The St Regis Residence Club, New York

A deeded fractional interest in one of the 31 club residences on floors 8, 9 and part of 10 and 11 of The St Regis New York. The building is a condominium, and the interest is recorded in your own name against a unit at 2 East 55th Street, so it can be sold on, gifted or left in an estate. The operator calls the holding a Club Interest. One Club Interest carries 28 nights of use in each Use Year. The full usage rights and obligations sit in the ownership documents, which Avory sends before contract.

Each Club Interest gives one fixed week, set at the time of purchase, plus 21 float nights made up of 15 weeknights and a maximum of 6 weekend nights. That is 28 nights a year. The Priority Reservation Period runs each September: fixed time is booked automatically and you may add up to 4 floating reservations of 1 to 10 nights each. The Open Reservation Period opens on 1 November and is first come, first served. A Use Year runs from the first Friday in January to the first Thursday of the following January. Owners of a two-bedroom residence may book each side of it as a separate stay.

Up to 2 eligible use weeks a year can be moved out of New York. They may be exchanged through the Vistana Residence Network into the St Regis Residence Club, Aspen or The Phoenician Residences, Scottsdale, subject to availability and seasonality. They may go into the Member Rental Program, run by the club, subject to availability, with no guarantee that the time will be let. Or they may be converted to Marriott Bonvoy points, declared during the Priority Reservation Period. The operator says both the conversion and the rental programme may change, and asks that no interest be bought in expectation of either. Cancellations more than 30 days before check-in carry no penalty. Inside 7 days the reservation is forfeited.

An annual fee covers club staffing, daily housekeeping, the butler and concierge desks, and the upkeep of the residences and their share of the condominium. The operator does not publish the figure, and it varies with the size of the residence and the number of Club Interests held, so it is confirmed for the specific residence before you commit. New York City assesses property tax on the condominium unit: ask for the current figure for your residence alongside the fee. On transfer, New York City Real Property Transfer Tax on residential property is 1% of the price up to $500,000 and 1.425% above that.

A Club Interest carries the hotel's own service rather than a separate residential staff, and a member holds Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status. The club fact sheet sets out what is included in the residence, and the hotel's amenity schedule covers the rest of the building. The list below is drawn from both.

699 to 703 Fifth Avenue, built between 1901 and 1904 by Trowbridge & Livingston for John Jacob Astor IV, with a 1927 extension by Sloan & Robertson. The Landmarks Preservation Commission calls it one of the most elegant Beaux-Arts buildings in New York, records it as rising 19 storeys, and designated it a New York City landmark on 1 November 1988. The club floors were converted by Starwood Vacation Ownership and opened in October 2006, with interiors by Sills Huniford. Residences have 10 foot ceilings, marble bathrooms with a bath and a separate shower, silk wall coverings, carved crown moulding and a kitchenette with a Sub-Zero refrigerator.

Fifth Avenue at 55th Street, between Rockefeller Center and Central Park, which is four blocks north. The E and M trains at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street are under 500 feet from the door, the F at 57th Street is 0.22 miles away and the N and R at 59th Street 0.23 miles. LaGuardia is the nearest airport at about 10 miles, with John F Kennedy and Newark Liberty the other two. The hotel trades all year, but the club sets fixed weeks by season, so the week attached to an interest matters as much as the residence does.

There is no restriction on a non-resident buying real estate in New York. The interest transfers by deed and is recorded in New York City, and your US adviser will confirm the filings and tax identification numbers you need. When a foreign owner later sells, the buyer must withhold 15% of the amount realised under FIRPTA and pay it to the Internal Revenue Service, subject to the exceptions the IRS sets out, so build that step into the timetable. Take US and UK tax advice before contract. Avory does not give tax advice.

Avory deals with Residence Club Member Services in Orlando, with the brokers who hold the active listings at the building, and with the owner directly on the two residences in hand. After you enquire we send the interest details, the fixed week attached to it, the residence and its size, and the annual fee statement in writing before anything is signed. Owner stays are arranged with owners, subject to availability. Request access.