Club Land 'or... another fee?!

Who else received this bill in the mail? When I walked to the mail box today, I was surprised to see an envelope from Club Land 'or. Could it be that time of the year already? Or... what is their excuse for an assessment now... WELL, it was neither but yet a NEW way to rip us off. "The periodic (nightly) charge that has been in place for years at Club Land'or currently includes and Energy Surcharge/Holdover charge. Effective October 2010, the Energy Surcharge/Holdover charge will be billed annually and the nightly Resort Assessment of $25.00/person/night reduced to $12.50/person/night. Holdover charges represent resort expenses and union benefit expenses for staff not included in annual maintenance fees as outlined in the terms and conditions of your purchase agreement." WHAT?! So what this tells me is that tons of people staying at Land 'or complained about the out of this world fees they were charged. So let me get this straight. We now are paying a WAY too high maintenance fee, what has come down to a yearly assessment fee and now this, $449.00 ANNUALLY?! Are they kidding me? What do you think we should do about this, people? My maintenance fees at Land'or now outweigh my fees at neighboring Harborside by several hundred a year. Tell me what you're thinking.

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barbaram536 wrote:

I thought I had a buyer but Club Land'Or would not allow the sale to take place because the insisted on doing a credit check on the buyer and his score was not high enough for them He has just gone through a divorce and that was the reasn for it being low.

I'm somwhat confused by your post above. If your timeshare is free and clear of any liens and you owe no past due maintenance fees then the resort should have no say on who you sell it to .... that would be a private transaction between you and the buyer.

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barbaram536 wrote:

I own the timeshare outright but I am behind in my maintenance fees and other surcharges they are alway giving to us. In order for the sale to proceed I agreed to pay any back monies that I owed but Club Land Or does have a say in who they will allow to buy it. I even called the attorney generals office in Virginia and they told me there is no law that states they do not have that right. No matter which way I turn it seems IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of this noose around my neck and I am afraid to just stop paying altogether. I wouldn't put anything past them and I do think they would take me to court. I don't think they can put a lien on my personal home that I live in but I'm sure they can destroy my credit and the contract says that if you are in default they can tack on interest to the outstanding balance. I wish I could find a lawyer that could discover some loophole in the contract but so far I have had no luck. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

This is the first time I have EVER heard of a resort coming between a seller and a buyer in a personal transaction of an owner's property ..... you OWN that week ..... are you sure that you explained to the VA DA what was actually taking place with your owned property???

I see the resort in question is in the Bahamas .... perhaps they have different procedures, but I've still never heard of any resort, anywhere interfering with a personal transaction of owned property between seller and buyer.

jayjay, I believe they can hold up the sale of a property if all fees are not paid. They would not be able to secure payment of past due moneys from the new owner if the transfer documents did not state to the penny, how much is owed by the party selling their interest. The other problem here is, Club Land'or is not a true timeshare. You receive a right to use legal document. These are two entirely different types of vacation "ownerships." So timeshare rules do not apply to Club Land'or. Trust me, we found this out the hard way. We do not get to vote on board members, we NEVER have received a breakdown of the fees paid for our yearly maintenance and it is owned and operated by 2 brothers in Virginia. If I knew then what I know now... We also own at Harborside at Atlantis right next to Club Land'or and I have to tell you, THAT is a well tuned machine and now the fees at Harborside are a few hundred dollars less per year than Land'or and H.'s fees include full use of ALL there is to see and do at Atlantis, our membership into Interval International and a lot more. At Land'or, all you get is a small one bedroom (no door on the bedroom) condo that is in dire need or not only updating but repairs and we can no longer get a decent trade anywhere through RCI. Okay, I'll step off my soap box... for now.

shirley779 wrote:

jayjay, I believe they can hold up the sale of a property if all fees are not paid. They would not be able to secure payment of past due moneys from the new owner if the transfer documents did not state to the penny, how much is owed by the party selling their interest.

Exactly, if there ARE liens and past due maintenance fees then the timeshare CANNOT be sold, but if there are NO liens or past due maintenance fees, then a private transaction should be able to go forward without interference from the resort.

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The other problem here is, Club Land'or is not a true timeshare. You receive a right to use legal document. These are two entirely different types of vacation "ownerships." So timeshare rules do not apply to Club Land'or.

ALL Mexican timeshares are also 'right to use' and timeshare owners sell their Mexcian timeshares to private parties every day of the week with no interference from the resorts.

jayjay, correct... IF there is no lean or past due maintenance fees... I believe that is the poster's problem. She is in rears on payments to Club Land'or and is paying them $100.00 a month. So, a sale can't go through because Land'or will not write up the paperwork they need to complete the transaction. Am I wrong here? Is there something I am missing? BTW, Club Land'or is one of the properties a poster here suggested we try to use to donate this t/s. They are not interested, period.

barbaram536 wrote:

I own the timeshare outright but I am behind in my maintenance fees and other surcharges they are alway giving to us. In order for the sale to proceed I agreed to pay any back monies that I owed but Club Land Or does have a say in who they will allow to buy it.

See her post above ..... she is willing to pay all back maintenance fees but the resort can still interfere with who she sells it to .... I DO NOT understand this ..... I've never, ever seen this before.

I assumed they would not let her sell it until the fees are paid up. She's sending them $100.00 month. It could take a long, long time. Once her balance is at zero, she should be able to sell. That's what I got from the post, anyway.

barbaram536 wrote:

I own the timeshare outright but I am behind in my maintenance fees and other surcharges they are alway giving to us. In order for the sale to proceed I agreed to pay any back monies that I owed but Club Land Or does have a say in who they will allow to buy it.

See Barbara's post above.

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barbaram536 wrote:

jayjay, I read your response and the reason Club Land Or would not sell was because they wanted to do a credit check on the buyer. I found out from the state of Virginia that there is no law that says they cannot do that. If they feel the buyer is a credit risk then they will not allow the sale to go through because they are afraid they will default on the loan.

Was your buyer going to finance the week via the resort ???? If so, then I can see why the resort wouldn't go through with the transaction ....if they checked out his credit history and it wasn't something they were comfortable with.

This is an entirely different ballgame.

barbaram536 wrote:

I want to stop paying them but do not know what the consequences would be legally. They have said I would be taken to court and would lose and would also have to pay interest on what I owe and ALL the legal fees. I wish there was a way to get in touch with all the owners and fight them but apparently there are only a few on Red Week.com. Let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks

Unfortunately, they can foreclose if you discontinue paying your maintenance fees (and the other fees) and that would affect your credit.

I feel your pain ..... however, I would keep listing it for $1 everywhere you can including Ebay (lots of buyers looking for bargains there). Maybe someone will come along and want it just because it's close to Atlantis but they cannot afford to buy Atlantis. I think that's your best option.

B., we will be there in a few months. We will be staying at our other t/s next door to Land'or and we always go over there to the pool bar for lunch one day out of the week and often to the restaurant for dinner. I will be checking the "progress" of the updates but I'm with you. I take everything they say with a grain of salt. Last time we went to Harborside (our next door resort) I stopped over at Land'or a few times. One day I posed as a want to be buyer and I was treated like royalty. Big smiles and free pool side beverages. After about 10 minutes I came clean and told them I was already a member there and had a few questions for management, she turned on me and was not very nice to me. I will post an update.

According to a friend who recently visited in the Bahamas tells me that CLO is up for sale for 45 million. Where will that leave us. Has anyone spoken to the CLO office?

We just returned form a week in Hilton Head on a t/s exchange using our Land'or property. While there, we received a phone call from the property management office inviting us to come to their office and hear about the NEW things going on with RCI. Since we had a bad weather day, we decided to go. The gentleman there was trying to sell us RCI points. Which in reality is a t/s week on Hilton Head worth RCI points, not weeks. Once he realized we were not the average "pull 'em off the sidewalk and sell them something" folks, but knew a bit about how this all works, he changed his tune. Boy did we learn a lot. First we told him we were not in the position to buy into another t/s until we got rid of Land'or. No problem, we could trade it in. After making a call, he found out his "property consolidation" company would not even take Land'or. They already are stuck with 10 of them and have several listed on Ebay themselves. No takers. This man worked on Paradise Island managing and working in t/s sales for the Paradise Island Beach Club and was well aware of the workings and owners of Club Land'or. His advise was interesting if now sound. If you stop paying these crazy fees, yes, they will foreclose on you. Yes, it will go on your credit history. But, according to him, once a creditor sees the black mark is from a t/s company, they will say "oh, it's another t/s default" and take it with a grain of salt. We learnmed more from this man than anyone else we ever spoke to but there's not enough time to go into all of it. We asked him how we should get rid of it and he said the same thing jayjay is saying. Keep listing it for a dollar or give it to someone you don't like.

jfl4, Firstly, Atlantis tried over and over again to buy Club Land'or. The Holt's would not sell out. Now, the powers that be at Atlantis are not interested. If the price comes down and the economy turns, someone including Atlantis may buy it but it is absolutely land locked. There's not a lot that can be put on such a small parcel of land. If this was a true t/s, they would be required to give you 1/52 of the value of your unit. That's not the case with a right to use vacation property. We will most likely get nothing, since they are late paying on bills on their new property in Williamsburg. The good news is, we would all be out from under this big yellow elephant.

Has anyone been to land or and seen the flat screen tv and remodeled rooms? Is anyone else thinking now is the time for no one one to pay the main. fee? It seems they have been taking our money long enough. If enough people do not pay maybe it will become clear they are crooks. What happens if they sell? Do we just lose everything? I think there may be enough red flags to make people realize things are not right in paridise.