Sale of timeshares (conditions for pursuing the activity)

Timeshares, time-sharing: what is it?

The sale of timeshares consists of selling, to a consumer, the right to occupy a fully equipped and furnished apartment as a holiday home, for one or more weeks each year, for a period of time laid down in a contract - for example, the right to occupy an apartment in a tourist complex on the Costa Del Sol during the first two weeks of July for 10 years). It is also sometimes referred to as "long term vacation products or timeshare use".

The sale of time-sharing products is regulated at both European and Belgian level in order to protect the consumer from the risk of fraud.

Conditions for pursuing the activity

In order to legally pursue your activity, you must:

register with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises as a seller of timeshares (Nacebel code 6820103). You can go to the business counter of your choice, which will register your activity there.
comply with the obligations of a seller in pre-contractual and contractual matters as defined in the law of 28 August 2011 on the protection of consumers in respect of timeshare contracts, long-term holiday products, resale and exchange, namely:
- provide information prior to the conclusion of the contract (advertising, free prospectus containing precise information at the time of the offer for sale)
- issue a written contract, including the mandatory information in the prospectus, and
  - various indications (period of use of the property, no charges other than those provided for in the contract, mortgage situation or rights in rem);
  - a right of cancellation (free of charge and without reason) for 15 working days;
  - a clause mentioning the provisions relating to the right of cancellation of the contract in bold type in a box separate from the text on the first page;
  - the possibility of cancelling the credit agreement concluded with the seller or a third party (on the basis of an agreement between them) within a cooling-off period of at least 15 working days;
  - the prohibition to claim any advance payment (deposit) before the expiry of the cooling-off period.