Can We Write a Letter to the Board of the Club Advising Them of Our Intent to Let the Membership go Back to Them?


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We paid $7000 for partial ownership in a community health club in 2001. Our annual dues are approximately $1400 per year. Since our children are now grown we no longer use the facility. We can’t find anyone to take over our ownership/membership. Can we write a letter to the Board of the club advising them of our intent to let the membership go back to them? Again, we are willing to forfeit our ownership and lose our $7000 investment so we don’t have to continue paying the dues.

You should review the terms of your ownership agreement (if applicable) before you decide to return the property back to the community health club. There may be terms included within the agreement that subject you to certain penalties if you sell or abandon your partial ownership in the property.

If there are no such terms, then you might want to consider contracting with the health club to see if they are willing to negotiate the original ownership terms. You can propose to return your partial ownership to the club for a reasonable exchange of you relinquishing all ownership rights to the property (which includes no longer owning the property or continuing to make annual payments), in exchange for them accepting the property in return.

If the club does not agree to such terms and you abandon the property, the club may sue you for damages as a result therein.