The need for reliable and affordable holidays, which is required globally and in our country, continues to grow day by day due to increasing industrialisation and the intensity of people's working hours. In the face of this unexpected surge in the demand for holidays and the availability of limited holiday opportunities, as a result of the financial imbalance arising between holiday costs and people's incomes, people have begun to struggle to afford holidays, especially in our country. Similarly, contrary to the intensity of demand, it has been observed that existing holiday systems only cater to a limited number of people among those who wish to meet their holiday needs.
As a result of the development of the tourism industry, a wide variety of holiday systems have emerged over the last thirty years to meet the needs of tourists. While purchasing real estate, renting, or buying package holidays are a few of these, another holiday option is holiday systems based on providing people with holiday services on a periodic basis. As a consequence of the socio-economic developments experienced in our country, there has been a shift towards time-shared holiday systems aimed at benefiting from a property in line with the demand for holiday services. Entering a new era with the introduction of the time element into holiday systems, the tourism sector has aimed to offer people quality and reliable holiday services at more affordable prices.
These systems, which we can call timeshare systems, provide right-holders with the opportunity to take a holiday during certain or specific periods of the year, offering comfortable and reliable service. Since the maintenance, repair, operation and security of the facilities utilised through timeshare systems are provided by the facility itself, right-holders can enjoy hotel-comfort services in return for a certain maintenance fee while holidaying in various locations.
The right to timeshare was first regulated in EU law by a directive in 1994, and the 2009 “Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on consumer protection in respect of certain aspects of timeshare, long-term holiday product, resale and exchange contracts” and the deficiencies have been resolved. The basis of the regulations regarding timeshares in contemporary Turkish Law is grounded on these two directives.
Timeshare contracts, which grant the right of periodic use, are governed in our legal system by Law No. 3227 dated 10.06.1985 “Act on the Addition of Provisions Regarding Timeshare Rights to the Condominium Ownership Law” although it has found a regulatory place, the legal loophole regarding the subject is under the numbered 4077 dated 23.2.1995 In the Law on the Protection of the Consumer rectified by Article 6/b of Law No. 4822 dated 6.3.2003, which introduced the amendment.
According to the final paragraph of the relevant regulation, however, the content of holiday club, long-term holiday product, resale and exchange contracts and preliminary information, the rights and obligations of the consumer and the seller or provider, the right of withdrawal, pre-paid sales, and other implementation procedures and principles shall be determined by regulation.
Since there is no newly issued regulation on this matter yet, and the Law No. 6502 the third paragraph of provisional article 1 of the Law on the Protection of Consumers until the new regulation is issued, of Law No. 4077 to the Law on the Protection of Consumers issued pursuant to the Official Gazette dated 13.6.2003 and numbered 25137 Regulation on the Application Procedures and Principles Regarding Timeshare Contracts published in the Official Gazette’The provisions of the new law that are not contrary shall also find application.
In terms of the protection of the consumer regarding timeshare contracts, namely Article 50 of the Law and Regulation on Timeshare and Long-Term Holiday Service Contracts’In order for it to find an area of application, not only is the condition of a consumer transaction required, but it must also meet the necessary criteria set out in the law. So much so that in Article 50 of the Law on the Protection of Consumers Although it is possible to conclude timeshare agreements that do not bear the aforementioned elements, in this case, it will not be possible to benefit from the special protections stipulated in the Law and the Regulation.
Therefore, it is worth noting that in order for a timeshare agreement to benefit from both protections, it must both be a consumer transaction and bear the elements of a long-term holiday product contract regulated as a consumer contract.