Casualty (5)

Casualty (5)

We bought our timeshare at Fairmont Vacation Villas for just over $20,000.00 in the late 90's. The company salesman promised us “worry free” yearly vacations for just the price of a low annual maintenance fee; “way cheaper than hotels” and the timeshare would be “something to be proud of for years to come”.

He referred to “Clause 13” in our sales contract which stated that we could return our lease back to Fairmont at anytime and they would pay us for any years left on our contract; this clause also stated that if we were in default on our maintenance fees for 16 months the unit would revert back to the resort owner. We had to accept their “one time sales offer” before we left the sales office so we signed on the dotted line, not knowing if we did the right thing.

We enjoyed our holidays at the timeshare, often bringing relatives with us to enjoy our week long vacation at Fairmont; that is until Northmont took over.

Northmont bought the Fairmont's timeshare assets in 2010 and the name of the resort changed to Sunchaser Vacation Villas, and Northwynd Resort Properties (run by Northmont) assumed responsibility to run the Sunchaser Villas.

In 2013 Northmont decided that major renovations and repairs were necessary and demanded that the timeshare lessees pay tens of millions of dollars to fix up the resort, instead of using their own funds. To raise the necessary capital Northwynd implemented their “Freedom to Choose, Reason to Stay” Renovation Project Fee (RPF); we could stay if we paid a close to $4,000.00 renovation fee or we could terminate our timeshare contract for just over $3,000.00.

Northmont bought a bankrupt, rundown timeshare company and then expected the timeshare lessees to pay tens of millions of dollars to fix it up. We didn't think that was right as we didn't own any aspect of the Sunchaser resort so we joined a group of approximately 1,600 timeshare lessees and have fought Northmont for the past four years in court.

The courts have ruled against us, not because we are/were in the wrong but because our lawyer argued the wrong things in court. We can't believe that we, the lessees, are being forced to pay for major building repairs and renovations. From the start our lawyer told us to stop paying our yearly maintenance fees to reduce Northmont's cash flow. Unfortunately that ploy backfired and now we have to pay the renovation fee, 4 years of unpaid maintenance fees. This adds up to just over $8,000.00 but Northmont is adding 26.82% interest to the amount which adds another $10,000.00. To add insult to injury Northmont tacked on a 20% termination fee which brings the total bill to just over $22,000.00 – more than what we paid for the timeshare lease in the first place.

AND if we do not pay by February 15^th, 2018 our payment will jump to 162% of that amount.

I am retired and my wife works part time. Thanks to the court ruling, we will have to use most of the remainder of our savings to pay Northmont. I would have liked to stay retired but I may have to find a part time job to rebuild our nest egg.

Why not stay? Northwynd could still demand additional money from timeshare lessees if they say it's needed to complete renovations and there is nothing to prevent them from doing minimal maintenance on the buildings for the next 20 years and again demand money over and over again. Even worse there is nothing to stop them, or other companies, from buying rundown timeshare resorts and fix them up using the timeshare lessees' money.

In the meantime what are they doing with all the tens of millions of dollars they have collected from us??? Is it going toward the resort or their own pockets???

 

 The information contained in this blog/video is accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of posting. I reserve the right to make changes as new information becomes available.

Any and all  information I share is for informational purposes only, not legal advice, as I am not a lawyer, just a lay person sharing information.