Timeshare Act 1992
| Year | 1992 |
Timeshare Act 1992
1992 CHAPTER 35
An Act to provide for rights to cancel certain agreements about timeshare accommodation.
[16th March 1992]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Application of Act.
(1) In this Act—
(a) ‘timeshare accommodation’ means any living accommodation, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, used or intended to be used, wholly or partly, for leisure purposes by a class of persons (referred to below in this section as ‘timeshare users’) all of whom have rights to use, or participate in arrangements under which they may use, that accommodation, or accommodation within a pool of accommodation to which that accommodation belongs, for intermittent periods of short duration, and
(b) ‘timeshare rights’ means rights by virtue of which a person becomes or will become a timeshare user, being rights exercisable during a period of not less than three years.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a) above—
(a) ‘accommodation’ means accommodation in a building or in a caravan (as defined in section 29(1) of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 ), and
(b) a period of not more than one month, or such other period as may be prescribed, is a period of short duration.
(3) Subsection (1)(b) above does not apply to a person's rights—
(a) as the owner of any shares or securities,
(b) under a contract of employment (as defined in section 153 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 ) or a policy of insurance, or
(c) by virtue of his taking part in a collective investment scheme (as defined in section 75 of the Financial Services Act 1986 ),
or to such rights as may be prescribed.
(4) In this Act ‘timeshare agreement’ means, subject to subsection (6) below, an agreement under which timeshare rights are conferred or purport to be conferred on any person and in this Act, in relation to a timeshare agreement—
(a) references to the offeree are to the person on whom timeshare rights are conferred, or purport to be conferred, and
(b) references to the offeror are to the other party to the agreement,
and, in relation to any time before the agreement is entered into, references in this Act to the offeree or the offeror are to the persons who become the offeree and offeror when it is entered into.
(5) In this Act ‘timeshare credit agreement’ means, subject to subsection (6) below, an agreement, not being a timeshare agreement—
(a) under which a person (referred to in this Act as the ‘creditor’) provides or agrees to provide credit for or in respect of a person who is the offeree under a timeshare agreement, and
(b) when the credit agreement is entered into, the creditor knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the whole or part of the credit is to be used for the purpose of financing the offeree's entering into a timeshare agreement.
(6) An agreement is not a timeshare agreement or a timeshare credit agreement if, when entered into, it may be cancelled by virtue of section 67 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 .
(7) This Act applies to any timeshare agreement or timeshare credit agreement if—
(a) the agreement is to any extent governed by the law of the United Kingdom or of a part of the United Kingdom, or
(b) when the agreement is entered into, one or both of the parties are in the United Kingdom.
(8) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland—
(a) for the reference in subsection (2)(a) above to section 29(1) of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 there is substituted a reference to section 25(1) of the Caravans Act (Northern Ireland) 1963 , and
(b) for the reference in subsection (3)(b) above to section 153 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 there is substituted a reference to article 2(2) of the Industrial Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 .
2 Obligation to give notice of right to cancel timeshare agreement.
(1) A person must not in the course of a business enter into a timeshare agreement to which this Act applies as offeror unless the offeree has received, together with a document setting out the terms of the agreement or the substance of those terms, notice of his right to cancel the agreement.
(2) A notice under this section must state—
(a) that the offeree is entitled to give notice of cancellation of the agreement to the offeror at any time on or before the date specified in the notice, being a day falling not less than fourteen days after the day on which the agreement is entered into, and
(b) that if the offeree gives such a notice to the offeror on or before that date he will have no further rights or obligations under the agreement, but will have the right to recover any sums paid under or in contemplation of the agreement.
(3) A person who contravenes this section is guilty of an offence and liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, and
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.
3 Obligation to give notice of right to cancel timeshare credit agreement.
(1) A person must not in the course of a business enter into a timeshare credit agreement to which this Act applies as creditor unless the offeree has received, together with a document setting out the terms of the agreement or the substance of those terms, notice of his right to cancel the agreement.
(2) A notice under this section must state—
(a) that the offeree is entitled to give notice of cancellation of the agreement to the creditor at any time on or before the date specified in the notice, being a day falling not less than fourteen days after the day on which the agreement is entered into, and
(b) that, if the offeree gives such a notice to the creditor on or before that date, then—
(i) so far as the agreement relates to repayment of credit and payment of interest, it shall have effect subject to section 7 of this Act, and
(ii) subject to sub-paragraph (i) above, the offeree will have no further rights or obligations under the agreement.
4 Provisions supplementary to sections 2 and 3.
(1) Sections 2 and 3 of this Act do not apply where, in entering into the agreement, the offeree is acting in the course of a business.
(2) A notice under section 2 or 3 must be accompanied by a blank notice of cancellation and any notice under section 2 or 3 of this Act or blank notice of cancellation must—
(a) be in such form as may be prescribed, and
(b) comply with such requirements (whether as to type, size, colour or disposition of lettering, quality or colour of paper, or otherwise) as may be prescribed for securing that the notice is prominent and easily legible.
(3) An agreement is not invalidated by reason of a contravention of section 2 or 3.
5 Right to cancel timeshare agreement.
(1) Where a person—
(a) has entered, or proposes to enter, into a timeshare agreement to which this Act applies as offeree, and
(b) has received the notice required under section 2 of this Act before entering into the agreement,
the agreement may not be enforced against him on or before the date specified in the notice in pursuance of subsection (2)(a) of that section and he may give notice of cancellation of the agreement to the offeror at any time on or before that date.
(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, where a person who enters into a timeshare agreement to which this Act applies as offeree has not received the notice required under section 2 of this Act before entering into the agreement, the agreement may not be enforced against him and he may give notice of cancellation of the agreement to the offeror at any time.
(3) If in a case falling within subsection (2) above the offeree affirms the agreement at any time after the expiry of the period of fourteen days beginning with the day on which the agreement is entered into—
(a) subsection (2) above does not prevent the agreement being enforced against him, and
(b) he may not at any subsequent time give notice of cancellation of the agreement to the offeror.
(4) The offeree's giving, within the time allowed under this section, notice of cancellation of the agreement to the offeror at a time when the agreement has been entered into shall have the effect of cancelling the agreement.
(5) The offeree's giving notice of cancellation of the agreement to the offeror before the agreement has been entered into shall have the effect of withdrawing any offer to enter into the agreement.
(6) Where a timeshare agreement is cancelled under this section, then, subject to subsection (9) below—
(a) the agreement shall cease to be enforceable, and
(b) subsection (8) below shall apply.
(7) Subsection (8) below shall...
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