Virginia Code 55.1-2244: Registration required for time-share resellers; exemptions; prohibited practices
A. A reseller shall not provide or offer to provide any resale service unless he is registered with the Board.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 55.1-2244
- Affiliate: means a person that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with the person specified. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Association: means the association organized under the provisions of § 55. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Board: means the Common Interest Community Board. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Contact information: means any information that can be used to contact an owner, including the owner's name, address, telephone number, email address, or user identity on any electronic networking service. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Developer: means any person or group of persons acting in concert that (i) offers to dispose of a time-share or its interest in a time-share unit for which there has not been a previous disposition or (ii) applies for registration of the time-share program. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
- in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Lead dealer: means a person that sells or otherwise provides to any other person contact information concerning five or more owners to be used for a resale service. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Managing entity: means the managing agent or, if there is no managing agent, the time-share owners' association in a time-share estate project and the developer in a time-share use project. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- offer: means any act that originates in the Commonwealth to sell, solicit, induce, or advertise, whether by radio, television, telephone, newspaper, magazine, or mail, during which a person is given an opportunity to acquire a time-share. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- owner: means a person that is an owner or co-owner of a time-share other than as security for an obligation. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Person: means one or more natural persons, corporations, partnerships, associations, trustees of a trust, limited liability companies, or other entities, or any combination thereof, capable of holding title to real property. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
- program: means any arrangement of time-shares in one or more time-share projects by which the use, occupancy, or possession of real property has been made subject to either a time-share estate or time-share use in which such use, occupancy, or possession circulates among owners of the time-shares according to a fixed or floating time schedule on a periodic basis occurring over any period of time in excess of five years. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Purchaser: means any person other than a developer or lender that owns or acquires a product or that otherwise enters into a contract for the purchase of a product. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
- Resale service: means engaging, directly or indirectly, for compensation, in any of the following either in person or by any medium of communication: (i) selling or offering to sell or list for sale for the owner a resale time-share, (ii) buying or offering to buy a resale time-share for transfer to a subsequent purchaser, (iii) transferring a resale time-share acquired from an owner to a subsequent purchaser or offering to assist in such transfer, (iv) invalidating or offering to invalidate for an owner the title of a resale time-share, or (v) advertising or soliciting to advertise or promote the transfer or invalidation of a resale time-share. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Resale time-share: means a time-share, wherever located, that has previously been sold to an owner who is a natural person for personal, family, or household use and that is transferred, or is intended to be transferred, through a resale service. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Reseller: means any person who, directly or indirectly, engages in a resale service. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Time-share: means either a time-share estate or a time-share use plus its incidental benefits. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
- Transfer: means a voluntary conveyance of a resale time-share to a person other than the developer, association, or managing entity of the time-share program of which the resale time-share is a part or to a person taking ownership by gift, foreclosure, or deed in lieu of foreclosure. See Virginia Code 55.1-2200
B. The application for registration shall be filed in a form prescribed by the Board’s regulations and shall include such information as required by the Board. A reseller shall immediately report to the Board any material changes in the information contained in an application for registration. The Board may by regulation establish reasonable fees for registration under this section. All fees shall be remitted by the Board to the Treasurer of Virginia, and shall be placed to the credit of the Common Interest Community Management Information Fund established pursuant to § 54.1-2354.2.
C. The registration requirements shall not apply to:
1. A person who solely or with affiliates engages in a resale service with respect to an aggregate of no more than 12 resale time-shares per calendar year;
2. A person who owns or acquires more than 12 resale time-shares and who subsequently transfers all such resale time-shares to a single purchaser in a single transaction;
3. The owner, its agents, and employees of a regularly published newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication of general circulation; broadcast station; website; or billboard, to the extent their activities are limited to solicitation and publication of advertisements and the transmission of responses to the persons who place the advertisements. Any person who would otherwise be exempt from this chapter pursuant to this section shall not be exempt if the person (i) solicits the placement of the advertisement by representing that the advertisement will generate cash, a certain price, or a similar type of representation for the time-share owner’s resale time-share; (ii) makes a recommendation as to the sales price for which to advertise the resale time-share; (iii) makes any representations to the person placing the advertisement regarding the success rate for selling resale time-shares advertised with such person; or (iv) makes any misrepresentations as described in this chapter;
4. Sale by a developer or a party acting on its behalf of a resale time-share under a current registration of the time-share program in which the resale time-share is included;
5. Sale by an association, a managing entity, or a party acting on its behalf of a resale time-share owned by the association, provided that the sale is in compliance with subsection C of § 55.1-2228; or
6. Attorneys, title agents, title companies, or escrow companies providing closing services in connection with the transfer of a resale time-share.
D. No reseller shall:
1. Fail to disclose information in writing concerning the marketing, sale, or transfer of resale time-shares required by this chapter prior to accepting any consideration or with the expectation of receiving consideration from any time-share owner, seller, or buyer.
2. Make false or misleading statements concerning offers to buy or rent; the value, pricing, timing, or availability of resale time-shares; or numbers of sellers, renters, or buyers when engaged in time-share resale activities.
3. Misrepresent the likelihood of selling a resale time-share interest.
4. Misrepresent the method by or source from which the reseller or lead dealer obtained the contact information of any time-share owner.
5. Misrepresent price or value increases or decreases, assessments, special assessments, maintenance fees, or taxes.
6. Guarantee sales or rentals in order to obtain money or property.
7. Make false or misleading statements concerning the identity of the reseller or any of its affiliates or the time-share resale entity’s or any of its affiliate‘s experience, performance, guarantees, services, fees, or commissions, availability of refunds, length of time in business, or endorsements by or affiliations with developers, management companies, or any other third parties.
8. Misrepresent whether or not the reseller or its affiliates, employees, or agents hold, in any state or jurisdiction, a current real estate sales or broker’s license or other government-required license.
9. Misrepresent how funds will be utilized in any time-share resale activity conducted by the reseller.
10. Misrepresent that the reseller or its affiliates, employees, or agents have specialized education, professional affiliations, expertise, licenses, certifications, or other specialized knowledge or qualifications.
11. Make false or misleading statements concerning the conditions under which a time-share owner, seller, or buyer may exchange or occupy the resale time-share interest.
12. Represent that any gift, prize, membership, or other benefit or service will be provided to any time-share owner, seller, or buyer without providing such gift, prize, membership, or other benefit or service in the manner represented.
13. Misrepresent the nature of any resale time-share interest or the related time-share plan.
14. Misrepresent the amount of the proceeds, or fail to pay the proceeds, of any rental or sale of a resale time-share interest as offered by a potential renter or buyer to the time-share owner who made such resale time-share interest available for rental or sale through the reseller.
15. Fail to transfer any resale time-share interests as represented and required by this chapter or to provide written evidence to the time-share owner of the recording or transfer of such time-share owner’s resale time-share interest as required by this chapter.
16. Fail to pay any annual assessments, special assessments, personal property or real estate taxes, or other fees relating to an owner’s resale time-share interest as represented or required by this chapter.
17. Misrepresent or misuse the intended purpose of a power of attorney or similar document to the detriment of any grantor of such power of attorney.