Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 721 > Part II - Vacation Clubs

• Accommodation: means any apartment, condominium or cooperative unit, cabin, lodge, hotel or motel room, campground, cruise ship cabin, houseboat or other vessel, recreational or other motor vehicle, or any private or commercial structure which is real or personal property and designed for overnight occupancy by one or more individuals. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Applicable law: means the law of the jurisdiction where the accommodations and facilities referred to are located. See Florida Statutes 721.52
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Assessment: means the share of funds required for the payment of common expenses which is assessed from time to time against each purchaser by the managing entity. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Common expenses: means :
  (a) Those expenses, fees, or taxes properly incurred for the maintenance, operation, and repair of the accommodations or facilities, or both, constituting the timeshare plan. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Component site: means a specific geographic site where a portion of the accommodations and facilities of the multisite timeshare plan are located. See Florida Statutes 721.52
• Conspicuous type: means :
  (a) Type in upper and lower case letters two point sizes larger than the largest nonconspicuous type, exclusive of headings, on the page on which it appears but in at least 10-point type; or
  (b) Where the use of 10-point type would be impractical or impossible with respect to a particular piece of written advertising material, a different style of type or print may be used, so long as the print remains conspicuous under the circumstances. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contract: means any agreement conferring the rights and obligations of a timeshare plan on the purchaser. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Developer: includes :
  (a)1. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Division: means the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Escrow account: means an account established solely for the purposes set forth in this chapter with a financial institution located within this state. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Escrow agent: includes only:
  (a) A savings and loan association, bank, trust company, or other financial institution, any of which must be located in this state and any of which must have a net worth in excess of $5 million;
  (b) An attorney who is a member of The Florida Bar or his or her law firm;
  (c) A real estate broker who is licensed pursuant to chapter 475 or his or her brokerage firm; or
  (d) A title insurance agent that is licensed pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Exchange company: means any person owning or operating, or owning and operating, an exchange program. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Exchange program: means any method, arrangement, or procedure for the voluntary exchange of the right to use and occupy accommodations and facilities among purchasers. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Facility: means any permanent amenity, including any structure, furnishing, fixture, equipment, service, improvement, or real or personal property, improved or unimproved, other than an accommodation of the timeshare plan, which is made available to the purchasers of a timeshare plan. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Filed public offering statement: means a public offering statement that has been filed with the division pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Interestholder: means a developer, an owner of the underlying fee or owner of the underlying personal property, a mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor, or any other person having an interest in or lien or encumbrance against the accommodations or facilities of the timeshare plan. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Inventory: means the accommodations and facilities located at a particular component site or sites owned, leased, licensed, or otherwise acquired for use by a developer and offered as part of the multisite timeshare plan. See Florida Statutes 721.52
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Managing entity: means the person who operates or maintains the timeshare plan pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Multisite timeshare plan: means any method, arrangement, or procedure with respect to which a purchaser obtains, by any means, a recurring right to use and occupy accommodations or facilities of more than one component site, only through use of a reservation system, whether or not the purchaser is able to elect to cease participating in the plan. See Florida Statutes 721.52
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Nonspecific multisite timeshare plan: means a multisite timeshare plan with respect to which a purchaser receives a right to use all of the accommodations and facilities, if any, of the multisite timeshare plan through the reservation system, but no specific right to use any particular accommodations and facilities for the remaining term of the multisite timeshare plan in the event that the reservation system is terminated for any reason prior to the expiration of the term of the multisite timeshare plan. See Florida Statutes 721.52
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• offer: means the solicitation, advertisement, or inducement, or any other method or attempt, to encourage any person to acquire the opportunity to participate in a timeshare plan. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• One-to-one use right to use night requirement ratio: means that the sum of the nights that owners are entitled to use in a given 12-month period shall not exceed the number of nights available for use by those owners during the same 12-month period. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• political subdivision: include counties, cities, towns, villages, special tax school districts, special road and bridge districts, bridge districts, and all other districts in this state. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Public offering statement: means the written materials describing a single-site timeshare plan or a multisite timeshare plan, including a text and any exhibits attached thereto as required by ss. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Purchaser: means any person, other than a developer, who by means of a voluntary transfer acquires a legal or equitable interest in a timeshare plan other than as security for an obligation. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Purchaser public offering statement: means that portion of the filed public offering statement which must be delivered to purchasers pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Reservation system: means the method, arrangement, or procedure by which a purchaser, in order to reserve the use and occupancy of any accommodation or facility of the multisite timeshare plan for one or more use periods, is required to compete with other purchasers in the same multisite timeshare plan regardless of whether such reservation system is operated and maintained by the multisite timeshare plan managing entity, an exchange company, or any other person. See Florida Statutes 721.52
• Seller: means any developer or any other person, or any agent or employee thereof, who offers timeshare interests in the ordinary course of business. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Specific multisite timeshare plan: means a multisite timeshare plan with respect to which a purchaser receives a specific right to use accommodations and facilities, if any, at one component site of a multisite timeshare plan, together with use rights in the other accommodations and facilities of the multisite timeshare plan created by or acquired through the reservation system. See Florida Statutes 721.52
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Timeshare estate: means a right to occupy a timeshare unit, coupled with a freehold estate or an estate for years with a future interest in a timeshare property or a specified portion thereof, or coupled with an ownership interest in a condominium unit pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Timeshare instrument: means one or more documents, by whatever name denominated, creating or governing the operation of a timeshare plan. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Timeshare license: means a right to occupy a timeshare unit, which right is not a personal property timeshare interest or a timeshare estate. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• timeshare plan: includes :
  (a) A "personal property timeshare plan" which means a timeshare plan in which the accommodations are comprised of personal property that is not permanently affixed to real property; and
  (b) A "real property timeshare plan" which means a timeshare plan in which the accommodations of the timeshare plan are comprised of or permanently affixed to real property. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Timeshare property: means one or more timeshare units subject to the same timeshare instrument, together with any other property or rights to property appurtenant to those timeshare units. See Florida Statutes 721.05
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01