State Affairs Update - April 28, 2020
ARDA Insider | Volume I
On the state level, much of work has shifted to monitoring and examining the over 1,000 emergency orders that have been issued around the country to ensure that timeshare resorts are given the tools they need to navigate through this crisis. For example, in Florida the epicenter of timeshare, the effects of government actions related to COVID-19 have far reaching impact. There have been a number of orders relevant to timeshare. Notably, timeshares which are also condominiums were granted significant emergency authority to help manage properties. ARDA is working to have that authority extended to non-condo timeshares and to identify regulations which could be temporarily relaxed to allow the resorts to bounce back quickly once travel returns.
Before the COVID-19 crisis, many Attorneys General and Better Business Bureaus around the country were focusing on exit company schemes and the harm to consumers. The Missouri and Washington State Attorneys General had both filed aggressive lawsuits against exit companies. Many BBBs were no longer accrediting exit companies or significantly lowered their ratings. And our Responsible Exit website was seeing significant traffic. Now, virtually all attorneys general and BBBs are focused on COVID-19 related scams and price gouging in the marketplace. Even so, we’re still working hard to highlight the exit company scams that are still going on and harming timeshare owners so we can keep the momentum going.
Lastly, registrations and filings must still take place unless the appropriate agency directs otherwise. A regulatory work group was formed to share information on current agency policies and practices related to timeshare filings during this time. For questions about a particular state, or to join the group, please reach out to Elizabeth Baker.
All of this information including a more comprehensive list of all state and federal actions can be found in the COVID-19 Resource Center of our website.