Villas on The Lake conveys ownership to me without my knowledge/consent

We donated our timeshare to Community Housing & Development Corp. in December, 2005. They then sold it in February, 2006, and had Quitclaim deed signed and recorded. We then sent all the documents and paid $100 to the management company, ICS to record it in their file. All was fine until today. I got a General Warranty Deed in the mail. They have quietly "Granted, Sold and Conveyed" it to us (but to my husband's name only) and recorded it at the county clerk's office all without our knowledge or consent. How can this practice be legal? How can we fight it?

Have you talked to the organization you donated it to? Hopefully you kept all your paperwork.

tiffanyj28 wrote:

...All was fine until today. I got a General Warranty Deed in the mail. They have quietly "Granted, Sold and Conveyed" it to us (but to my husband's name only) and recorded it at the county clerk's office all without our knowledge or consent. How can this practice be legal? How can we fight it?

I have all the paper trail, from donating it, to recorded deed to the new owner in 2006. My attorney was shocked to hear what happened. I am sending all the documents to him to draft a letter and see what response we get. It was done without consideration, and without our knowledge/consent, and it shouldn't be legal. If Villas on The Lake refuses to correct the situation, we may have to take it to court to ask the recorded deed to be removed. Stay tuned.

tiffanyj28 wrote:

I have all the paper trail, from donating it, to recorded deed to the new owner in 2006. My attorney was shocked to hear what happened. I am sending all the documents to him to draft a letter and see what response we get. It was done without consideration, and without our knowledge/consent, and it shouldn't be legal. If Villas on The Lake refuses to correct the situation, we may have to take it to court to ask the recorded deed to be removed. Stay tuned.

I'm somewhat confused. If the deed was recorded in the new owner's name, how did it then get recorded back into your husband's name or was it never changed with the resort in the first place? If so, then there shouldn't be any problem with sending a copy of the paperwork to the resort showing the transaction and the recorded deed in the new owner's name.

It was deeded and recorded to the new owner. All the documents were sent to the resort's management company, and a transfer fee was paid to update their records. At this point, all I could speculate is that the resort never could get the new owner to pay the maintenance fees, and somehow re-took the possession by either foreclosing the unit or simply had him transfer the ownership back to them. The resort/management then secretely prepared the deed, put my husband's name on it as the Grantee without our knowledge/consent, and recorded it at the county. You are right, this shouldn't happen at all. The sad thing is that here in Texas, we don't require the Grantee(s) to sign the deed. I have a sick feeling that the resort/management company is doing this to other past owners also. I caught on so quickly, because I am a real estate broker, and familiar with the General Warranty Deed, and has quick access to an attorney. I think some will just put it aside and not worried about it, until they start getting harrassment from the resort/management company about maintenance fees for units they think they no longer own.

tiffanyj28 wrote:

The sad thing is that here in Texas, we don't require the Grantee(s) to sign the deed.

In that case, can't you just deed it back to the resort :)

tiffanyj28 wrote:

It was deeded and recorded to the new owner. All the documents were sent to the resort's management company, and a transfer fee was paid to update their records. At this point, all I could speculate is that the resort never could get the new owner to pay the maintenance fees, and somehow re-took the possession by either foreclosing the unit or simply had him transfer the ownership back to them. The resort/management then secretely prepared the deed, put my husband's name on it as the Grantee without our knowledge/consent, and recorded it at the county. You are right, this shouldn't happen at all. The sad thing is that here in Texas, we don't require the Grantee(s) to sign the deed. I have a sick feeling that the resort/management company is doing this to other past owners also. I caught on so quickly, because I am a real estate broker, and familiar with the General Warranty Deed, and has quick access to an attorney. I think some will just put it aside and not worried about it, until they start getting harrassment from the resort/management company about maintenance fees for units they think they no longer own.

This is so underhanded and unscrupulous. I'm glad you have an attorney helping you work on this, however I would take it a step further, even if it is resolved, by filing a lawsuit against them for fraud or something of that nature for the anguish it has caused you and your husband.

Depending on how it goes with the resort/management company, we may have no choice but to file suit.

mike1536 wrote:

tiffanyj28 wrote:

The sad thing is that here in Texas, we don't require the Grantee(s) to sign the deed.

In that case, can't you just deed it back to the resort :)

That's what my attorney said half jokingly, but I rather not admit possession of the ownership. That's essentially what the resort/management company did when they issued the General Warranty Deed in 2008. I guess we no longer need to worry about the previous transactions/deeds, and whether they were done correctly to transfer it from us. We only need to argue that no actual monetary consideration took place, and there was no willing grantee, since the resort/management showed full ownership by issuing the General Warranty Deed.

These resorts seem to have total control and do whatever they feel like and the members/owners seem never to have any recourse. Until members/owners decide to act as one nothing will ever happen in our favor. I myself is having trouble with my resort and escalating maintenance fees. I have tried to sell, donate and now transfering ownership back to the resort (which I know will never happen). I do not know anything about Warranty Deeds but I do know that Quit Claims can be refused by the receiving party. What might have happened in your case is that the resorts usually have in their contracts 'the right of first refusal' which may have given them the right (since I bet they weren't receiving payment from the new owner) to reverse the transfer. They are crooks and timeshare owners should put pressure, as a group, not only on them but on our legislators/new media to do something about them. Best of luck, and please keep us informed.

loul12 wrote:

What might have happened in your case is that the resorts usually have in their contracts 'the right of first refusal' which may have given them the right (since I bet they weren't receiving payment from the new owner) to reverse the transfer.

I understand, but with the current state of the economy they don't want the propery back (I cannot give mine away). They probably decided to take a chance and deed it back to someone who was paying the fees and the individual would have no recourse and do nothing about it. Also in the hidden writings of their contracts (no one ever seems to read it before they sign (I am guilty myself)) maybe there is a clause about the new owner being able to keep up payment. I do not know but one thing I do know is that in general terms they seem to have everything covered.

First Right of Refusal means the owner is first obligated to offer their property for sale to the holder of the First Right of Refusal at the exact price and terms contained in the offer they've received. The holder of the First Right of Refusal can then either agree to purchase the property under the same terms and conditions, or decline and allow the other buyer to move forward and complete the purchase. It does not give them the right to refuse you from selling it to another willing party. Even if they had such right, they didn't exercise it when my unit was sold to the new owner. They happily took my transfer fee in 2007.

Here is the definition of a General Warranty Deed: A general warranty deed is a type of deed where the grantor (seller) guarantees that he or she holds clear title to a piece of real estate and has a right to sell it to you. The guarantee is not limited to the time the grantor owned the property—it extends back to the property's origins.

Important portions of a general warranty deed include,

The grantor states there are no hidden liens or encumbrances on the property. In other words, there are no debts or holds other than those that are obvious in public records.

the grantor declares that he or she is the owner of the property and has a right to sell it to you.

The grantor guarantees that if the title ever fails he or she will compensate the grantee (new owner) for any losses.

Because what we received from them is a General Warranty Deed, and not a Quitclaim Deed, the resort/management clearly declared that they had full ownership. As far as I know, transferring/deeding ownership legally requires a willing receiver/grantee, and this is the point we will be fighting. We will take it all the way to court if necessary.

Think about it, if this practice is legal, then anyone with a piece of not-quite-worthy real estate that has a lot of back taxes owed on it, can just deed it to whomever they like (or dislike in this case), and walk away from it.

I wish you all the luck in the world. I still say that they seem to do whatever and the member/owners, whether right or wrong, seem to have no recourse. I am currently at issue with my resort concerning maintenance fees. Each year, without fail, they have increased. With the current state of the economy, maintenance fees on a vacation home is not my number one priority. The property is deeded and fully paid for. I have contacted the AVP of Marketing and asked for an accounting (Corporate Financial Statemets), of which I believe an owner is entitled to (and I know I will never get), of where the maintenance fees are used. I had sent them a letter over a year ago about the economy, etc. I have been ignored on both occassions (which I knew would happen). I am currently receiving, what I feel are harrassing, at least bi-weekly notices. I am now trying to contact other owners at the resort (which I haven't been to successful at) hoping that there will be power in numbers. I have also emailed my state senator with my concerns about the whole Timeshare industry.I am a realist and deep down feel/know probably nothing will be accomplished but I will make the effort. I applaud you for your fighting spirit, most people are to complacent and that is why most scam artists get away with what they do. There are thousands of timeshare owners and forums are nice, but petitions are better. Once again I wish you all the luck in the world. Keep u informed, thanks.

loul12 wrote:

I wish you all the luck in the world. I still say that they seem to do whatever and the member/owners, whether right or wrong, seem to have no recourse. I am currently at issue with my resort concerning maintenance fees. Each year, without fail, they have increased. With the current state of the economy, maintenance fees on a vacation home is not my number one priority. The property is deeded and fully paid for. I have contacted the AVP of Marketing and asked for an accounting (Corporate Financial Statemets), of which I believe an owner is entitled to (and I know I will never get), of where the maintenance fees are used. I had sent them a letter over a year ago about the economy, etc. I have been ignored on both occassions (which I knew would happen). I am currently receiving, what I feel are harrassing, at least bi-weekly notices. I am now trying to contact other owners at the resort (which I haven't been to successful at) hoping that there will be power in numbers. I have also emailed my state senator with my concerns about the whole Timeshare industry.I am a realist and deep down feel/know probably nothing will be accomplished but I will make the effort. I applaud you for your fighting spirit, most people are to complacent and that is why most scam artists get away with what they do. There are thousands of timeshare owners and forums are nice, but petitions are better. Once again I wish you all the luck in the world. Keep u informed, thanks.

Maintenance fees are a resort's bread and butter ... they depend on them to survive. Unfortunately, when you signed on the dotted line to buy your timeshare week you also signed to pay yearly maintenance fees until the week is sold and/or changes ownership.

If you default then they can come after you AND ruin your credit rating if they have to foreclose on your week. That's the nature of the beast when owning any timeshare .... rising yearly maintenance fees and possible special assessments.