Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Louisiana

Re: Form to Use for Timeshare Sale

You would not do a thing. First you we get a real estate lawyer to look through your contract. That is one who is expertise in real estate/possibly timeshares. Very few work in that area. In that contract it will give you the procedures for transferring your timeshare to someone else. It will also tell you how much you have to pay the company. You also have to make sure, since I've prepared numbers of these contracts, but the company it knowledge is the new timeshare recipient, has them executed documents which makes them conform to all the rules and regulations of the timeshare, and gives you their consents to the transfer. If this is not in the timeshare agreement I would be very surprised.I have practiced law in the San Francisco Bay area for over 30 years and feel quite confident in terms of my familiarity with your problem. If you wish to contact me to set up an appointment please call me at 925-945 -- 6000.

Re: Form to Use for Timeshare Sale

First, I want to make clear that I don't have a really foolproof answer for you. I think I would contact real estate brokers who specialize in remarketing time-shares.

However, here's my guess. First, I think a standard printed grant deed form may be unsuitable because the interest (or "estate" to use the legal term) which a time-share represents is so peculiar that the pre-printed form would have to be altered rather extensively to describe the interest being conveyed. Just as mineral rights are a limited estate in land, so is the right of possession for a portion of the year, and the language of the usual form isn't suitable.

A bill of sale is probably inappropriate, since they are usually used for personal, rather than real, property.

I can visualize a quitclaim deed working pretty satisfactorily. They are sufficiently broad in regard to not warranting a specific interest in the real property so as to give the seller ample protection against later claims of misrepresentation, yet adequate to pass title to whatever the seller actually has.

A quick check of California statutes did not turn up any law requiring use of a particular form.

In closing, I have two additional cautionary comments:

1. Make sure you disclose to the buyer exactly what you have and are selling, including any dues obligations, final expiration date for your interest in the property, contract restrictions, and the like; and

2. Review any restrictions on transferability that are written into your ownership contract with the original promoter, and observe them.