SECTION 55-362. Definitions  

As used in this chapter, or in a time-share instrument, unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Additional land" has the meaning ascribed to it in subsection C of § 55-367 .

"Affiliate" means a person that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, the person specified.

"Alternative purchase" means anything valued in excess of $100 which is offered to a potential purchaser by the developer during the developer's sales presentation and which is purchased by such potential purchaser for more than $100, even though the purchaser did not purchase a time-share. An alternative purchase is not a time-share. A membership camping contract as defined in § 55-367 is not an alternative purchase. An alternative purchase shall be registered with the Board unless it is otherwise registered as a travel service under the Virginia Travel Club Act (§ 55-367 et seq.), and shall include, without limitation, vacation packages (howsoever denominated) and exit programs (howsoever denominated).

"Association" means the association organized under the provisions of § 55-367 .

"Board" means the Common Interest Community Board, an agency within the meaning of the Administrative Process Act (§ 55-367 et seq.).

"Board of directors" means an executive and administrative entity, by whatever name denominated, designated in a time-share estate project instrument as the governing body of the time-share estate owners' association.

"Common elements" means the real estate, improvements thereon, and the personalty situate within the time-share project that are subject to the time-share program. "Common elements" shall not include the units and the time-shares.

"Consumer documents" means the aggregate of the following documents: the reverter deed, note, and the deed of trust. A consumer document shall be deemed one of the consumer documents.

"Contact information" means any information that can be used to contact an owner, including the owner's name, address, telephone number, email address, or user identity on any electronic networking service.

"Contract," "sales contract," "purchase contract," "contract of purchase" or "contract to purchase" shall be interchangeable throughout this chapter and shall mean any legally binding instrument executed by the developer and a purchaser whereby the developer is obligated to sell and the purchaser is obligated to purchase either a time-share and its incidental benefits or an alternative purchase registered under this chapter.

"Conversion time-share project" means a real estate improvement, which prior to the disposition of any time-share, was wholly or partially occupied by persons as their permanent residence or on a transient pay-as-you-go basis other than those who have contracted for the purchase of a time-share and those who occupy with the consent of such purchasers.

"Cost of ownership" means all of the owner's expenses related to a resale time-share due and payable between the date of a resale transfer contract and the transfer of the resale time-share.

"Deed" means the instrument by which title to a time-share estate is transferred from one person to another person.

"Deed of trust" means the instrument conveying the time-share estate that is given as security for the payment of the note.

"Default" means either a failure to have made any payment in full and on time or a violation of a performance obligation required by a consumer document for a period of no less than 60 days.

"Developer" means any person or group of persons acting in concert who (i) offers to dispose of a time-share or its or their interest in a time-share unit for which there has not been a previous disposition or (ii) applies for registration of the time-share program.

"Developer control period" has the meaning ascribed to it in § 55-367 .

"Development right" means any right reserved by the developer to create additional units which may be dedicated to the time-share program.

"Dispose" or "disposition" means a transfer of a legal or equitable interest in a time-share, other than a transfer or release of security for a debt.

"Exchange agent" or "exchange company" means a person or persons who exchange or offer to exchange time-shares in an exchange program with other time-shares.

"Exchange program" means any opportunity or procedure for the assignment or exchange of time-shares among owners in other time-share programs as evidenced by a past or present written agreement executed between an exchange company and the developer or the time-share estate association; however, an "exchange program" shall not be either an incidental benefit or an opportunity or procedure whereby a time-share owner can exchange his time-share for another time-share within either the same time-share or another time-share project owned in part by the developer.

"Guest" means a person who is on the project, additional land or development at the request of an owner, developer, association or managing agent, or a person otherwise legally entitled to be thereon. A guest includes, without limitation, family members of owners, time-share exchange participants, merchants, purveyors, vendors and employees thereof, and of the developer and association.

"Incidental benefit" means anything valued in excess of $100 provided by the developer that is acquired by a purchaser upon acquisition of a time-share and includes without limitation exchange rights, travel insurance, bonus weeks, upgrade entitlements, travel coupons, referral awards, and golf and tennis packages. An incidental benefit is not a time-share or an exchange program. An incidental benefit shall not be registered with the Board.

"Inherent risks of project activity" mean those dangers or conditions that are an integral part of a project activity, including certain hazards, such as surface and subsurface conditions; natural conditions of land, vegetation, and waters; the behavior of wild or domestic animals; and ordinary dangers of structures or equipment ordinarily used in association or time-share operations. Inherent risks of project activity also include the potential of a participant to act in a negligent manner that may contribute to injury to the participant or others, including failing to follow instructions given by the project professional or failing to exercise reasonable caution while engaging in the project activity.

"Lead dealer" means a person who sells or otherwise provides to any other person contact information concerning five or more owners to be used for a resale service, but excludes developers, managing entities, or exchange companies to the extent such entities are providing other persons with personal contact information about time-share owners in their own time-share plans or members of their own exchange program.

"Lien holder" means either a person who holds an interest in an encumbrance that is not released of record as to a purchaser or such person's successor in interest who acquires title to the time-share project at foreclosure or by deed in lieu of foreclosure, or other instrument however denominated.

"Managing agent" means a person who undertakes the duties, responsibilities, and obligations of the management of a time-share project.

"Managing entity" means the managing agent or, if there is no managing agent, the time-share owners' association in a time-share estate project and the developer in a time-share use project.

"Material change" means a change in any information or document disclosed in or attached to the public offering statement which renders inaccurate, incomplete or misleading any information or document in such a way as to affect substantially a purchaser's rights or obligations, but shall not include a change (i) in the real estate tax assessment or rate, utility charges or deposits, maintenance fees, association dues, assessments, special assessments or any recurring time-share expense item provided the change is made known (a) immediately to the prospective purchaser by a written addendum in the public offering statement and (b) to the Board by filing with the developer's annual report copies of the updated changes occurring over the immediately preceding 12 months; (ii) which is an aspect or result of the orderly development of the time-share project in accordance with the time-share instrument; (iii) resulting from new, updated, or amended information contained in the annual report prepared and distributed pursuant to § 55-367 ; (iv) correcting spelling, grammar, omissions or other similar errors not affecting the substance of the public offering statement; or (v) occurring in the issuance of an exchange company's updated annual report or disclosure document, provided upon its receipt by the developer, it shall be distributed in lieu of all others in order to satisfy § 55-367 .

"Note" means the instrument that evidences the debt occasioned by the deferred purchase of a time-share.

"Offering" or "offer" means any act to sell, solicit, induce, or advertise, which originates in this Commonwealth, whether by radio, television, telephone, newspaper, magazine, or mail, whereby a person is given an opportunity to acquire a time-share.

"Participant" means any person, other than a project professional, who engages in a project activity.

"Person" means one or more natural persons, corporations, partnerships, associations, trustees of a trust, limited liability companies, other entities, or any combination thereof capable of holding title to real property.

"Possibility of reverter" means a provision contained in a reverter deed whereby the time-share estate automatically reverts or transfers back to the developer upon satisfaction of the requirements imposed by § 55-367 .

"Product" means each time-share and its incidental benefits and all alternative purchases that are registered with the Board pursuant to this chapter.

"Project" means the same as the term "time-share project. "

"Project activity" means any activity carried out or conducted on a common element, within a time-share unit or elsewhere in the project, additional land or development, that allows owners, their guests, and members of the general public to view, observe, participate or enjoy activities, including swimming pools, spas, sporting venues, and cultural, historical or harvest-your-own activities, other amenities and events, or natural activities and attractions for recreational, entertainment, educational or social purposes. An activity is a project activity whether or not the participant paid to participate in the activity.

"Project instrument" means any recorded documents, by whatever name denominated, which create the time-share project and program and which may contain restrictions or covenants regulating the use, occupancy, or disposition of time-shares in a project.

"Project professional" means any person who is engaged in the business of providing one or more project activities, whether or not for compensation. For the purposes of this definition, the developer, association, and managing entity shall each be deemed a project professional.

"Public offering statement" means the statement required by § 55-367 .

"Purchaser" means any person other than a developer or lender who owns or acquires a product, or who otherwise enters into a contract for the purchase of a product.

"Resale cost of ownership" means all the owner's expenses related to a resale time-share due and payable between the date of a resale transfer contract and the transfer of such resale time-share.

"Resale purchase contract" means an agreement negotiated by a reseller by which an owner or a reseller agrees to sell and a subsequent purchaser agrees to buy a resale time-share.

"Resale service" means engaging, directly or indirectly, for compensation, in any of the following either in person or by any medium of communication: (i) selling or offering to sell or list for sale for the owner a resale time-share, (ii) buying or offering to buy a resale time-share for transfer to a subsequent purchaser, (iii) transferring a resale time-share acquired from an owner to a subsequent purchaser or offering to assist in such transfer, (iv) invalidating or offering to invalidate for an owner the title of a resale time-share, or (v) advertising or soliciting to advertise or promote the transfer or invalidation of a resale time-share. Resale service shall not include an individual selling or offering to sell his own time-share unit.

"Resale time-share" means a time-share, wherever located, that has previously been sold to an owner who is a natural person for personal, family, or household use and that is transferred, or is intended to be transferred, through a resale service.

"Resale transfer contract" means an agreement between a reseller and the owner by which the reseller agrees to transfer or assist in the transfer of the owner's resale time-share.

"Reseller" means any person who, directly or indirectly, engages in a resale service.

"Reverter deed" means the deed from developer to a grantee that contains a possibility of reverter.

"Sales person" means a person who sells or offers to sell time-share interests in a time-share program.

"Situs" means the place outside the Commonwealth where a developer's time-share project is located.

"Situs Time-Share Act" means the Act, howsoever denominated, that regulates the offering, disposition, and sale of time-shares applicable to the property outside the Commonwealth where the time-share project is located.

"Subsequent purchaser" means the purchaser or transferee of a resale time-share.

"Time-share" or "timeshare" means either a time-share estate or a time-share use plus its incidental benefits.

"Time-share estate" means a right to occupy a unit or any of several units during five or more separated time periods over a period of at least five years, including renewal options, coupled with a freehold estate or an estate for years in a time-share project or a specified portion thereof.

"Time-share estate occupancy expense" has the meaning ascribed to it in § 55-367 .

"Time-share estate subject to reverter" means a time-share estate (i) entitling the holder thereof to occupy units not more than four weeks in any one year period; and (ii) for which the down payment is not more than 20 percent of the total purchase price of the time-share estate.

"Time-share expense" means (i) expenditures, fees, charges, or liabilities incurred with respect to the operation, maintenance, administration or insuring of the time-shares, units, and common elements comprising the entire time-share project, whether or not incurred for the repair, renovation, upgrade, refurbishing or capital improvements; and (ii) any allocations of reserves.

"Time-share instrument" means any document, however denominated, which creates the time-share project and program, and which may contain restrictions or covenants regulating the use, occupancy, or disposition of time-shares in a project.

"Time-share owner" or "owner" means a person who is an owner or co-owner of a time-share other than as security for an obligation.

"Time-share program" or "program" means any arrangement of time-shares in one or more time-share projects whereby the use, occupancy, or possession of real property has been made subject to either a time-share estate or time-share use in which such use, occupancy, or possession circulates among owners of the time-shares according to a fixed or floating time schedule on a periodic basis occurring over any period of time in excess of five years.

"Time-share project" means all of the real property subject to a time-share program created by the execution of a time-share instrument.

"Time-share unit" or "unit" means the real property or real property improvement in a project which is divided into time-shares and designated for separate occupancy and use.

"Time-share use" means a right to occupy a time-share unit or any of several time-share units during five or more separated time periods over a period of at least five years, including renewal options, not coupled with a freehold estate or an estate for years in a time-share project or a specified portion thereof. "Time-share use" shall not mean a right to use which is subject to a first-come, first-served, space-available basis as might exist in a country club, motel, hotel, health spa, campground, or membership or resort facility.

"Transfer" means a voluntary conveyance of a resale time-share to a person other than the developer, association, or managing entity of the time-share program of which the resale time-share is a part or to a person taking ownership by gift, foreclosure, or deed in lieu of foreclosure.

1981, c. 462; 1985, c. 517; 1986, c. 359; 1991, c. 704; 1994, c. 55-367 ; 1998, c. 55-367 ; 2001, c. 55-367 ; 2004, c. 55-367 ; 2007, c. 55-367 ; 2008, cc. 55-367 , 55-367 , 55-367 ; 2012, c. 55-367 .