Massachusetts Statutes

Section 29. (a) A person who has a duty to make assessments for time-share expenses shall have a lien on a time-share for any assessment levied against that time-share or fines imposed against its owner from the time the assessment or fine becomes due. In the case of either a tim…

Section 29A. The rights of a time-share owner shall be subject to forfeiture in accordance with clauses (a) to (g), inclusive, for breach of condition of any mortgage, which for the purpose of this section shall include any security instrument including, but not limited to, a mor…

Section 29B. The rights of a time-share owner shall be subject to forfeiture in accordance with clauses (a) to (d), inclusive, for non-payment of assessments. (a) Upon default in payment of assessments, and after all applicable cure periods have expired, the association shall pro…

Section 3. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter and notwithstanding any contrary rule of common law, a grant of an estate in a unit conferring the right of possession during a potentially infinite number of separated time periods creates an estate in fee simple having…

Section 30. A person who has a duty to make assessments for time-share expenses shall keep financial records sufficiently detailed to enable him to comply with section forty-two. All financial and other records shall be made reasonably available for examination by any time-share …

Section 31. A third person dealing with a trustee, pursuant to the provisions of section fifteen or twenty-six, may assume without inquiry the existence of trust powers and the proper exercise thereof by the trustee. A third person shall not be bound to inquire whether the truste…

Section 32. (a) For the purposes of this section and sections thirty-three, thirty-four and thirty-five: (1) ''Owner'' shall mean a person who is an owner or co-owner of a time-share estate or a time-share license or, in the case of a unit that is not a time-share unit, a person …

Section 33. (a) The owners may amend the project instrument or any unrecorded document governing the project, or approve or disapprove any proposed expenditure, in the manner provided by this section in addition to any manner permitted by law or by the instrument or document. (b)…

Section 34. (a) No amendment to the project instrument may be adopted except pursuant to this section or section thirty-three. The project instrument may specify other matters to be determined by referendum of the owners and may permit the managing entity to select matters to be …

Section 35. (a) During the period of time the developer appoints, controls or serves as the managing entity, the owners may discharge the manager with or without cause in the manner provided by this section in addition to any manner permitted by law or the project instrument. (b)…

Section 36. (a) Sections thirty-six to fifty-five, inclusive, shall apply to all time-shares subject to this chapter except as provided in subsection (b). (b) Neither a public offering statement nor the materials required by section forty-two need be prepared or delivered in the …

Section 37. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a developer, prior to the offering of any interest in a unit to the general public, shall prepare a public offering statement conforming to the requirements of sections thirty-eight, thirty-nine and forty. (b) A developer may …

Section 38. (a) A public offering statement shall be written in clear and concise language and shall contain or fully and accurately disclose: (1) the name and principal address of the developer and the location of the time-share property; (2) a general description of the time-sh…

Section 39. (a) If a conversion building that includes or is to include one or more time-share units is more than ten years old and the developer or any affiliates of the developer own or control more than fifty per cent of all units in the project, the public offering statement …

Section 39A. The units created or constructed under this chapter shall conform to the regulations promulgated pursuant to section thirteen A of chapter twenty-two.

Section 4. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter, provisions of this chapter shall not be varied by agreement, and rights conferred by this chapter shall not be waived. A developer shall not act under a power of attorney, or use any other device, to evade the lim…

Section 40. If a time-share is currently registered with the securities and exchange commission of the United States, a developer satisfies all requirements of this chapter relating to the preparation of a public offering statement if he delivers to the purchaser a copy of the pu…

Section 41. (a) A person required to deliver a public offering statement pursuant to subsection (c) of section thirty-seven shall, before transfer of a time-share and no later than the date of a contract of sale, provide a prospective purchaser with (i) a copy of the public offer…

Section 42. (a) Except in the case of a sale where delivery of a public offering statement is required, or unless exempt under subsection (b) of section thirty-six, a seller of a time-share shall furnish to the purchaser before execution of any contract of sale, or before the tra…

Section 42A. (a)(1) Before engaging in resale advertising services, a resale service provider shall provide to the consumer time-share reseller: (i) a description of any fees or costs related to such services that the consumer time-share reseller, or any other person, is required…

Section 43. (a) Any deposit made in connection with the purchase or reservation in the commonwealth of a time-share from a person required to deliver a public offering statement pursuant to subsection (c) of section thirty-seven shall be placed in escrow, either in the commonweal…

Section 44. (a) In the case of a sale of a time-share where delivery of a public offering statement is required pursuant to subsection (c) of section thirty-seven, a seller shall, before transferring a time-share, record in the appropriate registry of deeds or land registration o…

Section 45. (a) Express warranties made by any seller to a purchaser of a time-share shall be created as follows: (1) any affirmation of fact or promise which relates to the time-share, the time-share unit, rights appurtenant to either, area improvements that would directly benef…

Section 46. (a) A developer and any person in the business of selling real estate for his own account warrants that a time-share unit shall be in at least as good condition as the earlier of the time of the transfer or of the delivery of possession as it was at the time of contra…

Section 47. (a) Except as limited by subsection (b) implied warranties of quality: (1) may be excluded or modified by agreement of the parties; and (2) shall be excluded by expressions of disclaimer, such as ''as is'', ''with all faults'', or other language that in common underst…

Section 48. (a) A judicial proceeding for breach of any obligation arising under section forty-five or forty-six shall be commenced within four years after the cause of action accrues, but the parties may agree to reduce the period of limitation to not less than two years. With r…

Section 49. If a developer or any other person subject to this chapter fails to comply with any provision of this chapter or of the time-share instrument, any person or class of persons adversely affected by the failure to comply shall have a claim for appropriate relief. A failu…

Section 5. (a) The court, upon finding as a matter of law that a time-share contract or contract clause was unconscionable at the time the contract was made, may refuse to enforce such contract, may enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable clause, or may l…

Section 50. If any improvement in the time-share property is not required to be built, no promotional material may be displayed or delivered to prospective purchasers which describes or portrays said improvement unless the description or portrayal of the improvement shall be cons…

Section 51. (a) The developer shall complete all promised improvements described in the time-share instrument and promotional materials. (b) Unless the purchaser of a time-share agrees in writing to record the evidence of his ownership of the time-share, the developer or the mana…

Section 52. Any advertisement of a time-share property which includes the offer of a prize or other inducement shall prominently disclose the approximate fair market value, number of, and criteria to qualify for, each prize or inducement offered.

Section 53. (a) If a purchaser may participate in any exchange program, the developer, agent of a developer or person in the business of selling real estate for his own account shall, except as provided in subsection (b), deliver to the purchaser at the time of delivery of the pu…

Section 54. (a) A multi-location developer shall, except as provided in subsection (b), deliver to the purchaser, prior to the execution of the contract of sale the following written information which the purchaser shall certify in writing to the receipt thereof: (1) a complete a…

Section 55. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or offer to sell a time-share in the commonwealth unless the developer of the time-share property in which the time-share is located has designated a person as a project broker and said person is then serving as the proj…

Section 56. (a) In the course of offering time-share transfer services, no time-share transfer service provider shall: (i) engage in any time-share transfer services for consideration, or the expectation of receiving consideration, without first obtaining a written time-share tra…

Section 6. Every contract or duty governed by this chapter imposes an obligation of good faith in its performance or enforcement.

Section 7. (a) The remedies provided by this chapter shall be liberally administered to the end that the aggrieved party is put in as good a position as if the other party had fully performed. However, consequential, special, or punitive damages may not be awarded except as speci…

Section 8. The principles of law and equity, including the law of corporations and unincorporated associations, the law of real property and the law relative to capacity to contract, principal and agent, eminent domain, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistak…

Section 9. In the event of any conflict between this chapter and chapter one hundred and eighty-three A or chapter one hundred and fifty-seven, the provisions of this chapter shall prevail, but this chapter does not invalidate or otherwise affect rights or obligations vested unde…

Section 1. This chapter may be known and cited as the Predatory Home Loan Practices Act.

Section 10. A high-cost home mortgage loan shall not contain a payment schedule with regular periodic payments such that the result is an increase in the principal amount.

Section 11. A lender shall not charge a borrower a fee or other charge to modify, renew, extend or amend a high-cost home mortgage loan or to defer a payment due under the terms of a high-cost home mortgage loan.

Section 12. A high-cost home mortgage loan shall not include terms pursuant to which more than 2 periodic payments required under the loan are consolidated and paid in advance from the loan proceeds provided to the borrower.

Section 13. Without regard to whether a borrower is acting individually or on behalf of others similarly situated, any provision of a high cost home mortgage loan that allows a party to require a borrower to assert any claim or defense in a forum that is less convenient, more cos…

Section 14. A lender shall not pay a contractor under a home improvement contract from the proceeds of a high cost home mortgage loan other than (i) by an instrument payable to the borrower or jointly to the borrower and contractor, or (ii) at the election of the borrower, throug…

Section 15. (a) Any person who purchases or is otherwise assigned a high-cost home mortgage loan shall be subject to all affirmative claims and any defenses with respect to the loan that the borrower could assert against the original lender or broker of the loan; provided that th…