Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

 SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3013
                    The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
                                            _______________
                           In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
                                              (2023-2024)
                                            _______________
                                                                       SENATE, December 30, 2024.
        The committee on Senate Rules to whom was referred the Senate Bill modernizing time-
share extension and termination procedures (Senate, No. 2591) reports, that the matter be placed
in the Orders of the Day for the next session with an amendment substituting a new draft entitled
"An Act modernizing time-share extension and termination procedures" (Senate, No. 3013).
                                        For the committee,
                                              Joan B. Lovely
                                                     FILED ON: 12/30/2024
       SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3013
                                The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
                                                      _______________
                                    In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
                                                       (2023-2024)
                                                      _______________
     An Act modernizing time-share extension and termination procedures.
              Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
     of the same, as follows:
         SECTION 1. Section 14 of chapter 183B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022
 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 3, the words “subsection (d)” and
  inserting in place thereof the following words:- paragraph (3) of subsection (b).
         SECTION 2. Said chapter 183B is hereby further amended by striking out section 15, as
 so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
         Section 15. (a) This section shall apply to time-share licenses only to the extent expressly
         provided by the time-share instrument.
         (b) After the occurrence of a duly noticed and held meeting of an association of owners
 convened
         not less than 30 days after such notice to consider the termination of a time-share plan,
 such owners having not less than 65 per cent of all eligible beneficial interests may terminate all
 time-shares in a time-share property by written agreement.
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         (c) An agreement to terminate all time-shares in a time-share property shall be evidenced
 by the execution, in the same manner as a deed, of a termination agreement, or ratifications
 thereof, by the requisite number of time-share owners. The termination agreement shall specify a
 date after which the agreement shall be void unless it is recorded on or before said date and it
 may provide for the establishment of a trust to carry out the termination agreement and effect a
 sale pursuant to this section. A termination agreement and all ratifications thereof shall be
 recorded in the registry of deeds or land registration office in each district in which a portion of
 the time-share property is situated and shall be effective only upon such recording.
         (d) Unless a termination agreement sets forth the material terms of a contract or proposed
 contract under which an estate or interest in each time-share unit equal to the sum of the time-
 shares therein is to be sold and designates a trustee or board of trustees to effect the sale, title to
 an estate or interest in each time-share unit equal to the sum of the time-shares therein shall vest
 upon termination in the time-share owners thereof in proportion to the respective interests of the
 time-share owners as provided in subsections (i) and (j) and liens on the time-shares shall attach
 to and encumber said interests. A co-owner of said estate or interest in a unit may thereafter
 maintain an action for partition or for allotment or sale in lieu of partition.
         (e) If a termination agreement sets forth parameters for the material terms of a contract or
 proposed contract under which an estate or interest in each time-share unit equal to the sum of
 the time-shares therein is to be sold and designates the board of the time-share owners
 association as trustees, or designates an individual or group of individuals as trustees, to effect
 the sale, title to said estate or interest shall vest upon termination in the said trustees for the
 benefit of the time-share owners and shall be transferred pursuant to the contract of sale. Net
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 proceeds of the sale shall be distributed to time-share owners and lienholders as their interests
 may appear, as provided in subsections (i) and (j).
        (f) The termination of a time-share plan shall not change the status of the underlying
 owners’ association. Upon termination of a time-share plan, such association shall continue to
 exist only for the purposes of concluding its affairs, prosecuting and defending actions by or
 against such association, collecting and discharging obligations, disposing of and conveying its
 property, collecting and dividing its assets and otherwise complying with this section.
        (g) All reasonable expenses incurred by a termination trustee relating to the performance
 of the trustee’s duties pursuant to this act, including the reasonable fees of attorneys and other
 professionals, shall be paid by the termination trustee.
        (h) A termination trustee shall adopt reasonable procedures to implement the timely sale
 of the former time-share property and comply with the requirements of this section.
        (i) Except as otherwise provided in the termination agreement, so long as the former
 time-share owners or their termination trustee or trustees hold title to an estate or interest equal to
 the sum of the time-shares, each former time-share owner and their successors in interest shall
 have the same rights with respect to occupancy in the former time-share unit that they would
 have had if termination had not occurred, together with the same liabilities and other obligations
 imposed by this chapter or the time-share instrument.
        (j) After termination of all time-shares in a time-share property and adequate provision
 for the payment of the claims of the creditors for time-share expenses, distribution of: (i) the
 proceeds of any sale pursuant to this section; (ii) the proceeds of the sale of any assets held for
 the use and benefit of the former time-share owners; and (iii) any other funds held for the use and
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 benefit of the former time-share owners shall be made to the former time-share owners and their
 successors in interest in proportion to their respective interests as provided in subsection (i).
 Following the termination of an agreement, creditors of the association holding liens perfected
 against the time-share property prior to the termination may enforce said liens in the same
 manner as any other lien holder. All other creditors of the association shall be treated as if they
 had perfected liens on the time-share property immediately prior to termination.
        (k) A time-share instrument may specify the respective fractional or percentage interest in
 the estate or interest in each unit equal to the sum of the time-shares therein that will be owned
 by each former time-share owner upon termination of the time-shares. If the time-share
 instrument fails to specify such interest, an appraisal shall be made of the fair market value of
 each time-share by at least 1 impartial qualified appraiser selected by the trustee designated in
 the termination agreement or, if no trustee was so designated, by the managing entity of the time-
 share plan. Such appraisal shall be made not more than 180 days prior to the termination and
 shall state the corresponding fractional or percentage interests calculated in proportion to fair
 market values appraised pursuant to this act. A notice stating all such fair market values and
 corresponding interests and the return address of the sender shall be sent by registered mail,
 return receipt requested, by the managing entity of the time-share plan or by the trustee
 designated in the termination agreement to each time-share owner. Such appraisal shall govern
 the fractional or percentage interest of each estate or interest unless: (i) not less than 25 per cent
 of the time-share owners deliver, not more than 60 days after the date the notices were mailed,
 written disapprovals to the return address of the sender of the notice; or (ii) the final judgment of
 a court of competent jurisdiction, entered during or after said period, holds that the appraisal
 shall be set aside. If the termination agreement sets forth the material terms of a contract or
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 proposed contract for the sale of the estate or interest equal to the sum of the time-shares, each
 time-share conferring a right of occupancy during a limited number of time periods shall be
 appraised as if the time until the date specified for the conveyance of the property had elapsed. If
 no such date is specified, each time-share conferring a right of occupancy during a limited
 number of time periods shall be appraised as if the time until the date specified pursuant to
 subsection (c) had elapsed. The interest of each time-share owner is the value of the time-share
 he owned divided by the sum of the values of all time-shares in the unit or units to which his
 time-share applies.
        SECTION 3. This act shall apply to time-share plans existing before and subsequent to
 passage of this act.
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