Why It’s Tough to Negotiate Lower Timeshare Maintenance Fees
Annual maintenance fees are a huge financial burden of timeshare ownership. Those fees are set by your timeshare purchase agreement, which provides that the fees may rise by a certain percentage every year. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice that they nearly always rise by the maximum amount. You may wonder, then, whether you can negotiate timeshare maintenance fees so you are able to pay less every year.
The answer is probably not what you hoped. Most of the larger timeshare developers control or own the management companies that set and collect annual maintenance fees. Because those fees are one of the primary ways that the timeshare developers make money, they are not inclined to negotiate — let alone lower — their fees.
But that fact doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to be done. In this article, we will take a look at the points that you can negotiate with a timeshare developer and its property management company. We’ll look at strategies for lowering your outgoing costs as well as legal options for disputing fees that have gotten out of control.
As the leader in timeshare exit companies, Centerstone Group can help you free yourself from oppressive timeshare fees. Read on for helpful tips and ideas, or feel free to contact us directly for a free consultation about your specific situation.
Can Timeshare Owners Negotiate Timeshare Maintenance Fees?
Generally, no, you can’t negotiate your timeshare maintenance fees with your developer. Your timeshare contract (or purchase agreement) will have a clause that not only sets your legal obligation to pay the fees but says how much they can legally rise every single year. (Just like everything else, these fees will go up with inflation.)
Timeshare companies put a lot of work into making sure that every owner is legally bound to pay those fees, and they are not likely to simply let you out of your timeshare obligations just because you don’t like the deal you made.
But there may be some wiggle room with other fees charged by your management company. For example, let’s say that the homeowners’ association (HOA) wants to put in a new pool and pay for expensive, unnecessary renovations at a timeshare resort.
To pay for the pool, they will want to charge all owners a special assessment. In some owners’ associations, there will be some discussion or a vote. You can possibly affect that process and, therefore, how much you pay in assessments.
Another example might be if you’re charged extra late fees or other annual fees above and beyond the standard maintenance fee. If there is no documentation in your timeshare agreement or anywhere else for that fee, you may be able to get it removed.
The best place to start with that fight is a call or email to your management company, though they certainly will not remove a fee just for the asking. It will likely take several calls and written communications to reverse even a fee that is unquestionably wrong.
What Strategies Can Help Lower the Cost of a Timeshare?
With that said, there are some practical steps that you can take to make the cost of owning your timeshare as low as possible. Those steps include the following.
1. Read and Know Your Contract
Before you negotiate timeshare maintenance fees or any other kind of fees, you have to know the legal basis for those fees. That means going back and taking a hard look at exactly what your timeshare sales contract says. For example, let’s say that your contract sets maintenance fees at $1,000 per year (an amount well below the average, by the way), with a maximum yearly increase of 5%. That means that your second year’s maintenance fees should not rise above $1,050. If you get a bill for $1,200, then you have hard evidence that you’re being charged too much. In that case, you’re in a great position to bring the matter to the attention of your management company and developer.
2. Contact the Management Company
Once you have the information in front of you, call the management company on the telephone. The company will likely have email and web contact forms too, and it is fine to use those. Keep in mind, though, that live contact on the phone puts more pressure on the company to get things done. When pointing out the issues, make sure you take detailed notes, including the dates and times you called as well as the people you spoke with. In our hypothetical situation above, the contract shows that the management company is in the wrong. If they do not respond or correct the issue, then you need to move to the next step.
3. Contact the Timeshare Developer
The developer would be the last stop before you pursue other exit options or take more dramatic legal measures. Again, keep in mind that live contact on the telephone is superior to other contact options. These companies are aware of this, which is why they will often bury a phone number in an obscure corner of the website in an attempt to hide it from you.
4. Don’t Stop Paying Fees
Though you might be tempted not to pay fees you don’t think are fair, we urge you not to take this route. Not paying maintenance fees can lead to disaster, including foreclosure, a legal deficiency judgment against you, and damage to your credit score — among other things. Even if the amounts being charged are certainly unfair, if you don’t keep up your purported contractual responsibilities to pay all fees, it will put you on the losing legal side of the argument.
Are There Legal Options for Disputing Excessive Fees?
Yes, if fees are excessive under the terms of your contract, then the matter becomes a breach of contract. Lawsuits, however, can be quite expensive, making them a poor option if you’re already having trouble paying timeshare fees.
Timeshare developers may try to encourage you to engage in seemingly less formal options like arbitration, but this can often also cost quite a bit. Plus, there are serious fairness concerns that should give you pause before taking this suggestion.
Therefore, if you’re looking for a legal, ethical, and affordable option to deal with excessive timeshare fees, consider a timeshare exit with Centerstone Group. We have a variety of tools available depending on your situation.
We can help you negotiate a deed-back transaction with the timeshare company, and though there is not much of a timeshare resale market, we can manage a real estate transfer to a third party, or in some cases, we can achieve a timeshare cancellation.
We’re able to get results in our negotiations with timeshare developers through our proprietary pressure campaign, which turns the tactics of timeshare companies against them and helps us get the exits that our clients need. And, if you truly need legal advice, we can refer you to a timeshare attorney or law firm that will charge you discounted fees.
Centerstone Group Can Help You Lower Your Costs
Going to the developer and its management company with the intent to negotiate timeshare maintenance fees is a tactic that is sure to frustrate you. If you need help getting yourself out of the financial hole of your timeshare, call Centerstone Group. We have years of experience in the timeshare industry and have helped thousands of people out of their contracts.
We are an A+-rated and accredited company with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), where we have a 4.77-out-of-5-star rating from our satisfied clients. If you need to lower your timeshare fees, you owe it to yourself to at least look at the things we can do for you.
Annual maintenance fees are a huge financial burden of timeshare ownership. Those fees are set by your timeshare purchase agreement, which provides that the fees may rise by a certain percentage every year. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice that they nearly always rise by the maximum amount. You may wonder, then, whether you can negotiate timeshare maintenance fees so you are able to pay less every year.
The answer is probably not what you hoped. Most of the larger timeshare developers control or own the management companies that set and collect annual maintenance fees. Because those fees are one of the primary ways that the timeshare developers make money, they are not inclined to negotiate — let alone lower — their fees.
But that fact doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to be done. In this article, we will take a look at the points that you can negotiate with a timeshare developer and its property management company. We’ll look at strategies for lowering your outgoing costs as well as legal options for disputing fees that have gotten out of control.
As the leader in timeshare exit companies, Centerstone Group can help you free yourself from oppressive timeshare fees. Read on for helpful tips and ideas, or feel free to contact us directly for a free consultation about your specific situation.
Can Timeshare Owners Negotiate Timeshare Maintenance Fees?
Generally, no, you can’t negotiate your timeshare maintenance fees with your developer. Your timeshare contract (or purchase agreement) will have a clause that not only sets your legal obligation to pay the fees but says how much they can legally rise every single year. (Just like everything else, these fees will go up with inflation.)
Timeshare companies put a lot of work into making sure that every owner is legally bound to pay those fees, and they are not likely to simply let you out of your timeshare obligations just because you don’t like the deal you made.
But there may be some wiggle room with other fees charged by your management company. For example, let’s say that the homeowners’ association (HOA) wants to put in a new pool and pay for expensive, unnecessary renovations at a timeshare resort.
To pay for the pool, they will want to charge all owners a special assessment. In some owners’ associations, there will be some discussion or a vote. You can possibly affect that process and, therefore, how much you pay in assessments.
Another example might be if you’re charged extra late fees or other annual fees above and beyond the standard maintenance fee. If there is no documentation in your timeshare agreement or anywhere else for that fee, you may be able to get it removed.
The best place to start with that fight is a call or email to your management company, though they certainly will not remove a fee just for the asking. It will likely take several calls and written communications to reverse even a fee that is unquestionably wrong.
What Strategies Can Help Lower the Cost of a Timeshare?
With that said, there are some practical steps that you can take to make the cost of owning your timeshare as low as possible. Those steps include the following.
1. Read and Know Your Contract
Before you negotiate timeshare maintenance fees or any other kind of fees, you have to know the legal basis for those fees. That means going back and taking a hard look at exactly what your timeshare sales contract says.
For example, let’s say that your contract sets maintenance fees at $1,000 per year (an amount well below the average, by the way), with a maximum yearly increase of 5%. That means that your second year’s maintenance fees should not rise above $1,050.
If you get a bill for $1,200, then you have hard evidence that you’re being charged too much. In that case, you’re in a great position to bring the matter to the attention of your management company and developer.
2. Contact the Management Company
Once you have the information in front of you, call the management company on the telephone. The company will likely have email and web contact forms too, and it is fine to use those. Keep in mind, though, that live contact on the phone puts more pressure on the company to get things done.
When pointing out the issues, make sure you take detailed notes, including the dates and times you called as well as the people you spoke with.
In our hypothetical situation above, the contract shows that the management company is in the wrong. If they do not respond or correct the issue, then you need to move to the next step.
3. Contact the Timeshare Developer
The developer would be the last stop before you pursue other exit options or take more dramatic legal measures. Again, keep in mind that live contact on the telephone is superior to other contact options. These companies are aware of this, which is why they will often bury a phone number in an obscure corner of the website in an attempt to hide it from you.
4. Don’t Stop Paying Fees
Though you might be tempted not to pay fees you don’t think are fair, we urge you not to take this route. Not paying maintenance fees can lead to disaster, including foreclosure, a legal deficiency judgment against you, and damage to your credit score — among other things.
Even if the amounts being charged are certainly unfair, if you don’t keep up your purported contractual responsibilities to pay all fees, it will put you on the losing legal side of the argument.
Are There Legal Options for Disputing Excessive Fees?
Yes, if fees are excessive under the terms of your contract, then the matter becomes a breach of contract. Lawsuits, however, can be quite expensive, making them a poor option if you’re already having trouble paying timeshare fees.
Timeshare developers may try to encourage you to engage in seemingly less formal options like arbitration, but this can often also cost quite a bit. Plus, there are serious fairness concerns that should give you pause before taking this suggestion.
Therefore, if you’re looking for a legal, ethical, and affordable option to deal with excessive timeshare fees, consider a timeshare exit with Centerstone Group. We have a variety of tools available depending on your situation.
We can help you negotiate a deed-back transaction with the timeshare company, and though there is not much of a timeshare resale market, we can manage a real estate transfer to a third party, or in some cases, we can achieve a timeshare cancellation.
We’re able to get results in our negotiations with timeshare developers through our proprietary pressure campaign, which turns the tactics of timeshare companies against them and helps us get the exits that our clients need. And, if you truly need legal advice, we can refer you to a timeshare attorney or law firm that will charge you discounted fees.
Centerstone Group Can Help You Lower Your Costs
Going to the developer and its management company with the intent to negotiate timeshare maintenance fees is a tactic that is sure to frustrate you. If you need help getting yourself out of the financial hole of your timeshare, call Centerstone Group. We have years of experience in the timeshare industry and have helped thousands of people out of their contracts.
We are an A+-rated and accredited company with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), where we have a 4.77-out-of-5-star rating from our satisfied clients. If you need to lower your timeshare fees, you owe it to yourself to at least look at the things we can do for you.
Contact us today for a free consultation and case evaluation.