Over the past few months, ARDA-ROC has been hard at work advocating for timeshare owners in state houses across the country. While some states’ legislatures are still in session, most have wrapped up already. Thanks to our advocacy team, ARDA-ROC has enjoyed some big legislative wins for our owners and defeated significant legislation that would be harmful to them.
Foreclosure
ARDA-ROC is pursuing a non-judicial foreclosure (NJF) bill in North Carolina this year, HB 1034. NJF is an alternative type of foreclosure to a judicial foreclosure. In a judicial foreclosure, the foreclosing party has to file a lawsuit asking a court for an order allowing a foreclosure sale. It can sometimes take a year or more to complete the entire judicial foreclosure process.
In states with NJF, a party, usually a lender or HOA, can foreclose without getting a court order. They will still have to follow all statutory procedures to use NJF, including restrictions on timelines and notices. Often, the party being foreclosed on will have the choice to opt for a judicial foreclosure. We look forward to this bill moving through North Carolina’s ongoing short session.
Virginia HB 880/SB 341 would have required that at least $5,000 accrue in assessments before an HOA could initiate a foreclosure proceeding. With the time period that the dues had to accrue, it essentially eliminated the ability for an HOA to foreclose. Before the bill was enacted, we successfully got timeshare exempted from the bill.
This session also saw the passage of Colorado HB 1233. This bill was a partnership between ARDA/ARDA-ROC and the Colorado Home Builders Association and will provide an exemption for timeshare associations from many of the notice requirements for delinquent assessments and fees (for example, multiple notices via registered mail or physical posting of notices on units) which took effect in 2022. The bill will become law on August 7, 2024.
Inn Keeper’s Rights, Clarifications to Estoppel Certificates, Facilities Management, and Commissioners of Deeds
ARDA-ROC supported legislation in Florida this session to add flexibility for association boards regarding managing or removing facilities as defined in the Florida Statutes, clarifying that associations and managers should follow estoppel requirements in the Timeshare Act rather than the Condo Act, and explicitly extending the rights granted to hotels to deal with disruptive guests staying in timeshares. In addition, ARDA-ROC was able to secure an amendment which will transfer responsibility for appointment of commissioners of deeds from the Governor’s office to the Secretary of State which should improve the efficiency in that process. The Governor is expected to approve the legislation, HB 429, soon.
Condo Reform
ARDA-ROC also worked to minimize the impact of major changes to Florida Statutes governing condominiums and association managers. Florida HB 1021 passed the legislature unanimously and will make significant changes to the requirements for association board members and managers in several areas, including the procurement of and payment for goods and services. While timeshare exemptions were added for two of the more problematic provisions, there are several others, including some relating to contracts, that will require changes for managers. It appears likely that the Governor will approve the bill, placing the change at the top of the ARDA and ARDA-ROC agenda for 2025.
Timeshare Extension/Termination
ARDA-ROC secured another legislative win in Virginia this session with Governor Youngkin signing our bill on timeshare plan termination/extension, HB 1241. The LPC and ARDA-ROC-supported law puts policies and procedures into place for the full or partial termination of a timeshare plan. Many resorts, especially older ones, have expiration dates for their timeshare plans, but no procedures for what happens when the plan expires. This bill will fill in that gap for owners and ensure they are not left in the lurch. It takes effect on July 1, 2024. ARDA-ROC has a similar bill moving through the Massachusetts General Court, as well.
Take-Back Bill
A take-back bill was filed this year in Virginia, HB 918, that ARDA-ROC successfully defeated. This bill would have required a seller’s mandatory take-back of timeshare interests after certain conditions had been met. After meeting with the bill patron multiple times, she agreed to strike the bill before the committee hearing.
Exit Company Defeat
Those of you in attendance at Timeshare Together in April may have heard about a late amendment to an innocuous bill in Tennessee (HB 2617, SB 2547). The amendment would prohibit developers from communicating with their owners about low-cost exit options and clarify that exit services are not the practice of law in Tennessee. A hearing in the House was scheduled on this amendment, but we are happy to report that right before we were set to testify in the Commerce subcommittee hearing, the Chair of the full committee decided to table the bill being put forth by the exit company. The legislature adjourned sine die, so we have successfully defeated the bill for 2024. We will continue to work in the offseason in Tennessee to educate legislators on the timeshare and exit industries.
Timeshare Taxation
The ARDA-ROC team, working with a broad group of hospitality and tourism interests, helped defeat Colorado SB 33. SB 33 would have reclassified any existing residential property as commercial (raising the tax rate from under 7% to over 25%) if the property was listed or used as a short-term rental. Despite several efforts to amend the bill which could have reduced, but not eliminated, the negative impacts, the bill was voted down in committee and is dead for the session. Based on the noise around short-term rentals recently in Colorado, we would not be surprised to see more legislation of this type in the future.
We’d like to thank the Legislative Policy Committee members and owners who helped support these efforts. We look forward to continuing our work when sessions begin again.