Alan de Enfield

landlord noun [C] (OWNER) Add to word list B2 a person or organization that owns a building or an area of land and is paid by other people for the use of it: Who is considered a landlord? A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a lessee or renter). A landlord is not necessarily the property owner. The owner of a rental property can be involved in every aspect of the rental process, or he can give someone else the power to act in his stead.

The way it works for a boat nor to be subject to VAT (post Brexit) is for a 'certificate of location' confirming where the boat was at 11pm on 31st December 2020. If your certificate shows that it was in the UK then it does not become subject to VAT, if it was outside the UK then it would be subject to VAT. I would suggest that it may work the same way bringing a boat from the UK to the EU, it will require a certificate of location showing it was in the EU at midnight on 31st December 2020, or, it will be subject to VAT on arrival. I doubt that many boaters on this forum will be aware as there is not much chance that they will be affected - you may get a clearer story if you contact the Dutch Barge forum, or the RYA, or any others that may have been in the same situation. If we go to Irealand, France etc then we need this letter to show the customs officials in those countries, and our own Customs officers on our return. Here is part of the 'location certificate' for our "Cat"

I've always known it simply as a 'block and tackle'

It may be more advantageous to actually find the reason it 'beeped'. There again if you put it outside and go back to sleep you may have nothing to worry about ever again.

Certainly written by the NBTA - but - you cannot disagree with much of the comment 'as being valid', the problem is that there is no explanation of the background or reasons behind the decisions or actions. eg : 1) where is the explanation that Ward was extracting the urine for more than 10 years before the final action was taken. The same report acknowledges that while the trust cannot “disregard the needs of those living on boats on its waterways”, it “is not and should not be a housing charity, nor a statutory housing provider”. 2) it is not explained that C&RT do not have the legal powers to define what movement is required for CCers, and when they have tried, NABTA have taken legal advice and pointed out to C&RT that they cannot do anything not specifically granted to them by law. 3) no mention of C&RTs amending the travel distance rules to accomodate familes with school age children. 4) it is not C&RTs fault (or problem) that many boaters are disabled and/or living in poverty - the laws still apply, and, as C&RT pointed out in the article the Government will pay for many of the boating costs (licence, moorings etc) for those in need. If boaters decide to spend their 'licence / moorings' money elsewhere then they must accept the consequences. “Boaters are often on the fringes of society,” itinerant boater Christina Hemsley told Novara Media, and the CRT’s boater surveys support her: according to the trust’s 2023 data, 27% of live-aboard boater households earn below £20,000 (the national median is £36,700). In 2023, Wiltshire council found that 29% of local continuous cruiser boaters had gone hungry due to poverty. Another council found similarly. 33% of boaters are disabled" In a statement to Novara Media, the CRT pointed out that its welfare team “help [boaters] access the support that is available – including Universal Credit and benefits that will cover the cost of the boat licence … We also provide equality adjustments and support for boaters who have shorter-term difficulties.”

You could argue the same regarding CCers (and it wasn't my suggestion)

In which case, liveaboards should also pay CT.

Or better still - increase the licence fee by 3x. (It is still a cheap way of living) You lose 10,000 boaters as they "cannot afford it" which frees up 10,000 additional moorings. The remaining 20,000 boaters pay 3x as much as previously so C&RTs income is doubled for less wear & tear on the system. Example (taking 30,000 boats licenced per annum) Each boat currently pays £1000 licence fee - C&RT licence fee income is £30,000,000 Increase the licence fee to £3000 and 10,000 boater say they cannot afford it so C&RT loses £10,000,000 in income - BUT .......... The remaining 20,000 boats pay the £3000 giving C&RT a new licence income of £60,000,000 per annum. Doubled the income, reduced wear and tear on the infrastructure, and increased the availability of moorings by 10,000. win-win-win Before anyone says "they cannot do that" - yes they can ! British Waterways Act 1983 .....Notwithstanding anything in the Act of 1971 or the Act of 1974 or in any other enactment relating to the Board or their inland waterways, the Board may register pleasure boats and houseboats under the Act of 1971 for such periods and on payment of such charges as they may from time to time determine: Provided that the charge payable for the registration of a pleasure boat shall not at any time exceed 60 per centum of the amount which would be payable to the Board for the licensing of such vessel on any inland waterway other than a river waterway referred to in Schedule 1 to the Act of 1971 as that Schedule has effect in accordance with any order made by the Secretary of State under section 4 of that Act.

Had you considered the required space for the number of visitors to the canal ? C&RTs (2022-23 accounts) figures quote 900,000,000 vists to the canals per annum. If we divide that by 365 days, that gives 2,465,753 per day. (Summer or Winter / Rain or snow) C&RT claim they are responsible for ~2000 miles of canals and rivers (not 2700), that equates to 10,560,000 feet Therefore every person has ~4.25 feet of towpath each. It's amazing that more don't fall/get pushed into the canal/river.

Presumaby you are including non-C&RT registered boats in this figure !

Did you really mean ± 1 mile ? (that gives 2 miles of mooring) Or, did you mean ~1mile According to C&RTs figures there are 5000 or 6000+ boats without a home mooring (depending on which report you read)

So it wasn't you that implied I was lying when you said .................. "You do seem to have had some extremely unusual/unlikely boat problems".

Only the posts on this forum from those that have suffered a 'slow sinking' (water ingress) within a few hours of leaving the marina.