Rule 8.2 Definitions

1. “Accommodations” means any structure, service improvement, facility, apartment, condominium or cooperative unit, cabin, lodge, hotel or motel room, or any other private or commercial structure, which is situated on real property and designed for occupancy by one or more individuals.

• “Advertising” or “Advertisement” means any written, oral, or electronic communication which contains a promotion, inducement, or offer to sell a timeshare plan, including, but not limited to, brochures, pamphlets, radio and television scripts, electronic media, telephone and direct mail solicitations, and other means of promotion.

• “Assessment” means the share of funds required for the payment of common expenses that are assessed from time to time against each timeshare interest owner by the managing entity.

• “Association” means the organized body consisting of the owners of timeshare interests in a timeshare plan.

• “Common Expenses” means taxes, casualty and liability insurance, and those expenses properly incurred for the maintenance, operation, and repair of all accommodations constituting the timeshare plan and any other expenses designated as common expenses by the timeshare instrument.

• “Developer” means and includes any person who creates a timeshare plan or is in the business of selling timeshare interests, or employs agents to do the same, or any person who succeeds to the interest of a developer by sale, lease, assignment, mortgage, or other transfer, but the term includes only those persons who offer timeshare interests for disposition in the ordinary course of business and does not include those sellers who sell timeshare interests on the developer’s behalf.

• “Managing entity” means the natural person or other entity that undertakes the duties, responsibilities, and obligations of the management of a timeshare plan.

• “Exchange program” means any method, arrangement, or procedure for the voluntary exchange of timeshare interests or other property interests. The term does not include the assignment of the right to use and occupy accommodations to owners of timeshare interests within a timeshare plan. Any method, arrangement, or procedure that otherwise meets this definition in which the purchaser’s total contractual financial obligation exceeds three thousand dollars ($3,000) per any individual, recurring timeshare period, shall be regulated as a timeshare plan in accordance with these rules. For purposes of determining the purchaser’s total contractual financial obligation, amounts to be paid as a result of renewals and options to renew shall be included except for the following:

• the amounts to be paid as a result of any optional renewal that a purchaser, in his or her sole discretion may elect to exercise or 

• the amounts to be paid as a result of any automatic renewal in which the purchaser has a right to terminate during the renewal period at any time and receive a pro rata refund for the remaining unexpired renewal term or 

• amounts to be paid as a result of an automatic renewal wherein the purchaser receives a written notice no less than 30 nor more than 90 days prior to the date of renewal informing the purchaser of the right to terminate prior to the date of renewal.

Notwithstanding these exceptions, if the contractual financial obligation exceeds three thousand dollars ($3,000) for any threeyear period of any renewal term, amounts to be paid as a result of that renewal shall be included in determining the purchaser’s total contractual financial obligation.

1. “Offer to sell”, “offer for sale,” “offered for sale,” or “offer” means solicitation of purchasers, the taking of reservations, or any other method whereby a purchaser is offered the opportunity to participate in a timeshare plan.

• “Purchaser” means any person, other than a developer, who by means of a voluntary transfer for consideration acquires a legal or equitable interest in a timeshare plan other than as security for an obligation.

• “Reservation system” means the method or arrangement which purchasers are required to utilize in order to reserve the use and occupancy of accommodations in a timeshare plan.

• “Seller” means any developer or any other person, or agent or employee thereof: who offers timeshare periods for sale to the public in the ordinary course of business, except a person who has acquired a timeshare period for the person’s own use and occupancy and who later offers it for resale.

• “Timeshare instrument” means one or more documents, by whatever name denominated, creating or governing the operation of a timeshare plan and includes the declaration or other legal instrument dedicating the accommodations to the timeshare plan.

• “Timeshare interest” means and includes either of the following:

• A “timeshare estate,” which is the right to occupy a timeshare property, coupled with a freehold estate or an estate for years with a future interest in a timeshare property or a specified portion thereof.

• A “timeshare plan” which is the right to occupy a timeshare property, which right is neither coupled with a freehold interest, nor coupled with an estate for years with a future interest, in a timeshare property.

• “Timeshare plan” means any arrangement, plan, scheme, or similar device, other than an exchange program, whether by membership agreement, sale, lease, deed, license, right to use agreement, or by any other means, whereby a purchaser, in exchange for consideration, receives ownership rights in or the right to use accommodations for a period of time less than a full year during any given year, on a recurring basis for more than one year, but not necessarily for consecutive years. A timeshare plan may be either of the following:

• A “single-site timeshare plan” which is the right to use accommodations at a single timeshare property; or 

• A “multi-site timeshare plan” that includes either of the following:

• A “specific timeshare interest” which is the right to use accommodations at a specific timeshare property, together with use rights in accommodations at one or more other component sites created by or acquired through the timeshare plan’s reservation system; or

• A “non-specific timeshare interest” which is the right to use accommodations at more than one component site created by or acquired through the timeshare plan’s reservation system but including no right to use any specific accommodation.

• “Timeshare property” means one or more accommodations subject to the same timeshare instrument, together with any other property or rights to property appurtenant to those accommodations.

• “Mississippi Real Estate Commission,” or “Commission” means the agency of the State of Mississippi created by §73-35-1, et seq. To regulate the licensing of real estate brokers and salespersons and by §73-35-35 directed to regulate the sale of timeshare and condominium properties.