iguana

Great, this sounds about right to us then. It seems he's charging about £800-£1000 for a mooring on the site, and I just heard that he's offered £400 for annual launching fees. (The boat we have moored is actually a friend's, so he's been dealing direct with the friend for launch fees). We might counter a little lower, but £400 doesn't seem unreasonable.

Yep, I think that's basically where we are. Which is why we were looking for rates for similar situations, maybe? I know it's probably quite unique but there must be places that have a fee not for a mooring, but to simply pass through or use slipways etc (the slipway here is public, but there's a reasonable argument that a fee we pay would amount to the same thing).

Thanks. Have done.

Yep, we've been here ages and he's recently taken over. We're not out to cause trouble at all and I appreciate what a load of work he's taken on. Which is why we're happy to pay a small fee - we just don't really know what the going rate is or should be!

Yep. Working on that. He's not in any rush to meet us (he suggested a date by email, it's over a week since I replied to suggest a different one with no response), he's seen everyone around a lot and hasn't actually introduced himself, and in the meantime is being quite rude to us if we're walking/driving/boating where he thinks we shouldn't.

You guys would know better than me, but I don't think there's any such thing as right of navigation is there? Except where the landowner has agreed. On top of this, there's no precedent because when it was all one thing these moorings were just part of the marina. It's only now it's separate there's an issue.

It's a bit more complicated (as always). I'll try to outline, but you'll understand that I don't want to give away the location! The house we live in predates the marina itself. It was originally a warehouse for the river and has been all sorts of things over the past 300 years or so. The building is now a number of private houses, including some added as new builds 20 years ago. Until recently, the marina and houses were all owned by the same people. But now it's all been sold off. The houses were sold individually, but collectively own some land. This is mainly the road on the front, but also includes a tiny strip at the back adjacent to the marina, which has also been sold to someone else. The fact that it was all owned by the same family for a lot over 60 years means the paperwork is a bit shoddy as it was never intended to be separate parts. However, our Land Registry title shows that we own a bit of the path in the marina - they've drawn a straight line from the end of the gardens, while the bank actually curves inwards into our bit. So basically, we (collectively, not as an individual house) own the bit that you'd actually moor on. Do we own the water? Very doubtful and as Machpoint005 says, very expensive to contest. Now, we do have other arguments with the owners (for example, we can park there - our deeds say so, but are we allowed to drive through to the back of our houses? They say no, we says yes because right of way has been established for well over the 20 years needed for it to be default and he'd have to go to court to have that rescinded) but I don't think "We own that tiny bit of water" is one we want to get into. The question really is "are we allowed to take a boat out to the river?". There is nothing in our deeds that says so. Firstly, because the deeds for the houses were written when the whole thing was owned by the same person, and he didn't give any specific marina rights. Secondly, because the land that we own was only drawn up last year when they hived off the houses to sell. The deeds massively predate the house coming with any external land beyond the garden and it's a bit of an accident that we find ourselves with some bank. I've done some digging and there doesn't seem to be right of access to water the same way that there is for the road. So, as I say, we're willing to pay a reasonable sum for him to allow us to take a boat out, through marina that he clearly owns. And he has started charging everyone for access on an ad-hoc basis. But what would be reasonable?! No, the mooring is in an entirely man-made bit. However, he's exactly the sort of chap who would put the debt collectors on you if you didn't pay up. Although he hasn't yet posted any actually fees anywhere and we've not agreed to anything.

Hello I hope you don't mind me joining you to ask. We have a house with a mooring that belongs to the house. However, the only way to get from the mooring onto the river is via a private marina. We are, of course, happy to pay an access fee to the owners of the marina. But we don't know what a reasonable fee might be! Just to be clear, we wouldn't be using any of the facilities of the marina, the fee is simply to take the boat in and out in order to get to the river. The boat is not large, it's a small motor cruiser. Does anyone know what sort of fee we might expect to pay, both one-off charges and an annual license? I know this is probably quite an unusual setup, and I think the only comparable situation might be in using a slipway at a marina just to get on and off the river?