How to Get Out of a Timeshare: All Eight Routes, Ranked

Start with the three that are free

There are eight ways out of a timeshare. Three of them cost you nothing or close to it, and those three are the ones nobody at the resort brings up.

Work the list in order. Stop when one works. The reason to be strict about the order is that every route below number three costs money, and the money gets larger the further down you go.

Here is the whole list, with what each one actually costs, who it works for, and the thing that disqualifies you.

1. Rescission

Cost: nothing. You get every dollar back.

Every state with a meaningful timeshare industry gives buyers a cooling-off window to cancel the contract outright. Nolo puts the usual range at 3 to 15 days from signing, varying by state, and notes that the right is typically nonwaivable, so the seller cannot ask you to give it up. Colorado gives five calendar days. Nevada runs to midnight of the fifth calendar day after the contract is executed.

Who it works for: anyone who signed recently and can get a written notice delivered inside the window, by the method the contract specifies.

What disqualifies you: the calendar. The clock usually starts the day you sign, not the day you get home from the trip. Miss it and this route is gone permanently.

If you bought in the last two weeks, stop reading and go handle it. Our rescission guide covers what the letter needs to say and how to prove you sent it.

2. Developer deed-back or surrender

Cost: usually nothing to a few hundred dollars.

Most large timeshare companies run a program that takes the ownership back. The FTC tells owners to contact the timeshare developer or the resort’s management company and ask about their options before paying anyone to help, and notes that some companies have exit programs that let you exit for a modest fee. The trade association’s own exit site says it more bluntly than we would: you can exit your timeshare without an exit company, and the exit process is the same either way.

Who it works for: owners who are current on fees, have the purchase loan paid off, and hold a product the developer still wants back.

What disqualifies you: an outstanding loan balance, delinquent maintenance fees, or a resort that simply says no. These programs are discretionary. There is no statute forcing a developer to take it.

Take that site for what it is. ARDA is the industry’s trade association, so its exit directory is the industry explaining how to leave the industry. The loudest pushback has a stake of its own. The Coalition to Reform Timeshare spent years accusing developers of high-pressure tactics, deceit, and fraud, and one of its founding members was Brandon Reed, who co-founded the exit company that Washington State later forced into a $2.61 million consent decree. One side sells timeshares. The other side sells exits. Neither is a neutral party, and we are not going to pretend one of them is. Make the free call anyway, then judge what you are told.

Call the number on your maintenance fee bill and ask for the exit or owner-services department. That call is free. An exit company charges thousands to make it for you.

3. Resale

Cost: a broker commission, and quite possibly a sale price of zero.

You can list it. Whether it sells is a different question. The FTC’s position is that the timeshare market is overcrowded and that selling might be hard, if not impossible, and that anyone who guarantees a sale or big returns is a scammer.

Who it works for: owners with a paid-off, fee-current interest at a resort and week people actually want.

What disqualifies you: an outstanding loan, an unpopular week, or a product with no deed behind it. And one hard rule: never pay an upfront listing fee. The FTC’s guidance is to prefer a reseller that takes its fee after the sale, to deal only with agents licensed in the state where the timeshare sits, and to get refund policies in writing if you are asked to pay anything in advance.

4. Renting the week to cover the fee

Cost: your time, plus whatever the platform takes.

Renting out your week can offset the annual bill. The trade association’s exit site lists rental and resale providers as exit alternatives, which tells you how the industry classifies it.

Be honest about what this is. Renting does not end the obligation, it just funds it for a year. It is a holding pattern while you work one of the real exits, and a holding pattern that fails the moment the week rents for less than the fee.

Who it works for: owners with a genuinely desirable week who need time.

What disqualifies you: a week nobody wants at a price above your maintenance fee.

5. An exit company

Cost: thousands. Sometimes tens of thousands.

Now the money starts. Washington State’s attorney general found that more than 2,800 Washingtonians paid Reed Hein, marketed as Timeshare Exit Team, upfront fees ranging from just under $3,000 up to tens of thousands of dollars per exit. In a separate FTC matter, customers of an operation the agency called Consumer Protection Law paid anywhere from $5,000 to $80,000.

The service you are buying is contact and paperwork. Sometimes an attorney. Sometimes a transfer company. Washington’s case describes an outsourced model in which the company itself did not know whether the vendor handling your file was pursuing an effective or even legal course of conduct.

Who it works for: a narrow group. Owners who have already been refused by the developer, cannot sell, and want a third party to run the process anyway.

What disqualifies you: nothing, which is the problem. These companies will take anyone’s money, including owners who would have qualified for a free deed-back. Read the red flags page before you sign anything.

6. An attorney

Cost: an hourly rate or a contingency, but a real one.

Different product from an exit company. A lawyer is for when you have an actual legal claim: a misrepresentation at the sales table, a defective disclosure, a contract problem. Nolo notes that Arkansas, for example, lets a purchaser sue within four years to rescind where there is a question about the accuracy of the public offering statement or the validity of the contract. That is a claim, and claims need lawyers.

Who it works for: owners with documentation of something the seller said or failed to disclose.

What disqualifies you: buyer’s remorse. Regret is not a cause of action. If the only thing wrong is that the product turned out to be a bad deal, a lawyer cannot fix that any faster than the free routes can.

7. Stop paying and let it foreclose

Cost: your credit, and possibly more.

This is a real exit. It is also the one with the longest tail. Nolo notes that abandoning a timeshare can lead to collection actions and credit damage. Washington’s case file has the human version: one owner was advised to stop paying, the resort brought a collection action he could not fight, and he described being unable to look into buying a house because of the lowered credit score.

Who it works for: owners with nothing left to protect and no realistic route above.

What disqualifies you: a mortgage application in your near future, a paid-off interest a developer would take back for free, or a co-owner whose credit is also on the line.

The FTC lists instructions to stop paying your mortgage or fees as a sign of an exit scam, and the reason is precise: some companies sell this outcome as if it were a service they performed. If you go this way, go on purpose, with your eyes open, and do not pay anyone for the privilege.

8. Disclaiming an inheritance

Cost: a filing, and whatever an estate attorney charges to do it right.

If the timeshare is coming to you from a parent, you are not stuck with it. You can refuse the interest. Under federal tax law a qualified disclaimer must be in writing, must reach the right party within nine months, and requires that you have not accepted the interest or any of its benefits.

Who it works for: any heir who does not want it.

What disqualifies you: accepting it. Use the week once, pay a fee from your own account, and you may have accepted the interest and lost the right to refuse it. Full detail on the inherited timeshare page.

The decision path

Answer these in order and stop at the first yes.

Did you sign within the last 15 days? Send the rescission notice today, by the method the contract names, with proof of delivery. You are done.

Is the purchase loan paid off and are the fees current? Call the developer and ask for the deed-back, surrender, or exit program. Ask what it costs and what it requires. Get the answer in writing. If they say yes, you are done, and you spent nothing.

Did the developer say no? List it for resale through a broker licensed in the state where the resort sits, or an owner marketplace. Price it to move, which frequently means at or near zero. Do not pay an upfront fee.

Is there a real misrepresentation claim? Take the documents to an attorney licensed in the state that governs the contract, not to a company that advertises on the radio.

None of the above, and you are still paying? Now you are choosing between an exit company and a deliberate default, and both cost you something. Run the ten-year math before you pick, because the number that matters is what each option costs over the life of the obligation, not what it costs this month.

One thing to separate out at every step: the purchase loan is not the timeshare. It is unsecured consumer debt at a rate most people would refuse on a credit card, and you can refinance it while the ownership question is still open. Two problems, two fixes, and the loan one is the easier of the two.

This is general information, not legal advice, and every one of these routes turns on contract language and state law that we cannot see from here. Before you send a notice, sign a release, or stop making a payment, put your actual contract in front of an attorney licensed in your state.