30 Miss. Code. R. 1601-8.3 - Registration

A. Developer registration; offer or disposal of interest. - A developer, or any of its agents, shall not sell, offer or dispose of a timeshare interest in the state unless all necessary registration requirements are completed and approved by the Mississippi Real Estate Commission, or the sale, offer, or disposition is otherwise permitted by or exempt from these rules. A developer, or any of its agents, shall not sell, offer or dispose of a timeshare interest in the state while an order revoking or suspending a registration is in effect.

B. Exemptions from developer registration

(1) A person is exempt from the registration requirements under the following circumstances.

(a) An owner of a timeshare interest who has acquired the timeshare interest from another for the owner's own use and occupancy and who later offers it for resale; or

(b) A managing entity or an association that is offering to sell one or more timeshare interests acquired through foreclosure, deed in lieu of foreclosure or gratuitous transfer, if such acts are performed in the regular course of or as incident to the management of the association for its own account in the timeshare plan; or

(c) The person offers a timeshare plan located outside of Mississippi in a national publication or by electronic media, which is not directed to or targeted to any individual located in Mississippi and contains appropriate disclaimers; or

(d) The person is conveyed, assigned, or transferred more than seven timeshare interests from a developer in a single voluntary or involuntary transaction arid subsequently conveys, assigns, or transfers all of the timeshare interests received from the developer to a single purchaser in a single transaction.

(e)

(i) The developer is offering a timeshare interest to a purchaser who has previously acquired a timeshare interest from the same developer if the developer has a timeshare plan registered with the Commission, which was originally approved by the Commission within the preceding seven (7) years and, further, provides the purchaser:

(A) a cancellation period of at least seven (7) calendar days;

(B) all the timeshare disclosure documents that are required to be provided to purchasers as if the sale occurred in the state or jurisdiction where the timeshare property is located; and

(ii) By making such an offering or disposition, the person is deemed to consent to the jurisdiction of the Commission in the event of a dispute with the purchaser in connection with the offering or disposition.

(f) An offering of any plan in which the purchaser's total financial obligation is $3,000 or less during the term of the plan; for purposes of determining the purchaser's total financial obligation, all amounts to be paid during any renewal or periods of optional renewal shall be included.

(g) Hotels including any hotel, inn, motel, tourist court, apartment house, rooming house, or other place where sleeping accommodations are furnished or offered for pay if four (4) or more rooms are available therein for transient guests as defined in Miss. Code Ann. § 41-49-3.

(h) Campground, which is located on real property, made available to persons for camping, whether by tent, trailer, camper, cabin, recreational vehicle or similar device and shall include the outdoor recreational facilities located on the real property;

(i) Hunting camp which means land or facilities located on real property which is established for the principal purpose of hunting or fishing activities which are subject to licensing by the State of Mississippi pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 49-7-1, et seq.

(j) Owner referrals as described in Section N of these rules.

C. Developer Registration Requirements

(1) Any person who, to any individual in Mississippi, sells, offers to sell, or attempts to solicit prospective purchasers to purchase a timeshare interest, or any person who creates a timeshare plan with an accommodation in Mississippi must register the timeshare plan with the Commission unless the timeshare plan is otherwise exempt from this Chapter.

(2) The developer shall have the duty to supervise and control all aspects of the offering of a timeshare plan including, but not limited to the promotion, advertising, contracting and closing.

(3) The developer must provide proof as part of the registration that he will comply with escrow, bonding, or other financial assurance requirements for purchaser funds, including escrow during the rescission period, escrow funds until substantial completion, or bonding, letter of credit or other financial assurances acceptable to the Commission.

(4) All timeshare plans shall maintain a one-to-one purchaser to accommodation ratio, which is the ratio of the number of purchasers eligible to use the accommodations of a timeshare plan on a given day to the number of accommodations available for use within the plan on that day, such that the total number of purchasers eligible to use the accommodations of the timeshare plan during a given calendar year never exceeds the total number of accommodations available for use in the timeshare plan during that year. For purposes of calculation under this subsection, each purchaser must be counted at least once, and no individual timeshare unit may be counted more than 365 times per calendar year (or more than 366 times per leap year). A purchaser who is delinquent in the payment of timeshare plan assessments shall continue to be considered eligible to use the accommodations of the timeshare plan.

D. Comprehensive registration

(1) In registering a timeshare plan, the developer shall provide all of the following information:

(a) The developer's legal name, any assumed names used by the developer, principal office, street address, mailing address, primary contact person, telephone, electronic mail and facsimile numbers;

(b) The name of the developer's authorized or registered agent in Mississippi upon whom claims may be served or service of process be had, the agent's street address in Mississippi and telephone number;

(c) The name, street address, mailing address, primary contact person and telephone, electronic mail and facsimile numbers of any timeshare plans being registered;

(d) The name, street address, mailing address and telephone, electronic mail and facsimile numbers of any managing entity of the timeshare plan if other than the developer;

(e) Current status of title by a title insurance company qualified and registered to do business in Mississippi, or in the jurisdiction where the timeshare plan is located;

(f) A copy of the proposed or existing covenants, conditions and restrictions applicable to the timeshare plan;

(g) Exemplars of all contracts, deeds, fact sheets and other instruments to be used in marketing, financing and conveying the timeshare interests;

(h) A copy of the management agreement for the timeshare plan;

(i) A detailed description of the furnishing(s) and other personal property to be included in the timeshare plans;

(j) Agreement of the developer to subsidize maintenance and operation of the timeshare plan, if any;

(k) Description of other services and amenities advertised with the timesharing plan;

(l) Evidence of financial assurances, if any;

(m) Evidence of compliance with escrow or other financial assurance requirements for protection of purchaser funds pursuant to these rules.

(n) Where the timeshare plan uses a reservation system, the developer shall provide evidence that provisions are in place to assure that, in the event of termination of the operator of the reservation system, an adequate period of continued operation exists to assure a transition to a substitute operator or mechanism for the operation of the reservation system. In addition, there shall be a requirements to transfer all relevant data contained in the reservation system to the successor operator of the system.

(o) A description of the inventory control system that will ensure compliance with subsection 3.c. of this section.

(p) A public offering statement which complies with the requirements set forth below; and

(q) Any other information regarding the developer, timeshare plan, or managing entities, as reasonably required by the Commission for the protection of the purchasers.

E. Abbreviated Registration

(1) The Commission may accept an abbreviated application from a developer of a timeshare plan in which all accommodations are located outside of the state. A developer of a timeshare plan with any accommodation located in Mississippi may not file an abbreviated filing, with the exception of a succeeding developer after a merger or acquisition when the developer's timeshare plan was registered in the state immediately preceding the merger or acquisition.

(2) As a part of any application for an abbreviated registration, the developer must provide a certificate of registration or other evidence of registration from the appropriate regulatory agency in the jurisdiction in which the accommodations offered in Mississippi are located, or other evidence of compliance by the timeshare plan with the laws of the jurisdiction where the accommodations are located. Such other jurisdiction must have disclosure requirements that are substantially equivalent or greater than the information required to be disclosed to purchasers by these rules. A developer filing an abbreviated registration application must also provide the following:

(a) The developer's name, any assumed names used by the developer, the developer's principal office location, mailing address, primary contact person and telephone, electronic mail and facsimile numbers;

(b) The name, location, mailing address, primary contact person and the telephone, electronic mail and facsimile numbers of the timeshare plan, if different from the developer;

(c) The name of the authorized agent or registered agent in Mississippi upon whom claims can be served or service of process can be had, and the address in Mississippi of the authorized agent or registered agent;

(d) The names of any sales entity if other than the developer and the managing' entity and their principal office locations, mailing address and telephone, electronic mail and facsimile numbers;

(e) A statement as to whether the timeshare plan is a single-site timeshare plan or a multi-site timeshare plan and, if a multi-site timeshare plan, whether it consists of specific timeshare interests or non-specific timeshare interests;

(f) Disclosure of each jurisdiction in which the developer has applied for registration of the timeshare plan and whether the timeshare plan, its developer or any of its sales agents or managing entities utilized were denied registration or were the subject of any disciplinary proceedings;

(g) Copies of any disclosure documents required to be given to purchasers or required to be filed with the jurisdiction in which the timeshare plan is approved or accepted as may be requested by the Commission;

(h) The appropriate fees, if any, and

(i) Other information reasonably required by the Commission or established by rule.

F. Preliminary Permits

(1) The state may grant a preliminary permit allowing the developer to begin offering and selling timeshare interests while the registration is in process. To obtain a preliminary permit, the developer must do all of the following:

(a) Submit a formal written request to the Mississippi Real Estate Commission for a preliminary permit;

(b) Submit a substantially complete application for registration to the Commission, including any appropriate fees and exhibits;

(c) Provide evidence acceptable to the state agency that all funds received by the developer will be placed into an independent escrow account in accordance with the escrow requirements until a final registration has been granted;

(d) Give to each purchaser a copy of the proposed public offering statement that the developer has submitted to the Commission with the initial application; and

(e) Give to each purchaser the opportunity to cancel the purchase contract during the applicable recission period. The purchaser shall have an additional opportunity to cancel upon the issuance of an approved registration if the Commission determines that there is a material and adverse difference in the disclosures contained in the final public offering statement and those given to the purchaser in the proposed public offering statement.

Notes

30 Miss. Code. R. 1601-8.3

Miss. Code Ann. §§ 73-35-35