How to legally rescind a timeshare contract: From a strictly legal standpoint, there are a number of legal ‘theories’ that can be invoked in order to rescind a given contract, including a timeshare agreement, depending upon the circumstances:
1. Failure of Consideration: This involves a situation in which the fundamental benefit promised does not conform to what is actually rendered. In the timeshare context, this will often involve a lack of accessibility to the resort or resorts that you bought into.
2. Fraud in the inducement: This involves a situation in which the seller lies as an inducement to obtain your signature on the contract. It requires a material misrepresentation, reasonably relied upon, to the detriment of the buyer. If for example, your timeshare salesman promised that your unit would be a ‘real estate’ investment appreciating in value (a falsehood), and you relied primarily upon that in purchasing the timeshare, fraud in the inducement may be pled as part of a lawsuit seeking rescission. It is important to note that in most common law jurisdictions, written disclaimers in the contract will not avoid a fraud in the inducement count in the lawsuit.
3. Duress. This is just as it sounds intuitively. Perhaps your timeshare salesman kept you for six hours in a small room, you had no transportation away from the facility, thus you were physically entrapped until you signed off on the contract. This actually occurs, believe it or not. It is a defense to the enforcement of any contract, and can be proactively pled as a basis for rescission in an original civil complaint.
4. Statutory rescission: Most states provide for a ‘cooling off’ period immediately after your purchase of the timeshare, often ten days. You should confer with counsel as to the operative period and the laws of which jurisdiction govern the interpretation of the contract. Often the timeshare developer will withhold parts of the contract that include this provision. You should immediately ask for a complete copy of everything that you sign. If it is not provided, and you can somehow prove this, your statutory right of rescission is ‘tolled’, extended in time until this you receive at least this disclosure in the contract. There are other, perhaps less common legal theories of relief in rescinding timeshare contracts and contracts in general.
If you have been led to believe that you have no legal recourse, it is important that you seek the advice of counsel in helping you understand the options available in your particular case. Learn More about the Timeshare Lawyer who has you in mind at www.aaronsonlawgroup.com