RS 1131.4 - Creation of a timeshare plan
A.(1) No person shall offer for sale, sell, offer to sell, or attempt to solicit any person located in Louisiana to purchase a timeshare interest in a timeshare property unless:
(a) Such timeshare interest offered by such person for sale is pursuant to a timeshare plan registered with and approved by the Louisiana Real Estate Commission, and
(b) Such person has provided the Louisiana Real Estate Commission with proof of its financial ability to complete the timeshare project in accordance with:
(i) The registered timeshare plan.
(ii) The contractual obligations of such person.
(2) No person shall sell, offer to sell, solicit, or attempt to solicit the purchase of a timeshare interest from any location within the state of Louisiana unless such person, or a related entity, has registered with the Louisiana Real Estate Commission a timeshare plan for a timeshare project located in the state of Louisiana consisting of at least forty completed or proposed units, committed to either an ownership timeshare interest or a lease timeshare interest where the initial rights are or were for a period of not less than twenty years provided however, that:
(a) If the person or related entity has not previously registered a timeshare plan in the state of Louisiana consisting of at least forty completed units with the Louisiana Real Estate Commission, as set forth in this Paragraph, but has registered with the Louisiana Real Estate Commission a proposed timeshare plan located in the state of Louisiana, as set forth in this Paragraph, consisting of at least forty units, such person prior to selling, offering to sell, soliciting, or attempting to solicit a person for the purchase of a timeshare interest in a timeshare plan located in the state of Louisiana, shall provide to the Louisiana Real Estate Commission:
(i) A copy of the contract for construction of the initial fifteen units of the timeshare plan,
(ii) A bond for completion of such construction in an amount satisfactory to the Louisiana Real Estate Commission, and
(iii) All applicable permits required by the appropriate local governmental subdivisions, or
(b) In the event such person, or related entity, intends to sell, offer to sell, solicit, or attempt to solicit the purchase of a timeshare interest in a timeshare plan located outside of the state of Louisiana from a location within the state of Louisiana and if the person, or related entity, has not previously registered a timeshare plan located in the state of Louisiana consisting of at least forty completed units with the Louisiana Real Estate Commission, as set forth in this Paragraph, but has registered with the Louisiana Real Estate Commission a proposed timeshare plan located in the state of Louisiana, as set forth in this Paragraph, consisting of at least forty units, such person, prior to selling, offering to sell, soliciting, or attempting to solicit the purchase of a timeshare interest in a timeshare plan located outside the state of Louisiana from a location within the state of Louisiana shall:
(i) Obtain a certificate from the Louisiana Real Estate Commission certifying that a minimum of fifteen units in such hereinabove required timeshare plan are complete for use and occupancy as a timeshare project in accordance with the timeshare plan, and
(ii) Provide the Louisiana Real Estate Commission with a copy of the contract for construction of the remaining units in the timeshare plan, a bond for the completion of such construction, and certified copies of all required permits from the applicable local governmental subdivision.
(3) All timeshare plans approved by the Louisiana Real Estate Commission after August 15, 2003, shall maintain a one-to-one purchaser to accommodation ratio, which means the ratio of the number of purchasers eligible to use the accommodation of a timeshare plan or project on a given day to the number of accommodations available for use within the plan or project on that day, such that the total number of purchasers eligible to use the accommodations of the timeshare plan or project during a given calendar year shall never exceed the total number of accommodations available for use in the timeshare plan or project during that year. For purposes of calculation, each purchaser shall be counted at least once and no individual accommodation may be counted more than three hundred sixty-five times per each calendar year. For purposes of calculating the one-to-one purchaser to accommodation ratio only, a purchaser who is delinquent in the payment of timeshare plan or project assessments shall continue to be considered eligible to use the accommodations of the timeshare plan or timeshare project without regard as to whether such right of use is suspended due to such delinquency.
B. A timeshare plan is created by the execution and recordation of a timeshare declaration and shall be effective upon approval of and shall have legal force and effect in the state of Louisiana as of the date of its approval by the Louisiana Real Estate Commission. The timeshare declaration shall be filed for registry in the conveyance records in the parish or parishes in which the timeshare property is located.
C. A timeshare declaration shall contain the following information:
(1) A legally sufficient description of the timeshare property and the name or other identification of the project, development, or building, if any, within which the timeshare property is located.
(2) A scale drawing showing the boundaries of all timeshare units, all common elements, and a designation by letter, number, name, or combination thereof of all such timeshare units.
(3) A schedule of use periods identifying the use by letter, number, name, or combination thereof for all use periods available in each timeshare unit or, if there are no timeshare units, in the full timeshare property.
(4) A provision for an annual service period for the timeshare property. If the timeshare property is divided into timeshare units, the service period may be different for different timeshare units and need not be for a specifically designated time period or for consecutive days.
(5) A statement that the timeshare property has or has not been made subject to the Louisiana Condominium Act, R.S. 9:1121.101 et seq., and, if the timeshare property is subject to the Louisiana Condominium Act, the date of filing of the condominium declaration required by R.S. 9:1122.101. A timeshare property otherwise subject to the Louisiana Condominium Act will nonetheless be exempt from the provisions of R.S. 9:1122.106(3).
(6) In registering a timeshare plan, the developer shall be responsible for providing information on the following:
(a) The developer's legal name, any assumed names used by the developer, principal office street address, mailing address, primary contact person, and telephone number.
(b) The name of the developer's authorized or registered agent in the state of Louisiana upon whom claims can be served or service of process be had, the agent's street address in Louisiana, and telephone number.
(c) The name, street address, mailing address, primary contact person, and telephone number of any timeshare plan being registered.
(d) The name, street address, mailing address, and telephone number of the managing entity of the timeshare plan.
(e) A public offering statement which complies with the requirements of R.S. 9:1131.9.2, which includes all of the following:
(i) A scale drawing showing the boundaries of all timeshare units, all common elements, and a designation by letter, number, name, or combination thereof of all such timeshare units.
(ii) If it is an ownership timeshare interest, the nature of the timeshare interest and the method for allocating use periods. If it is a lease timeshare interest, the nature of that lease interest and its duration.
(iii) The percentage of timeshare interest expenses and the voting rights assigned to each timeshare interest.
(iv) The method for amendment of the timeshare instrument.
(f) Such other information regarding the developer, timeshare plan, timeshare interest sales persons, acquisition agents, or managing entities as reasonably required by the Louisiana Real Estate Commission.
(7) - (13) Repealed by Acts 2003, No. 978, §3.
D. A timeshare declaration filed after August 30, 1983, shall also include a bond issued by a surety company authorized to do business in this state in the amount of one thousand dollars for each unit week included in the timeshare plan. This bond shall be filed and maintained with the Louisiana Real Estate Commission in favor of the state for the use, benefit, and indemnity of any person who suffers any damage or loss as a result of any unfair or deceptive practice, breach of a contractual duty, or violation of law in connection with the offer or solicitation of a sale or management of a timeshare interest or in connection with the management of a timeshare plan or project by a developer, its agents, employees, sales persons, and others. Said bond shall be maintained until one year following the date of the last timeshare sale made by the filing developer or until January 1, 2008, whichever occurs first. Beginning January 1, 2004, the amount of the bond shall be reduced in an amount by one-quarter in each of the four years following August 15, 2003. On January 1, 2008, this bonding requirement shall be eliminated for all timeshare projects. Thereafter, the developer shall provide to the Louisiana Real Estate Commission proof of its suitability and financial ability to complete its timeshare projects. The commission, by rule and regulation, adopted and promulgated as prescribed by law, shall provide for the kinds of proof that shall be required to be provided.
E. The timeshare declaration must be accompanied by an affidavit or affidavits signed by the chief executive officer or managing partner of the developer and by any natural person having an ownership interest exceeding ten percent in either the developer or entities which control it. The affidavit or affidavits must state under penalty of perjury that the affiant has read the timeshare declaration, and all attached documents and that they are true and complete. Any person who executes an affidavit required under this Section which is not true, or who fails to correct in said affidavit any false statement, false representation of material fact, or omission of material fact made in the timeshare declaration or in documents required to be attached thereto, is guilty of a felony, and shall be imprisoned for not more than five years with or without hard labor or shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.
F. A person shall not be required to register as a developer under this Part, provided the person performs only the following acts:
(1) The person is an owner of a timeshare interest who has acquired the timeshare interest for his or her own use and occupancy and who later offers it for resale.
(2) A managing entity or an association that is not otherwise a developer of a timeshare plan in its own right, solely while acting as an association or under a contract with an association to offer or sell a timeshare interest transferred to the association through foreclosure, giving in payment, or gratuitous transfer, if such acts are performed in the regular course, or as an incident to, the management of the association for its own account in the timeshare plan.
(3) Offers a timeshare plan in a national publication or by electronic media which is not directed to or targeted to any person located in Louisiana.
(4) A person is conveyed, assigned, or transferred more than seven timeshare interests from a developer in a single voluntary or involuntary transaction and subsequently conveys, assigns, or transfers all of the timeshare interests received from the developer to a single purchaser in a single transaction, which transaction may occur in stages.
Added by Acts 1983, No. 552, §1; Acts 1985, No. 999, §§1, 3; Acts 2003, No. 978, §§1, 3; Acts 2009, No. 273, §1.
NOTE: SEE ACTS 1985, NO. 999, §5.