How to get out of your timeshare

If you're burdened by an unwanted timeshare and rising maintenance fees, you're not alone—many owners reach a point where their vacation ownership no longer fits their lifestyle. This guide outlines proven, low- or no-cost strategies you can pursue yourself to exit your timeshare responsibly and legally. Before paying thousands to third-party "exit" companies—which often charge hefty upfront fees only to use these same free methods on your behalf—explore these options first -- all of which can be done yourself with minimal expense and effort.

Give your Timeshare Back

Give timeshare back

One of the simplest and lowest-cost ways to exit a timeshare is to ask the resort to take it back—a process often called a deed-back or voluntary surrender. While success is not guaranteed (many resorts are selective), it’s worth trying because it requires only a phone call or email and carries no downside—if they say no, your situation remains unchanged..

Also note that the resort does not have to accept the deedback, as more and more owners try this method, there are only so many weeks the resort can simply "take back" and still maintain the level of funds it needs to operate (Maint. fees).

The success or failure of a Deedback is entirely dependent on your ability to actually contact the person at the resort who makes the final decision! This is almost always NOT the person answering the phone at the resort! Letters to your HOA/BOD are highly suggested, stamps are still cost less than a dollar these days!

Key Requirements for Success:

Your timeshare must be fully paid off (no outstanding loan or mortgage).
All maintenance fees, taxes, and assessments must be current—no arrears owed.

How to Proceed:

Contact the resort’s owner services or transitions department (check your ownership documents or the resort website for the right contact).
Politely explain your situation and ask if they offer a deed-back program or are willing to accept voluntary return of your ownership.
If approved, the resort may handle the paperwork to transfer the deed back to them.

Important Notes:

Some resorts charge a reasonable transfer or processing fee (typically a few hundred dollars). This is normal and should be paid directly to the resort—never to a third-party company.
Avoid any “exit” firm that demands large upfront fees to “negotiate” this for you; you can do it yourself at no cost beyond a potential resort fee, in fact if the resort discovers you have hired an exit company it almost always makes the situation worse as they will refuse to negotiate with you at all!

This article describes Deedbacks in much more detail as well as provides links to most major deedback programs:Timeshare Deedback Information

Give your Timeshare Away!

timeshare for a dollar

A significant percentage of timeshares fail to sell simply because owners list them at unrealistic prices, often hoping to recoup part of their original investment. If your primary goal is to escape ongoing maintenance fees and obligations—rather than make money—consider offering your timeshare for free (or a nominal $1) to a willing buyer.

Many people are happy to take over a paid-off timeshare in a desirable location, especially if it comes with low or reasonable annual fees. By pricing it to give away, you dramatically increase your chances of a successful transfer and can finally walk away without further costs.

This approach is ideal for owners who describe themselves as "desperate" to exit but continue listing at high asking prices. Lowering your expectations to zero (or close to it) is often the fastest, most reliable path to freedom—you can do this yourself without having to pay any large upfront fees.

note: If you find yourself in a situation where you are asking for money for your timeshare, please read the following article:

Why Cant I sell my Timeshare?

Here are three FREE options for you to give your Timeshare away to another party without paying a single dollar:

TUGBBS Bargain Deals

Facebook Pages for your Resort!

Craigslist.org

Each of these options costs you absolutely NOTHING to list your timeshare for sale at a price of $1 in an attempt to give it away to a willing owner! If you are trying to get rid of your timeshare and have not listed it in these places, you should do so asap!

List it on TUG

TUG has thousands of active ads running at any time in the TUG Timeshare Marketplace ) and the cost is only $15 for an entire year! With tens of millions of dollars in successfully sold listings in the past few years, you CAN sell or even rent your timeshare on TUG!

Large upfront fee warning!

Many organizations that charge you significant upfront fees will simply turn around and list your timeshare on ebay or even RIGHT HERE ON TUG. It is far easier, not to mention WAY cheaper to do this yourself, or even put that ridiculous upfront fee you were just willing to pay towards next years maintenance fees for the new buyer to make the sale more enticing!

Selling for a single dollar is certainly a FAR better deal than paying an upfront fee scammer to simply list it for free on your behalf! Heck if you offered to pay closing costs yoursef that would STILL be cheaper than using an upfront fee exit company, and greatly improve your chances of someone taking it off your hands!

Dont Donate your Timeshare To Charity!

Donating your timeshare involves you picking a charity willing to take your timeshare and sell it for you, thus using the proceeds from the sale as the donation itself. Charities cannot actually use your timeshare, nor do they want the burden of OWNING a timeshare so the most utilized option is to simply sell it for you in the hopes of finding a buyer (basically, doing all the things we just talked about above for you, for a huge fee)

This of course means your timeshare actually has to be able to be sold for at least some money in order to even be considered for donation. IE if you can only get a dollar for it on ebay, a charity will have no use for your timeshare and it wont be available for donation. Your timeshare must have some value and be able to be sold in order for you to donate it to charity! Sadly if this is the case, you likely aren't reading this article in the first place! Please see this article for specific information on Timeshare Donation!

Here are some additional TUG advice pages about donation of your timeshare:

Timeshare Donation Discussion (tugbbs online forums topic about donating your timeshare...must read!)

Taxes and Timeshares article (Written by DaveM....Tug's resident tax expert and online forums administrator!)

Why shouldnt I use those Cancellation Companies I See advertising everywyere?

Sadly this industry is completely overwhelmed with exit and cancellation companies promising an easy way out of your Timeshare. The catch is that every one of these companies expects you to pay a staggeringly high upfront fee for their "services". The fact is that there are always 3 options for ANY Timeshare owner to end their ownership, and these companies all utilize different variations of these 3 options despite the fact that all owners can use them themselves for free or for FAR less than the amount charged by these companies. At the end of the day you likely overpaid when you bought your Timeshare in the first place by not finding TUG in time to discover far cheaper options, dont make the same mistake in trying to get out of your Timeshare!

in fact this issue is so important for owners, we have an entire article dedicated to exposing the truth about timeshare cancellation and exit companies!