What is a Homeowner’s Association?
As an owner at the resort, you are automatically a member of its Homeowner’s Association. Once the developer sells all interest in the resort, control of the resort goes to the Homeowner’s Association.
All owners get to vote on matters concerning the property. Whether there are proposed renovations, management changes, or fee changes, all require the approval of the resort’s owners via the Homeowner’s Association.
Once ownership of the resort has been transferred to the homeowner’s association, the interval owners become the shareholders of the property. They are responsible for its care and day maintenance. At this point, even if the timeshare resort developer were to go bankrupt or go out of business, the resort’s owners will still own their own shares of the property.
This means that the Homeowner’s Association could decide to change management companies or even sell off the assets of the resort, refunding the applicable share to each of the resort’s owners.
How this works will vary by resort developer, and the only way to know how your resort will be managed in the future is to ask before you buy. Some developers also manage the resorts through their own vacation clubs, and in those cases they will likely be managing it over the long term.
Note that for right-to-use, the developer may never stop selling interest in the resort, and so Homeowner’s Association involvement may be limited. In contrast, for deeded weeks the Homeowner’s Association gains ultimate control of the property once the developer’s interest is sold.