The 40,000-plus timeshare unit owners at the Marriott Grande Vista resort in Orlando say Orange County overcharges them on taxes by misapplying Florida law on appraising unit value. The county appraiser, they argue, isn't basing the assessment on the resale market value of units as called for by the state Constitution. What's more, property appraisers across Florida have been doing the same to other timeshare owners.
"Everyone knows the value of the property goes down, and it cannot be resold for anywhere near the original sale price. Yet, property appraisers are trying to assess those timeshare interests as though they will be resold for the same price as the original sale," says Lauren Purdy, a Gunster attorney representing Grande Vista in its appeal to the 6th District Court of Appeal.
The dollars involved, passed along to owners in their maintenance fees, are small per unit but large in aggregate — more than $100 million in over-assessments at Grande Vista, Purdy says. Attorneys for Orange County argue the county does look at resales. But, they say, valuing units credibly is difficult in a "dysfunctional resale market" with a scant number of true arms-length transactions; the project is long finished, but a Marriott entity continues to broker resales. Marriott has a "business interest in keeping the resale market for its timeshare interests unorganized, illiquid and not viable," wrote the appraiser's appellate attorney Kenneth Hazouri, of DSK Law, in a brief. The methodology the county appraiser uses follows governing law and the state Constitution, Hazouri says.
Purdy says a 6th District Court of Appeal decision will be the first substantively applying Florida law on the subject. "The universe is every single timeshare property in the state of Florida," Purdy says. The case was argued in June. A decision is pending.