Resort illegally rents owned unit.

[mike823367 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mike823367]

We have for many years owned weeks 51 & 52 at a resort in Kissimmee, FL, and have always paid the Maintenance fees and taxes in a timely fashion. We were therefore astonished, last year, when we arrived, a day later than scheduled, to be told that we could not check in as our unit was already occupied by another party, who could not be contacted, possibly for several days. We therefore made arrangements to stay with our son, at a nearby resort, and stated that we intended to withhold our payment for 2009 until an explanation and compensation had been received.
To date, neither has been offered, in spite of the fact that we have an "exclusive right" to occupy the specific unit.
Has anybody else encountered this problem? It would be interesting to have an explanation of the resort receiving both annual fees and rental charges for the same unit.
We are still withholding our payment pending a refund of our 2008 fees.

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

Which resort? Do you have fix week/fixed unit? If so, have you contact the local AG?

If you have floating unit or point system, you may need to check your HOA document, but you still need to contact the local AG.

Jya-Ning

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

If it's fixed weeks you presumably have an entitlement to rental income as well.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

deleted. I was wrong.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

This is what I heard from someone else this happened to. They did not call the resort to tell them they were coming untill a week before. The resort told them sorry you needed to tell us 30 days prior. We no longer have a room for you Sorry.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

This is what I heard from someone else this happened to. They did not call the resort to tell them they were coming untill a week before. The resort told them sorry you needed to tell us 30 days prior. We no longer have a room for you Sorry.

Personally, I always tell people to call the resort, a month ahead to say they will be using their TS and if they will be late ( not checking in the normal day) they should always call about that too.

About late checkin: I always tel the resort that we will be coming in late but make sure that the unit is ready since it should have been ready for us the day before. There is no excuse for us to wait till checkin time!!

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

I'm going to guess that if you look carefully at the governing documents, the resort's management company has the right to rent out nights for folks who don't use their week---probably with some fraction of the income going to the HOA---and that late arrivals are required to notify the resort, else they are counted as no-shows.

If this right isn't spelled out, you'll have a small-claims case. But, withholding your 2009 MFs is not the way to resolve this. That is only going to result in your being denied use for 2009.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I'm sure that Slim would add this to his list of RCI crimes.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

Well, sure. RCI rents units. This is a rental. How could it not be RCI's fault?

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Well, sure. RCI rents units. This is a rental. How could it not be RCI's fault?

Not only that - it's a timeshare. By definition that means its RCI's fault, since RCI is responsible for anything that happens associated with timeshares.

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

Personally, I always tell people to call the resort, a month ahead to say they will be using their TS and if they will be late ( not checking in the normal day) they should always call about that too.

About late checkin: I always tel the resort that we will be coming in late but make sure that the unit is ready since it should have been ready for us the day before. There is no excuse for us to wait till checkin time!!

It may be good practice to do the above, but my home resort assumes the owner is going to occupy unless told to the contrary. I would definitely call them if I wasn't going to be there on the proper change over day, but was intending to occupy for part of the week.
I don't think it's unreasonable that they rent out what they can reasonably believe to be an empty unit. Nonetheless, I would certainly expect part of the rental proceeds if my unit was rented out.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

I would demand to see their authority to do that. If it is a rule or bylaw, it is no authority. It would have to be in the declaration of covenants. If the resort is clamming up, I suspect they may be doing something without any right to do so. You should write the Florida Real Estate Commission, which regulates timeshare in that state.

You might also run into a manager who is doing this for his own profit. One resort on the OBX had a longtime manager leave their employ, and for the next year or so quite a few people asked at the office about rentals and were told that the office did not do that, referring them to the local timeshare rental/resale agency. The new manager was then told that the old manager had rented them units in the past. Upon investigation, it appeared she had been renting unoccupied units to anyone who came and asked and putting the money in her own pocket.

[grest Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close grest]

Wow...I would certainly be upset! And I would do as Carolinian says...how can they do that???
Connie

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

We have for many years owned weeks 51 & 52 at a resort in Kissimmee, FL, and have always paid the Maintenance fees and taxes in a timely fashion. We were therefore astonished, last year, when we arrived, a day later than scheduled, to be told that we could not check in as our unit was already occupied by another party, who could not be contacted, possibly for several days. We therefore made arrangements to stay with our son, at a nearby resort, and stated that we intended to withhold our payment for 2009 until an explanation and compensation had been received.
To date, neither has been offered, in spite of the fact that we have an "exclusive right" to occupy the specific unit.
Has anybody else encountered this problem? It would be interesting to have an explanation of the resort receiving both annual fees and rental charges for the same unit.
We are still withholding our payment pending a refund of our 2008 fees.

With DRI, their rules specifically state that, if you're not going to arrive on your date of arrival, you MUST call the resort to let them know you will be arriving later or, they can list you as a no-show and rent your unit.

Anytime we're going to be arriving later than the first day we always call the resort to let them know. I have not looked through the fine print on any of our other ownerships but, it would not surprise me if this wasn't true for a majority of the resorts.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Go get 'em

With DRI, their rules specifically state that, if you're not going to arrive on your date of arrival, you MUST call the resort to let them know you will be arriving later or, they can list you as a no-show and rent your unit.

Anytime we're going to be arriving later than the first day we always call the resort to let them know. I have not looked through the fine print on any of our other ownerships but, it would not surprise me if this wasn't true for a majority of the resorts.

A fixed week is a different animal than a points style or even float resort. If I OWN week(s) XX then I don't have to do anything but show up to use it. If it sits empty is MY loss - the resort has NO right to rent it (unless my fees are unpaid). The OP should go after this resort / management with everything they can. As Carolinian correctly states there is no legal basis for it and an Association Rule or Regulation CANNOT remove the owners use rights - only a deed restriction requiring such notice (never seen that at any resort) could impose such a rule. The OP has all the rent money coming to them at the least and should get more as this was not a legal act by management.