Bad move? advice needed please

Cherryjack · 20 February 2012 at 9:25PM

Hello,

Just wanted some advice if I may :beer: OH's parents have a time share which they pay into.. £600.00 a year for a week's holiday.. they have asked if we want to have the timeshare deeded to us in the future when the worst happens (a long way off) lol sorry to be bleak :-/ they are only 50.
They have said we would need to have our names on it and we would split the fee £300.00 per year in the meantime. I figure then we would have to pay for 4 years to get a two week holiday if shared. I've been told the maintenance fee can go up. Im edging on a No thankyou..do you think we are being used to up keep this? I know they are in debt.. not sure if its a good deal or not. I would hate for us to be signed into something bad and later suffer..

This is the place to ask you lovely people, hope someone can help and give some good advice. I have 2 children
Thank you :beer:

rising_from_the_ashes · 20 February 2012 at 9:37PM

The parents of one of my friends have a timeshare - and they have paid literally THOUSANDS for it over the years.

They are totally trapped (friends have had a lawyer look into the legal docs) - don't know all the ins/outs but the one they've signed up to is really hard to get out of and it doesn't look like they can sell it - other than to the company, who will only give them peanuts. The costs have been going up huge amounts.

If you do consider it, please, please have a lawyer look through the paperwork and advise you on whether you can get out of it easily.

Sorry Cherry but - in my personal opinion - I'd steer clear.

FlacosFloozie · 20 February 2012 at 9:44PM

£1200 for a two week holiday sounds like a lot to me. I have no personal experience of timeshare but is it something you would use? Is it a location you would like to go back to regularly? Would you be able to take friends and split the cost?
It does sound a bit like they want to use you to reduce their costs a bit. Its up to you if you would benefit from the arrangement or not but personally I wouldn't be keen.

Cherryjack · 20 February 2012 at 9:44PM

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

The parents of one of my friends have a timeshare - and they have paid literally THOUSANDS for it over the years.

They are totally trapped (friends have had a lawyer look into the legal docs) - don't know all the ins/outs but the one they've signed up to is really hard to get out of and it doesn't look like they can sell it - other than to the company, who will only give them peanuts. The costs have been going up huge amounts.

If you do consider it, please, please have a lawyer look through the paperwork and advise you on whether you can get out of it easily.

Sorry Cherry but - in my personal opinion - I'd steer clear.

Thank you rising xx this is exactly the advice i am after.. parents dont always have best intentions.. i know my parents stayed very clear of them when we were little (the timeshare people).. i have absolutely no experience of them, so would hate to be signed into something bad.. i was thinking that to share one week would every other year wouldnt work out good value.. and who knows how much the fee's could go up by.. :eek::eek:
Cant afford for us to get in any more debt.. or have any company's after money from us x

Cherryjack · 20 February 2012 at 9:47PM

FlacosFloozie wrote: »

£1200 for a two week holiday sounds like a lot to me. I have no personal experience of timeshare but is it something you would use? Is it a location you would like to go back to regularly? Would you be able to take friends and split the cost?
It does sound a bit like they want to use you to reduce their costs a bit. Its up to you if you would benefit from the arrangement or not but personally I wouldn't be keen.

Hi Flacos, thanks for the reply :beer: we have been given very little information.. its for america, but i couldnt be sure that we would have the money always to use it.. and with it being shared (in there control) we could come out worse off.. his mum does sometimes take the mick... was hoping that it was maybe a nice offer.. but my gut feeling says not to do it x Any advice tho is appreciated as i know so little on the subject

nearlyrich · 20 February 2012 at 9:49PM

I would steer well clear of anything resembling a time share, do you really enjoy going to the same place year in year out?, can you afford the flights? (if applicable) if your parents in law are 50 they could be around for 30 plus years ( I hope to be LOL)

rising_from_the_ashes · 20 February 2012 at 9:49PM

The fact that they're also suggesting that it may "come to you in the long term" implies that they can't easily get out of it either.....

Cherryjack · 20 February 2012 at 9:55PM

oh thank goodness for the advice *gulp* lol yep 50 is young.. i think it could have been 1 week for us and 9 for them... you know what family's are like. i have a feelin they paid in £25.000 upfront after selling the rental villa in america about 9 years ago

FlacosFloozie · 20 February 2012 at 10:02PM

If its in America you're going to have to pay a lot for flights as well. I really don't think this is going to benefit you.

theoretica · 20 February 2012 at 10:27PM

Should you want to go there you could presumably ask your inlaws if they would take £600 for the week one year as a one off without committing yourself to more.

Cherryjack · 20 February 2012 at 10:33PM

theoretica wrote: »

Should you want to go there you could presumably ask your inlaws if they would take £600 for the week one year as a one off without committing yourself to more.

Thanks theoretica :beer: it did start out like this.. we were going to be able to use it for 2 weeks as a wedding present in 2014.. and now the cost has been sprung on us.. along with the tie in.. im not sure if its been done in good faith or to help them out of a sticky situation .. she hasnt given us the paper work and keeps saying we need to make a decision.. i suppose we hoped it was a good deal ..

Bad move? advice needed please

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