Sec. 221.002. DEFINITIONS. As used in this chapter:

(1) "Accommodation" means any apartment, condominium or cooperative unit, hotel or motel room, cabin, lodge, or other private or commercial structure that:

(A) is affixed to real property;

(B) is designed for occupancy or use by one or more individuals; and

(C) is part of a timeshare plan.

(2) "Advertisement" means any written, oral, or electronic communication that is directed to or targeted at individuals in this state and contains a promotion, inducement, or offer to sell a timeshare interest, including a promotion, inducement, or offer to sell:

(A) contained in a brochure, pamphlet, or radio or television transcript;

(B) communicated by electronic media or telephone; or

(C) solicited through direct mail.

(3) "Amenities" means all common areas and includes recreational and maintenance facilities of the timeshare plan.

(4) "Assessment" means an amount assessed against or collected from a purchaser by an association or its managing entity in a fiscal year, regardless of the frequency with which the amount is assessed or collected, to cover expenditures, charges, reserves, or liabilities related to the operation of a timeshare plan or timeshare properties managed by the same managing entity.

(5) "Association" means a council or association composed of all persons who have purchased a timeshare interest.

(5-a) "Board" means the governing body of a timeshare association designated in a project instrument to act on behalf of the association.

(6) "Commission" means the Texas Real Estate Commission.

(7) "Component site" means a specific geographic location where accommodations that are part of a multisite timeshare plan are located. Separate phases of a single timeshare property in a specific geographic location and under common management are a single component site.

(8) "Developer" means:

(A) any person, excluding a sales agent, who creates a timeshare plan or is in the business of selling timeshare interests or employs a sales agent to sell timeshare interests; or

(B) any person who succeeds in the developer's interest by sale, lease, assignment, mortgage, or other transfer if the person:

(i) offers at least 12 timeshare interests in a particular timeshare plan; and

(ii) is in the business of selling timeshare interests or employs a sales agent to sell timeshare interests.

(9) "Dispose" or "disposition" means a voluntary transfer of any legal or equitable timeshare interest but does not include the transfer or release of a real estate lien or of a security interest.

(10) "Escrow agent" means a bonded escrow company, a financial institution whose accounts are insured by a governmental agency or instrumentality, or an attorney or title insurance agent licensed in this state who is responsible for the receipt and disbursement of funds in accordance with this chapter.

(11) "Exchange company" means any person who owns or operates an exchange program.

(12) "Exchange disclosure statement" means a written statement that includes the information required by Section 221.033.

(13) "Exchange program" means any method, arrangement, or procedure for the voluntary exchange of timeshare interests among purchasers or owners.

(14) "Incidental use right" means the right to use accommodations and amenities at one or more timeshare properties that is not guaranteed and is administered by the managing entity of the timeshare properties that makes vacant accommodations at the timeshare properties available to owners of timeshare interests in the timeshare properties.

(15) "Managing entity" means the person responsible for operating and maintaining a timeshare property.

(16) "Multisite timeshare plan" means a plan in which a timeshare purchaser has:

(A) a specific timeshare interest, which is the right to use and occupy accommodations at a specific timeshare property and the right to use and occupy accommodations at one or more other component sites created by or acquired solely through the reservation system of the timeshare plan; or

(B) a nonspecific timeshare interest, which is the right to use and occupy accommodations at more than one component site created by or acquired solely through the reservation system of the timeshare plan but which does not include a right to use and occupy a particular accommodation.

(17) "Offering" or "offer" means any advertisement, inducement, or solicitation and includes any attempt to encourage a person to purchase a timeshare interest other than as a security for an obligation.

(18) "Project instrument" means a timeshare instrument or one or more recordable documents, by whatever name denominated, applying to the whole of a timeshare project and containing restrictions or covenants regulating the use, occupancy, or disposition of units in a project, including a declaration for a condominium, association articles of incorporation, association bylaws, and rules for a condominium in which a timeshare plan is created.

(19) "Promotion" means any program, activity, contest, or gift, prize, or other item of value used to induce any person to attend a timeshare sales presentation.

(20) "Purchaser" means any person, other than a developer, who by means of a voluntary transfer acquires a legal or equitable interest in a timeshare interest other than as a security for an obligation.

(21) "Reservation system" means the method, arrangement, or procedure by which a purchaser, in order to reserve the use and occupancy of an accommodation of a multisite timeshare plan for one or more timeshare periods, is required to compete with other purchasers in the same multisite timeshare plan, regardless of whether the reservation system is operated and maintained by the multisite timeshare plan, a managing entity, an exchange company, or any other person. If a purchaser is required to use an exchange program as the purchaser's principal means of obtaining the right to use and occupy the accommodations and facilities of the plan, the arrangement is considered a reservation system. If the exchange company uses a mechanism to exchange timeshare periods among members of the exchange program, the use of the mechanism is not considered a reservation system of the multisite timeshare plan.

(22) "Single-site timeshare plan" means a timeshare plan in which a timeshare purchaser's right to use and occupy accommodations is limited to a single timeshare property. A single-site timeshare plan that includes an incidental use right or a program under which the owner of a timeshare interest at a specific timeshare property may exchange a timeshare period for another timeshare period at the same or another timeshare property under common management does not transform the single-site timeshare plan into a multisite timeshare plan.

(23) "Timeshare disclosure statement" means a written statement that includes the information required by Section 221.032.

(24) "Timeshare estate" means an arrangement under which the purchaser receives a right to occupy a timeshare property and an estate interest in the real property.

(25) "Timeshare interest" means a timeshare estate or timeshare use.

(26) "Timeshare instrument" means a master deed, master lease, declaration, or any other instrument used in the creation of a timeshare plan.

(27) "Timeshare period" means the period within which the purchaser of a timeshare interest is entitled to the exclusive possession, occupancy, and use of an accommodation.

(28) "Timeshare plan" means any arrangement, plan, scheme, or similar method, excluding an exchange program but including a membership agreement, sale, lease, deed, license, or right-to-use agreement, by which a purchaser, in exchange for consideration, receives an ownership right in or the right to use accommodations for a period of time less than a year during a given year, but not necessarily consecutive years.

(29) "Timeshare property" means:

(A) one or more accommodations and any related amenities subject to the same timeshare instrument; and

(B) any other property or property rights appurtenant to the accommodations and amenities.

(30) "Timeshare use" means any arrangement under which the purchaser receives a right to occupy a timeshare property, but under which the purchaser does not receive an estate interest in the timeshare property.

Added by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 167, Sec. 6.03, eff. Sept. 1, 1987. Renumbered from Sec. 201.002 by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 2, Sec. 13.03(b), eff. Aug. 28, 1989. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 443, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.

Amended by:

Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 539 (H.B. 1045), Sec. 1, eff. January 15, 2006.

Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1352 (S.B. 1372), Sec. 3, eff. September 1, 2013.