Timeshare Directive, Article 1 Timeshare Directive, Article 4 Timeshare Directive, Article 5, 1. Timeshare Directive, Article 6 Timeshare Directive, Article 10 Timeshare Directive, ANNEX

1. Directive 94/47/EC of 26 October 1994 on the protection of purchasers in respect of certain aspects of contracts relating to the purchase of the right to use immovable property on a timeshare basis stipulates that the purchaser has a right to withdraw from the contract without giving any reason, either within a 10-day period (if information is detailed in the contract) or a 3-month period (in other cases) starting from the point at which the contract is signed.
2. Where a company offering a timeshare entitlement for property fails to provide any response as to whether the Directive has been transposed into the national law of the relevant Member State (ie whose national law applies), it is to be presumed that this Directive has been transposed into the national law of this Member State within the time periods laid down in the Directive.
3. Since the contract was concluded after the transposition deadline laid down in the Directive, the company is required to include in its contracts a term concerning the purchasers’ right of withdrawal and to respect any withdrawal request made within the period stipulated in the Directive.
4. The company to which the purchasers have addressed a withdrawal request cannot, as a result, remit the cheques paid to it by the purchasers on the day the contract was concluded.

On 8 October 1997, the Habitat Corporation called the Boy couple to offer them a free stay in a timeshare property in a Spanish apartment complex. The only charge was to cover the legal expenses of the transfer deed for the property, which amounted to 9,000 French Francs (FF). After going to the complex, the Boy couple received a new offer from the Habitat Corporation. This offer was for a different occupancy period, at a better time of the year, and in a higher-quality apartment complex and cost 55,000 FF. The couple accepted the offer on 11 October 1997. However, on 15 October 1997, the Boy couple decided to withdraw from the agreement and thus requested that the cheques they had already remitted to Habitat be returned. Habitat refused. The Boy couple therefore cancelled the cheques they had written and Habitat brought a case for a summary judgement against them to withdraw the payment cancellation.

The Montpellier Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the first judge who rejected the claim for withdrawal of the payment cancellation brought by Habitat. The ruling was made on the following grounds:
Directive 94/47/EC of 26 October 1994 on the protection of purchasers in respect of certain aspects of contracts relating to the purchase of the right to use immovable property on a timeshare basis stipulates, crucially, that the purchaser has a right to withdraw from the contract without giving any reason, either within a 10-day period (if information is detailed in the contract) or a 3-month period (in other cases) starting from the point at which the contract is signed.
Habitat failed to provide any details of how the Directive had been transposed in Spain. Because of this lack of response it was to be presumed that the Directive had been transposed into Spanish law at the time the contract was concluded, taking into account the transposition period laid down in article 12 of the Directive. It was a 30-month period and ended on 29 April 1997.
Thus, on the date the contract was concluded (11 October 1997), Habitat was therefore required to respect the proper withdrawal period. The company should have included a term covering this withdrawal period in the contract and granted the Boys’ withdrawal request. By seeking, in spite of the circumstances, to cash the cheques, Habitat demonstrated an intention to defraud when the cheques were remitted. As such, the first judge was quite right to reject the claim for withdrawal of the Boys’ payment cancellation.

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