BEACON HILL--The Court of First Instance on Friday ordered two owners of a timeshare unit at Caravanserai Beach Resort in Beacon Hill to vacate the apartment and hand over the keys to Caravanserai's new owner, Alegria Real Estate BV.

 

Alegria had filed the injunction against the couple as they held no long-lease rights to the unit they were occupying. Alegria's claim was not contested in court.

 

The judge ordered the defendants to vacate their timeshare unit within two days upon receipt of the verdict, hand over the keys and make the property available to Alegria.

 

The new owner would be entitled to seek assistance of the "strong arm of police and justice" to enforce eviction, when necessary, the judge added. The defendants were also ordered to pay legal expenses, estimated at NAf. 1,703.

 

Alegria purchased the resort at an auction commissioned by Scotiabank on August 13, 2014. The approximately 2,200 timeshare owners claiming timeshare rights at Caravanserai had received a letter on September 30, 2014, in which they were informed that their previous ownership rights had been nullified and that Alegria would offer hotel units against payment instead. A November 1, 2014, deadline was attached to the offer.

 

A hastily established timeshare owners' association immediately filed an injunction in efforts to protect their rights, but lost the legal battle.

 

The court agreed with Alegria that it was not bound by any type of timeshare agreement made through timeshare organisation Endless Vacation, as it was no longer involved in the resort, including its hotel and timeshare operations.

 

Alegria had offered a hotel room usage agreement in compensation of the sudden loss of timeshare rights, but many timeshare owners deemed the offer unacceptable. Recently, timeshare owners were offered similar rights at other resorts on the island.

 

Duped timeshare owners have recently been venting their fury about them losing their rights in letters that were printed in the newspapers and by posting messages on social media.

 

Owners blame Country St. Maarten, charging that government did not protect them and allowed them to be victims, as many of them have lost tens of thousands of dollars.

 

Other disappointed timeshare owners stated they would not return to St. Maarten and would spend their vacations elsewhere.

 

The Daily Herald