Studies On Legal Issues Of Timeshare

Timeshare originated in the Alps region in the 1960 s, and developed rapidly after being introduced to the USA. The characters of timeshare and exchangeability contributed to its development in the world. Throughout the world, the United Kingdom, the United States, European Union, Germany and many other counties have different legal provisions of definitions, legal characters and modes for timeshare, which include mode of share rights, mode of club, mode of trust, mode of point, mode of obligatory right, mode of proprietary right and mode of usufructuary right. If we adopt the mode of proprietary right, it will destroy the indefinite duration which is the cornerstone of the civil law, and subvert the entire property law system. There are a lot of problems of disposing and registering with common theory. If we adopt the mode of obligatory right, obligee should not have the exclusive domination, so the consumers cannot get better protection and will take greater risk of not realizing. The exchange function of timeshare will also be restricted. If we adopt the mode of share rights and mode of club, it is difficult for consumers to realize and continue enjoying the rights of timeshare. The exchangeability will also be restricted to some extent. If we adopt the mode of point and mode of trust, though with great convenience and complete protection for consumer rights, these two modes have high requirements for exchange network, market integrity, capacity as a subject, laws and regulations. It seems difficult to provide conditions for its normal operation from the reality of our current situation, thus these two modes are difficult to play a role in our country. For the mode of usufructuary right, the domination and exclusiveness could protect consumers’ rights and interests and avoid infringement from third party or developers. At the same time, it is in line with China’s legal system and market situation. The mode of use and usufructuary right accords with the characters of usufructuary right’s direct domination, usufruct, independence, possession, also has the characters of multiplicity of identities, double period, registration publicity which makes it as a special usufruct type. Due to the Numerus-clausus, it shall be defined as a special usufruct right in our property law. By learning successful experience of foreign countries, we should establish cooling-off period system, timeshare registration system, and information disclosure system, in order to fully protect the rights and interests of consumers.