Information to avoid abuses by timeshare companies

Timeshare consumers are protected with some rights, although not all of them know said rights and many companies overlook them in their own interest.
The information brochure is one of consumers` rights and one of promoters´ duties is to provide them with it.
Timeshare promoters are bound by law to provide those consumers interested in timeshare with an information brochure containing the following items:
1. The identity and address of the company´s owner, promoter and any other person, whether natural or artificial, who may take part professionally in the timeshare transfer.
2. The personal or real origin of the property interests to be transferred and the date of their extinguishment.
3. An accurate description of the property to be acquired and its location, whether the building is finished or under construction, and in this case the completion date shall be specified.
4. The common services that the consumer will be entitled to enjoy and the conditions for it.
5. The facilities of common use to which the purchaser will be entitled to access and in this case the conditions for said access expressly specifying its amount or the basis for its calculation.
6. Specification, where appropriate, of the services company which will be in charge of the administration, showing its name and details of its registration in the Companies Registry.
7. The average price of timeshare interests and those ones with the highest prices; the amount of the first annual fee to be paid to make use of the common facilities and services, its estimation and procedure to calculate next annual payments.
8. Report about the number of allocation subject to timeshare and the number of turns per allocation.
9. Information about the purchaser´s rights to withdraw and cancel the agreement unilaterally, specifying the term to do it according to Act 42/98, in case of withdrawal stating the person and address to whom and where to go, or serving notice of it through any means which guarantees the service of the notice and the date of its receipt. `No compensation or cost shall be paid by the purchaser in case of withdrawal from the agreement´.
10. Whether or not there exists the possibility to take part in an exchange scheme, if there is, then the name of the third party which will be in charge of rendering the service. The document shall also specify the total number of members registered in the exchange scheme and the number of schemes taking part in said programme and some general information about how the scheme operates.

The promoter also has the obligation to inform clients about how to ask for general and free information about their rights, telling them the address and telephone numbers of the services which are closest to the property on which the interests have been acquired: tourist offices, Institute of Consumers, local consumer offices, the competent authorities of the corresponding autonomous region, Land Registrars and Notaries Public.
The parties to the agreement may establish such agreements, clauses and conditions as they may think fit, providing that they are not contrary to laws, morality or public order.
In the event that any of the aforesaid items fail to appear in the agreement or the information with which the purchaser is provided is not sufficient, then the purchaser will be entitled to cancel the agreement within a term of three months after entering into it. The purchaser also has a term of ten days to withdraw from the agreement without the need of any good reason.

Maximiliano Ramírez