely unlikely to happen. Bearing in mind that most UK timeshare owners own at resorts in foreign countries, especially Spain, now the UK has left the EU, even if legislation was passed, this would only apply to UK developers.
Speaking of Spain, the legislation they enacted in 1999 is a prime example of how a government established that the methods of retailing of timeshare were far from improving their tourism image, in fact, quite the reverse was true, and so they acted. Timeshare touts lurking on every corner at the popular resorts in Tenerife and other resorts elsewhere were scaring the tourists away, not so now, the law stopped this. Spain is an example of a government getting it right, mind you, this legislation has seriously damaged the timeshare industry in Spain, and we took a look at this in a separate article.
Until, if ever, legislation is enacted it is worth being cautious when considering a timeshare purchase because there is little right to reply once entered into. The problems of yesteryear are exactly the same today; nothing has changed because there is nothing to force change.
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