International Property Investment News

EU to regulate timeshare rip-offs

The Financial Times reports that the European Union will provide extra legal protection to timeshare owners.

Timeshare rip-offs cost consumers some £4 billion every year and in an effort to tackle the problem, the EU will extend the legal rights of timeshare owners.

New guidelines will allow consumers to cancel their contract within 14 days, as well as banning deposits in this initial period and allowing the buyer to request a written contract in their native language.

Meglena Kuneva, EU consumer commissioner, said that consumer rights groups received thousands of complaints annually - according to the Office of Fair Trading, UK customers lose £1.2 billion per year.

She said: "Customers are being denied their rights and the practices of rogue traders bring legitimate business operators into disrepute."

The problem spread across Europe, with Willy Winterfalk, a campaigner for Scandinavians affected by timeshare rip-offs, adding: "We know of at least 100,000 families in Europe who have lost money."

He added: "I have been fighting the industry for 16 years. The scams are always the same, just the name plate on the door is different."

The EU announcement followed a recent report from the Dogan News Agency in Turley, which revealed that a Turkish couple had amassed around £50 million from overseas buyers by selling properties with fake deeds.

Most of the victims were UK investors.