aruba timeshare deed or lease?

seth · #1 (**permalink**) November 24th, 2008, 05:22 PM

recently considering a resale timeshare in aruba at the marriott surf club and since it's not in the US is it not deeded property then?

MsTSGuru · #2 (**permalink**) November 25th, 2008, 02:49 PM

The majority of the Timeshares outside of the US are NOT deeded. Marriott's Surf Club is not a deeded property. It is a Certificate of a Membership. The certificate gives evidence that its owner has a Mebership with the resort (similar to a member in a country club). One buys a membership; not buying an actual interest in land.

Ownerships outside of the US are Leases, Right to use (RTU) and Certificate of Memberships.

Q. What is a leased property?
A. Leased property is an interest in property which has a limited duration, sometimes renewable for extended periods. It can be assigned (transferred) by an assignment of lease or other similar document executed by the lessee or by his estate if he dies before the lease expires. It is basically an ownership interest for a limited period of time.

Q. What is a "Right to Use".
A. Timeshare ownership can have an expiration date, with the purchaser having right to use the timeshare for a specified period of time. The usual term of a lease is 30 to 99 years. The resort management or resort entity holds actual ownership of the resort property. Upon the expiration of the lease term, the use terminates and returns to the resort.

Q: What does "membership" mean?
A: Rather than purchasing at a specific resort in a specific size unit, vacation club members purchase the opportunity to use a variety of timeshare accommodations at numerous resort locations in varied unit sizes. The owner would have the use of all accommodations affiliated with the specific vacation club.

To be sure about finding out the type of ownership a certain resort sells, you can always contact the resort and ask to speak to Owner Services - which will be able to explain exactly what kind of ownership that resort has.

Hope that helped, its alot of info to take in. Let me know if you need any other help!!!

123ABC · #3 (**permalink**) November 25th, 2008, 03:43 PM

here what i have heard about both the marriott timeshare resort in aruba.

i was told by a friend that owns at the aruba ocean club that the aruba government does not allow resort or timeshare developers to own the land they build on. instead, timeshare developers are given a lease for 60 years or so. the reason for this is to insure that all properties are maintained properly, i think. and at the end of the 60 year term the government can opt into renewing the lease agreement with marriott(or any developer) which means the ownership rights of the present individual timeshare owners continue throughout the term of this new agreement. if the aruba government opts to not renew the lease, it is required to pay the timeshare resort fair market value and the timeshare owners therefore share the payout.

so, even though marriott timeshares in aruba are not deeded, the owners are essentially protected.

hope this helped.

seth · #4 (**permalink**) November 25th, 2008, 04:32 PM

interesting info. thank you both! maybe this has been asked before, but will i be losing any of the marriott vacation club rights if i buy one of their timeshares on the resale?

TAI_Staff · #5 (**permalink**) November 25th, 2008, 04:53 PM

This is a very common question and easily answered:

When buying a resale Marriott timeshare you will receive all the benefits, rules, and perks as the original owner of the Marriott timeshare except the benefit of trading your week for Marriott Rewards Points.

Most conclude that the trading value from weeks to MRP is poor and the saving available when buying resale timeshare is more more appealing that this unattainable perk.