New BWML Rules Start To Come Online

[Alan de Enfield]

Reference: change to transfer fees for boats sold within BWML marinas

As you will already be aware, should you sell your boat in our marina with the new owner taking the benefit of the berth, a commission is chargeable via a berth transfer fee.  This is currently defined at 5% of the sale price + VAT, or £200 + VAT for low value boat sales.

The ability to sell a boat with a mooring adds value to the boat, particularly in high demand areas.  It also allows purchasers to bypass our waiting lists for berths.  Having benchmarked our fees, we will be increasing the berth transfer fee from 5% to 10%. 

This is applicable to all contract renewals on or after the 1st April 2019, and is specified in the Terms and Conditions relating to those contracts, but no boat selling before 1st July 2019 will be impacted by the change.

 

 

There is currently a 'fat boat' for sale at £230,000, that's a whopping £27,600 just to transfer the berth !!!

Not sure if the seller or the buyer has to pay the fee ?

 

 

Add on their brokerage charges …………………………...

 

Doesn't bear thinking about !!!

 

4. Sale of Vessel  

4.1  The Berth is not transferable to any new Owner without permission from BWML whose permission will not be withheld unreasonably and payment of brokerage fees or a Sale on Berth Fee may be applicable. The Owner must complete a BWML Sale on Berth Application Form which can be found at www.bwml.co.uk if they wish to sell the Vessel and transfer the existing Berth to a new Owner.  

 

4.2 The Owner shall not offer any Vessel for private sale, without the prior written consent of BWML, whilst it is in the Marina which will not be withheld unreasonably. In the event that BWML consents to the Vessel being offered for sale whilst it is in the Marina, the Owner must either use BWML's brokerage service to effect the sale of the Vessel, or a broker who is a BWML Appointed Broker, that will require a Berth Transfer form to be completed or alternatively, in the event that the Owner sells the Vessel privately, BWML reserves the right to charge a Sale on Berth Fee to allow an alternative party to occupy a BWML Berth and for the service provided as per our Sale on Berth Fee Definitions. The Sale on Berth Fee is also applicable in the scenario when the Vessel is sold to a customer within the Marina. Proof of sale value is required for all situations.  

Edited April 3, 2019 by Alan de Enfield

[Tonka]

Lots of marina's and mooring companies have a similar policy. But they don't always apply them

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Lots of marina's and mooring companies have a similar policy. But they don't always apply them

BWML do apply them.

 

My point was more that they have unilaterally increased the charge by 100%. No Discussion, No warning.

Email received on the 3rd April informing that the new charges came onto effect on 1st April.

 

There was another thread recently about charges 'on the hard' (NOT BWML) where the charges had also been increased by 100%

[cuthound]

Surely most people moored in a BWML marina will cancel their mooring and sell the boat through one of the many brokers who provide typically 6 months free mooring whilst the boat is on brokerage.

 

Cuttting, noses, spite and faces springs to mind.

[matty40s]

This is Jeff Whyatt at his best......watch the spaces double in the marinas.....so he will get the mooring fees hiked again next year to cover the shortfall.....and more spaces....

[Athy]

Note the quoted date of April 1st.

[matty40s]

Youd be a fool to stay in their marinas now , yes...

[Tasemu]

Sounds like a hell of an april fools joke O.o

[BEngo]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

1 hour ago, Tonka said:

Lots of marina's and mooring companies have a similar policy. But they don't always apply them

BWML do apply them.

 

My point was more that they have unilaterally increased the charge by 100%. No Discussion, No warning.

This is just the sort of thing that Venture Capital backers do, or expect managers of businesses they own to do.  Cash flow is king sov the VC company gets its money back as dividends, and still has an asset to flog at the end of the loan period.

 

Expect other charge hikes and a reduction in spending any time soon.  Fortunately there is a lot of empty mooring space about, in marinas and on line.

 

N

[Cheese]

51 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Surely most people moored in a BWML marina will cancel their mooring and sell the boat through one of the many brokers who provide typically 6 months free mooring whilst the boat is on brokerage....

If they are in a marina with plenty of vacant spaces, then yes.

But if they are in a full / waiting list marina, and if by transferring the berth they can increase the selling price by 15%+, then no.

[KevMc]

You could always tell BWML that you sold the boat for a fraction of what you did

[Alan de Enfield]

8 minutes ago, BEngo said:

Expect other charge hikes and a reduction in spending any time soon. 

Kings Marina.

 

There is currently a huge amount of investment in new elect bollards, site lighting, CCTV, waste oil collection tank, toilet/shower upgrades, new 'leisure area' (for BBQs & parties) for boaters, New Hydro Electric scheme with lower-cost electricity, etc etc.

 

There are not a lot of 'surplus' moorings available anywhere else, and those that are available are a bit more expensive than BWML so I expect the prices will increase somewhat to 'market rates'.

It is a just a 'cost of boating' when I cannot afford it we will 'sell-up'.

 

It is £1000's cheaper than our coastal moorings around Plymouth & Falmouth. Our mooring in Plymouth is £445 / metre, our mooring at BWML is (from memory) £165 / metre

8 minutes ago, KevMc said:

You could always tell BWML that you sold the boat for a fraction of what you did

 

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

4.2 The Owner shall not offer any Vessel for private sale, without the prior written consent of BWML, whilst it is in the Marina which will not be withheld unreasonably. In the event that BWML consents to the Vessel being offered for sale whilst it is in the Marina, the Owner must either use BWML's brokerage service to effect the sale of the Vessel, or a broker who is a BWML Appointed Broker, that will require a Berth Transfer form to be completed or alternatively, in the event that the Owner sells the Vessel privately, BWML reserves the right to charge a Sale on Berth Fee to allow an alternative party to occupy a BWML Berth and for the service provided as per our Sale on Berth Fee Definitions. The Sale on Berth Fee is also applicable in the scenario when the Vessel is sold to a customer within the Marina. Proof of sale value is required for all situations.  

Hmmmmm

[dor]

Presumably the transfer fee will be paid by the buyer.   I put my boat up for £70K, the buyer may not want to stay in the marina so you wouldn't add the transfer fee to the selling price.  Having sold the boat for £70K, the buyer then has the option to pay the transfer fee if they want to stay; that way the transfer fee is based on the selling price of the boat.  If the transfer fee is included in the selling price of the boat, i.e. boat is sold "with a mooring", the  transfer fee would be increased as the selling price would be higher.

[Bee]

Is this real? Not April 1st 'joke'?  There are some things that I have strongly warned my young adult kids and partners about plus family, friends and anybody else that looks like making a life choice that will bring misery. One is Leasehold property and the nightmare of remaining short leases. Another is residential caravan parks, so much depends on the site owner and cowboys can make life vary hard. Then there is payday loans, gambling and more but 10%? to flog your own boat? Good Grief. B***** Hell!

[matty40s]

You cant even ApolloDuck your boat your boat to someone who wants to take it somewhere else without paying the fee.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

On 03/04/2019 at 15:50, Alan de Enfield said:

 There is currently a huge amount of investment in new elect bollards, site lighting, CCTV, waste oil collection tank, toilet/shower upgrades, new 'leisure area' (for BBQs & parties) for boaters, New Hydro Electric scheme with lower-cost electricity, etc etc.

We got a similar email about improvements planned in Diglis, also including new electricity bollards. Hopefully they'll be replacing the paper card system with something less fiddly... it's been a PITA since the card vending machine was removed.

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Richard Fairhurst said:

We got a similar email about improvements planned in Diglis, also including new electricity bollards. Hopefully they'll be replacing the paper card system with something less fiddly... it's been a PITA since the card vending machine was removed.

The bollards we have had for many years at BWML Hull are all computer controlled.

You go into the office, pay whatever amount of electricity you want and the computer says 'yes' and credit it to your bollard.

All of the facilities at Hull put the inland marinas to shame - hopefully they will be ungraded to the same standards.

 

The Bollards we have at Newark are 'paper credit cards', which , as our slots do not line up with the 'window' in the bollard, results in crumpled up 'card' - in 7 years that we have had a mooring at Newark I have only successfully been able to put two cards into my bollard.

I have to call on site staff, other boaters and the use of needle nose pliers to achieve the inputting of the cards.

[pearley]

Priory Marina at Bedford, also BWML, also has the computer controlled scheme, with 32 amp supplies to each berth.

 

The card slot on our supply pillar was also out of line but obviously not as bad as Alans as I never had to resort to pliers, although I often had tl insert the card several times.

 

 

We left our winter mooring at Kings on Tuesday. Andy had told me that the only "improvement " scheduled for this year is the laying of the electricity cable along the side of the roadway.  But it also involves opening the gate at the far end of the marina tl allow trucks and plant to access the wier at Nether Lock to build the hydro plant. Will be good fun with all those cars parked along it. Especially so as the "reconfigured car park" bit means the loss of about 20 parking spaces.

Edited April 5, 2019 by pearley

[TheBiscuits]

6 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I have only successfully been able to put two cards into my bollard.

I have to call on site staff, other boaters and the use of needle nose pliers to achieve the inputting of the cards.

Correct usage of the pliers and a screwdriver will save you ever having to insert a card again ...