Rent to Buy Schemes?

[Setmefree]

Good afternoon all,

 

my partner and I really want to get out of the ridiculous rental trap and enjoy the freedom that living aboard a widebeam would offer.

Does anyone know of anywhere that does a rent to buy scheme for widebeams? I have spoken with some marinas but obviously not in their interest to give me any information , assuming of course they know of any such schemes.

[Alan de Enfield]

Are you in London ?

If you can find one, residential moorings in London can be as much as £15000 per annum, add in the cost of boat rental (say) £2000 a month and the prices are similar to a flat.

 

I've been on the waterways for 40+ years but never heard of such a scheme - maybe the problem is that unlike bricks and mortar, just could pay the 1st couple of installments, load the boat on a lorry and be off in Europe 'before breakfast'.

The owner / renter would have no security.

 

Why not just take out a personal bank loan - if you can afford to pay back the  'rent to buy' payments (the cost of the boat + the companies profits) you could easily pay the monthly premiums on a bank loan.

If you do not have a good enough credit rating or income to pay back the bank loan, you'd probably fail the RTB financial checks.

 

ETTR do long tems rentals, if you talk with them it may be another business opportunity, but expect high monthly rates as no one is going to want to commit £250,000 to a 'long term' rental without getting something back from it.

 

Escape the Rat Race (etrr.co.uk)

 

Whether you are looking for a longer term Narrowboat holiday, or to live on a narrowboat permanently, we can serve you. We have a diverse fleet of narrowboats, at a far lower cost than long term holiday hire. Bookings range from 3 months upward.

• Perhaps you're visiting Great Britain for a few months, newly retired, or would like to try things out while deciding whether to 'liveaboard' permanently.
• Perhaps you want to live on a narrow boat but without the hassle of maintaining or investing in a boat of your own.
• Perhaps you've enjoyed narrowboat rental holidays in the past, but would like to spend time enjoying Britain's huge canal network over a number of months.
• Maybe you have a narrowboat of your own but would like to invest this with our management service.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[Setmefree]

Thank you Alan. No, not in London. I'm near Kennett and Avon. I have tried ETRR but the quote was more than my current rent. I think I had better go back to plan A and save hard!

Edited October 18, 2021 by Setmefree
grammar

[Tony Brooks]

I have heard of the odd such scheme and they have all ended up in tears for either the owner or the renter. They have all been unofficial private arrangements sometimes by word of mouth.  To run such a scheme would need the boat built to and examined to a higher BSS standard than a private boat, the license and insurance would probably have to be more expensive as well so I think you will have problems finding an official scheme and if you go down the unofficial route may loose money.

[Setmefree]

Thank you.

[Bee]

I would urge caution. You are right in saying that rent is a trap. Living on a boat can be too. Boats are not cheap to live on and just like renting a flat you will struggle to save any money.  Also bear in mind that boats (Especially new boats) depreciate a lot wheras you will not lose thousands in depreciation on a flat, you can just move out (Nor will you gain anything either)  In your position I would be looking for a narrowboat, second hand or even a bit of a project boat. Living on a widebeam is probably move no. 3, first is knackered narrowboat, then better narrowboat and then a decent narrowboat or possibly a wide beam boat but by then you might possibly hate widebeams or even the whole idea of living on a boat. If you do find a rent to buy scheme be really careful, the maths and stuff will not be in your favour but in favour of the actual owner and the chances of ever getting title to the thing are slim if the scheme goes bust - and it probably will. Sorry to be so gloomy. Lots of people do live successfully on boats but you must look at the figures and the rules (and whether you can get round some of the rules too)

[MtB]

5 hours ago, Setmefree said:

Good afternoon all,

 

my partner and I really want to get out of the ridiculous rental trap and enjoy the freedom that living aboard a widebeam would offer.

Does anyone know of anywhere that does a rent to buy scheme for widebeams? I have spoken with some marinas but obviously not in their interest to give me any information , assuming of course they know of any such schemes.

 

Why do you need a widebeam in particular? They are phenomenally expensive. Why not take a personal loan and buy a sensibly priced narrowboat instead? You could borrow £20k each and buy something perfectly liveable-on for that, then CC or rent a CRT mooring for £3k a year. Then once the loans are paid off, you'll be quids in. 

 

This is hardly a new idea. I borrowed £1500 back in 1977 to buy my first liveaboard, finding myself totally priced out of the housing market when no-one would lend me the £5k I needed to buy a derelict three bed terraced house in Englefield Green. Same house was on the market the other day for £1/2m. Not that I'm bitter or anything, ok! 

[TheBiscuits]

19 minutes ago, MtB said:

no-one would lend me the £5k I needed to buy a derelict three bed terraced house in Englefield Green. Same house was on the market the other day for £1/2m. 

 

Must be a long walk to the Green Man ...

[MtB]

16 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Must be a long walk to the Green Man ...

 

The place is too posh for pubs nowadays.....

[tree monkey]

10 hours ago, MtB said:

 

The place is too posh for pubs nowadays.....

Would it still be as posh if you got that loan I wonder