We often hear from clients who were contacted by a salesman who tries to persuade them to go for some deal where they rent out or exchange their timeshare for other holiday accommodation.
Unless it’s your own timeshare scheme which allows exchanges, be very sceptical about the possibility of exchanging your timeshare for other holiday accommodation. In the experience of our clients, it’s never worked as promised.
Renting out your timeshare or shareblock holiday accommodation is usually prohibited by the rules of the scheme. For example, Quality Vacation Club’s contract terms state that you cannot rent out your timeshare or use it as an investment.
One of our clients was persuaded to buy into a shareblock scheme on the promise that he could rent out the accommodation for a substantial profit. But when he tried to do it, he was told that according to the rules all he was allowed to do was to put his unit in the rental pool, and if it was rented out, the rental may be less than the annual levy on the unit. This is typical because the sectional title scheme charges fees to administer the rentals.
Despite what the advertising may promise, timeshare is not an investment – the value decreases over time instead of appreciating. Most people find that they paid far above the market value. If you must buy timeshare, don’t buy from the agent, but rather from a previous owner or a reseller like Cape Escape as the price is more likely to be market-related.
If you’re buying something complicated like timeshare (or crypto-currencies or shares in a shareblock scheme or life rights in a retirement complex etc), you need to understand what the contract says and you can’t trust the marketing people to tell you. So we recommend you ask help from a friend or family member familiar with interpreting contracts, or contact an attorney who can check that what you’re buying actually meets your expectations.