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There may be a worry that those who are in a legal action group will end up becoming ‘defaulters‘ – that is not the case as the agreements are in legal dispute; regular defaulters are likely to be pursued by debt-collectors, however, those who have notified Macdonald Resorts Ltd of a legitimate legal dispute cannot be legally pursued.

The legal premise would be that if you have entered legal dispute, the courts will take the date that you entered legal dispute and notified the other party of that dispute, as being the effective date when the dispute occurred.  If the courts find in your favour, then that date will be the date from which (in this case) you cease to be a member of the club.  Those in legal dispute, who have withheld their management fees, should cease any and all involvement with club affairs and that includes voting or attending any meeting, or using the timeshare.

Some argue that the fees are expensive.  They can represent good value for money, especially as the rewards are so high.  Macdonald Legal Action Group fees have been substantially reduced by 15% – any timeshare owner would jump up-and-down with glee if their management fees were reduced by 15%. The reason why the fees can be reduced is because the Macdonald Legal Action Group have already reached the number of members needed to fund the legal action, so they can start to reduce the contribution that each member makes.

The £1,010 contribution that is being asked is the maximum up-front contribution that anybody is being asked to find and the whole amount will only be required if the case goes to court and if the Macdonald Legal Action Group are unable to find a third-party funder; I am aware that they are close to finalising negotiations on a deal that would fund the litigation in exchange for a % of the damages.

MacDonald’s have never been taken to court in Spain previously in a timeshare or property dispute; the rumours saying MacDonald’s have already ‘ignored the Spanish courts’ is wholly inaccurate.

The sin of omission that Barratt’s/Macdonald Resorts Ltd did make (around the time that Barratt’s and MRL merged, so it could have been a genuine oversight) was not to have lodged the ‘Deed of Adaptation‘ with the Spanish Land Registry, as was required in order to keep pre-1999 owners tied to an ‘in perpetuity’ contract under Spanish Law 42/1998.  The fact that they did not do so has benefited all members at VC, as now pre-1999 owners will be regarded merely as ‘owners’ and covered by Spanish Law 42/1998 – in other words, post 1999 owners.

What their current proposals do is to try and right that ‘omission‘ and tie those members who wish to remain into an ‘in perpetuity‘ contract based on points – and whether that is legal in Spain still has to be tested, as ‘floating week’ clubs are not permissible in that country and a ‘points club’ with no set week/unit is (effectively) a ‘floating’ week club – and to curtail the rights of owners who want to leave, whilst charging them a premium for doing so.

You have a right under Spanish law to rescind your ‘in perpetuity’ timeshare contract and be entitled to a full refund (plus interest) of the money that you paid for that timeshare; signing up to MRLs proposals surrenders that right and commits you to a further ‘on perpetuity’ contract of points ownership, or a financial penalty for not agreeing to their revised terms.

For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk