Could one solution be for any given year where any property(s) falls under this unfortunate circumstance that priority be given to a closed auction where existing members could have the opportunity to bid for the timeshare week, and thus avail themselves, if affordable, of a significantly discounted week ( without impacting the prices as seen by the general public)?

I’ve heard of some people leaving the timeshare to the management company – but of course a beneficiary can decline a bequest so that’s not an option. I suggest executors wishing to close an estate and who have no selling or bequesting option should be allowed to pass ownership to the management company for a multiple of the management fee. I would suggest 3. That would be sufficiently small for most estates to manage but large enough to encourage executors to try and sell first. There’s a company in Scotland looking at 4 weeks but that’s attracted much righteous indignation.

This issue was aired in considerable detail at the AGM on 2 April 2017. The mood of the meeting showed that most owners felt that the Board should consider this concern, but not act in a way that put the majority of owners at financial disadvantage. The Articles of Association proposed by the Board were adopted as they stood.

Need a seconder for this motion
14. Termination of Membership

Insert…..

Membership of the Company shall terminate on the death of a Member, but see Article 16.

16. Death of a Member

Replace with…

In the event that a Member dies, the Executor of the deceased Member’s estate may require that all rights and liabilities attaching to the Member’s Certificate of Ownership or Certificates of Ownership will form part of the deceased Member’s estate to be gifted or sold.
Otherwise, the Certificate of Ownership or Certificates of Ownership shall be forfeited and the rights transferred to the Company
Any outstanding charges to the date of death will fall to the deceased Member’s estate.

Death should be an opportunity to extract your estate from unwise promises not a reminder that you have saddled your estate with incalculable commitments!

Following a request in 2013 that the Board should examine allowing owners to relinquish ownership,their opinion was that this was not possible until”all steps had been explored to promote the profile of sales”
This view was offered by TATOC but ignored the growing view that ’in perpetuity’ agreements are one of the most controversial aspects of timeshare.
Perhaps, it would seem simple enough to sell the timeshare on or indeed bequeath it. However, the reality is that the asset value of the Holiday Certificate may be much lower than a few years of maintenance fees. Saddling a ’beneficiary with a lifetime commitment to maintenance fees may not go down too well. And if the bequest is declined, then what??Desperate owners might sell their rights at an artificially low price to avoid complicating their estate following their demise.
By excluding Article 22(3) of Model Articles from the new draft regulations the Board are recommending status quo.
Interestingly, TATOC are now suggesting on their website that owners (or more particularly an executor of a deceased owner) faced with this issue does not allow occupancy to occur and to ignore demands to pay further maintenance fees and await an outcome!

This article was slipped through without highlighting or a meaningful debate. The interimt Articles specifically excludes 22(3) of the Model Articles viz:-A person’s membership terminates when thar person dies or ceases to exist. This places membership responsibilities ’in perpetuity” which may run contrary to some members’ interests. These members would be those who did not wish to recognise a permanent and forward consumer liability.
Since the new Article 16 itself places any outstanding iiabilities at the door of the deceased executor, without defining what those liabilities are, they infer the debt for forward years maintenance falls to the estate. There are 60 years left and 60 times the annual maintenance fee is one huge sum which an estate will need to take account of.
Hence the big concern that members are agreeing to a very onerous clause.
Lengthy clauses in consumer contracts have been ruled unfair and the Company should not lay itself open to a legal challenge.
The spirit of 22(3) should therefore remain so that a member who dies without making provision for the transfer or gift of the Holiday Certicate may resign membership absolutely. This would require the executor to have the Certficate returned, to settle outstanding debts to the date of death and to give up any entitlements attached to the future disposition of the week(s).

16 DEATH OF A MEMBER
In the event that a Member dies, all rights and liabilities attaching to the deceased Member’s
Certificate of Ownership or Certificates of Ownership will form part of the deceased Member’s
estate. Article 22(3) of the Model Articles shall not apply to the Company.