66-32-102 - Part definitions. - Tennessee Statutes

66-32-102. Part definitions.

As used in this part and part 2 of this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

     (1)  “Acquisition agent” means a person who by means of telephone, mail, advertisement, inducement, solicitation or otherwise attempts directly to encourage any person to attend a sales presentation for a time-share program;

     (2)  “Advertise” or “advertisement” means any written, printed, verbal or visual offer by an individual or general solicitation;

     (3)  “Commission” means Tennessee real estate commission, which is an agency created under § 62-13-201;

     (4)  “Component site” means a specific geographic site at which certain time-share accommodations and facilities are located. If permitted under applicable law, separate phases that are operated as a single development in a particular geographic location and under common management shall be deemed a single component site;

     (5)  “Developer” means, in the case of any given property, any person or entity which is in the business of creating or which is in the business of selling its own time-share intervals in any time-share program. This definition does not include a person acting solely as a sales agent;

     (6)  “Development,” “project,” or “property” means all of the real property subject to a project instrument, and containing more than one (1) unit;

     (7)  “Exchange agent” means a person who exchanges or offers to exchange time-share intervals in an exchange program with other time-share intervals;

     (8)  “Managing agent” means a person who undertakes the duties, responsibilities, and obligations of the management of a time-sharing program;

     (9)  “Offering” means any offer to sell, solicitation, inducement or advertisement whether by radio, television, newspaper, magazine or by mail, whereby a person is given an opportunity to acquire a time-share interval within a project located either within or outside the state of Tennessee. Any offering of a time-share interval which is not located in this state shall not be an offering if the developer shall submit appropriate documentation satisfactory to the commission that the time-share program is in compliance with the law of the jurisdiction in which the time-share interval is located and such law is as stringent as this part;

     (10)  “Person” means one (1) or more natural persons, corporations, partnerships, associations, trusts, other entities, or any combination thereof;

     (11)  “Project” See “Development”;

     (12)  “Project instrument” means one (1) or more recordable documents applicable to the whole project by whatever name denominated, containing restrictions or covenants regulating the use, occupancy or disposition of an entire project, including any amendments to the document, but excluding any law, ordinance, or governmental regulation;

     (13)  “Property” See “Development”;

     (14)  “Public offering statement” means that statement required by § 66-32-112;

     (15)  “Purchaser” means any person other than a developer or lender who acquires an interest in a time-share interval;

     (16)  “Reservation system” means the method, arrangement, or procedure by which the owners of vacation club interests are required to compete with other owners of vacation club interests in the same vacation club in order to reserve the use and occupancy of an accommodation of the vacation club for one or more use periods, regardless of whether such reservation system is operated and maintained by the vacation club managing entity, an exchange company, or any other person. In the event that mandatory use of an exchange program is an owner's principal means of obtaining the right to use and occupy a vacation club's accommodations, such arrangement shall be deemed a reservation system for purposes of this subdivision (16) and part 2 of this chapter;

     (17)  “Sales agent” means a person who sells or offers to sell “time-share intervals” in a “time-share program” to a purchaser. All such sales agents shall be licensed and subject to the provisions of title 62, chapter 13;

     (18)  “Time-share estate” means an ownership or leasehold estate in property devoted to a time-share fee, tenants in common, time span ownership, interval ownership, and a time-share lease;

     (19)  “Time-share instrument” means any document by whatever name denominated, creating or regulating time-share programs, but excluding any law, ordinance or governmental regulation;

     (20)  “Time-share interval” means a time-share estate or a time-share use;

     (21)  “Time-share program” means any arrangement for time-share intervals in a time-share project whereby use, occupancy or possession of real property has been made subject to either a time-share estate or time-share use whereby such use, occupancy or possession circulates among purchasers of the time-share intervals according to a fixed or floating time schedule on a periodic basis occurring annually over any period of time in excess of one (1) year;

     (22)  “Time-share project” means any real property that is subject to a time-share program;

     (23)  “Time-share resale broker” means any person or entity who undertakes to list, advertise for sale, promote or sell by any means whatsoever more than five (5) time-share intervals per year in one (1) or more time-share projects on behalf of any number of purchasers. A time-share resale broker must be a licensed real estate broker, as defined in § 62-13-102. “Time-share resale broker” does not include:

          (A)  Any person who has acquired any number of time-share intervals in any number of time-share projects for personal use and occupancy;

          (B)  Any resale performed by a time-share resale broker affiliated with a duly registered time-share developer, involving time-share intervals under the control of the time-share developer in its project; provided, that the time-share developer is in compliance with § 66-32-137(d); or

          (C)  A publisher of a newspaper or periodical in general circulation, broadcaster or telecaster in connection with the advertising for resale or other promotion of one (1) or more time-share intervals, so long as the publisher, broadcaster or telecaster is not under common ownership or control with a person required to be licensed by this part or chapter 13 of this title or does not have as its primary purpose the solicitation of resales or other uses of time-share intervals;

     (24)  “Time-share use” means any contractual right of exclusive occupancy which does not fall within the definition of a “time-share estate” including, without limitation, a vacation license, prepaid hotel reservation, club membership, vacation club interest, limited partnership or vacation bond;

     (25)  “Unit” means the real property or real property improvement in a project which is divided into time-share intervals;

     (26)  “Vacation club” means any system or program with respect to which a purchaser obtains, by any means, a recurring right to use and occupy accommodations and facilities, if any, in more than one (1) component site through the mandatory use of a reservation system, whether or not the purchaser's use and occupancy right is coupled with an interest in real property; and

     (27)  “Vacation club documents” means and includes the one (1) or more documents or instruments, by whatever name denominated, creating or governing a vacation club and the disposition of vacation club interests therein. “Vacation club documents” is intended to be broadly construed to incorporate all terms and conditions of the purchase of a vacation club interest, the incorporation of accommodations and facilities located at component sites into the vacation club, the management and operation of the vacation club's component sites, and the management and operation of the reservation system, including, but not limited to, the reservation system's rules and regulations.

[Acts 1981, ch. 372, § 2; T.C.A., § 64-3202; Acts 1983, ch. 210, § 2; 1985, ch. 98, § 1; 1990, ch. 672, § 2; 1995, ch. 90, §§ 5, 7.]