Thousands of timeshare owners face unexpected repair bill

CALGARY- Timeshare owners at the Sunchaser Villas in Fairmont B.C. were taken by surprise when they were billed for repairs at the resort.
Glenn and Terry Graversen of Calgary have had a two-week timeshare at Sunchaser Villas for the past 16 years.
They now have to pay $4,000 for renovations to the villas or as an alternative, pay $3,000 to cancel their contract.
The vacation villas at Fairmont went bankrupt several years ago and the new owner says the assessment is necessary because maintenance had been neglected for years.
But the Graversens say this isn’t what they signed up for. The couple says they have paid maintenance fees every year and it isn’t their fault the previous owners of the resort let maintenance slide.

“My concern is that they purchased it and now they’re making us pay for their mistake of purchasing a property that wasn’t worth what they paid for,” says Terry Graversen.
The new company running Sunchaser says timeshare members weren’t charged enough for upkeep in the past, and without this renovation, they stand to lose their investment.
“We believe the owners probably should have been charged about $300 to $400 a year more for the last 15 years to properly address the maintenance of the resort,” says Kirk Wankel of Northwynd Resort Properties.
The company says most of the money will be be used to replace the Poly-B piping throughout the resort. The plastic piping has been banned because it leaks.
Timeshare members in Alberta and B.C. have hired lawyers to fight the case.
They will be in court next month.