When buying Timeshare privately you buy resale from an existing owner and can save around 50% on the developers list price by cutting out the developers marketing costs which are at least 40% of their total selling price.

Not always the easiest or cheapest way to go about it. Check the asking price by comparison with Resale Companies, auction rooms and discounted sales at the resorts before you make up your mind.

Once you decide on the purchase, our advice is to use a conveyancing firm to handle the transfer of ownership, unless you are selling to a relative or close friend. The difficulty with private sales is who will be holding the money, when and where.

The Travel & Leisure Group transfer of ownership/conveyancing fee ranges from £295 to £395 inc. VAT depending on type of transfer process. On top of this will be the resort’s transfer fee. Our trust account is available at an additional small cost should the purchase monies need to be held until completion of sale.

Another long established Timeshare conveyancer is FNTC (First National Trustee Company), who are trustees for many resorts, they concentrate more on club transfers. FNTC hold monies themselves as stake holders. For land registrations and other complex ownership we would recommend Travel & Leisure Conveyancing.

Sellers must assign their ownership documents to the purchaser and this documentation will then be sent to the resort or their trustees for transfer to the purchasers name. This is a very simplistic example as most developers have nowadays complicated transfers even for club ownership. In case of foreign “escritura” (land registered title), American Warranty Deeds and other similar complex ownership structures, to do it privately is extremely difficult without the correct knowledge.

Sellers are unlikely to action this unless they receive the purchase money first on the other hand buyers are reluctant to part with the money just based on a letter of intent or verbal agreement. Buyers could be left with no money and no Timeshare – if they paid up front. The same applies to sellers who could be left with no ownership and no monies, if they did not get paid upfront.

If you find the week you want privately use a recognised Timeshare conveyancing service where monies will be held in solicitors hands in their clients account in escrow.
An Escrow account in this respect is where buyers monies are deposited in a clients account administered by a solicitor, bank, or trustee and are only released upon submission of the ownership document transferred into the name of the new owner(s).

In an Escrow account, buyers pay direct to the solicitor, bank or trustee, so there is no temptation for resale companies to use clients monies as cash flow. Once in Escrow the monies cannot be withdrawn until completion of sale, when the vendor is paid and commission to the reseller released – or if the transfer is not concluded by the purchaser.