Cheap Housing on the Canals

[Alan de Enfield]

Londoners swap costly property for boating life as cost-of-living crisis mounts (telegraph.co.uk)

 

 

Demand for narrowboats in the capital is double the normal level and they are selling for a quarter more than their typical value

 

The cost-of-living crisis is pushing Londoners to live on canal boats as they are priced out of the capital’s increasingly unaffordable property market.

With house prices soaring, rental costs ballooning and bills spiralling out of control, many Londoners are struggling to afford a traditional lifestyle and as a result the city’s historical waterways are seeing an influx of people putting down roots afloat.

 

Experts say that currently there is twice the normal demand for narrowboats in London and they are selling for a quarter more than their normal value, with the majority of purchased vessels being used as permanent homes.

 

The compromise for escaping the money-sucking pit of the rental industry is a scaled-back, confined and nomadic lifestyle necessitating the sacrifice of modern creature comforts such as microwaves, washing machines and a flushing toilet.

 

While glossy magazines and twee TV documentaries paint a picturesque, idyllic picture of boat life, the reality for most full-time boaters, especially in London, is a far cry from this rose-tinted perception. While the summers can be quaint when moored up in Little Venice and surrounded by swans and ducklings, the winters in Uxbridge or Ladbroke Grove are long, dark and cold.

 

Most boaters who choose to live aboard their vessel do so because they do not need to pay rent, on the condition that you inform the Canal and River’s Trust — the omnipotent canal authority — that you are a so-called Continuous Cruiser.

 

This involves covering at least 20 miles of waterway a year and it is strictly prohibited to stay in one place for longer than two weeks .

As a result, electricity comes from a pack of onboard 12V batteries, charged by the engine and solar panels; toilets must be emptied manually; gas, diesel and water must be constantly monitored and topped up; heat comes courtesy of a coal-powered stove; and laundry must be done via a launderette.

It is often dubbed a "liberating lifestyle change", but the reality is often hard work and time-consuming, with hours spent on maintenance and upkeep. 

 

'Twice as much interest in purchasing a boat than normal'

Kerry Bolsom, director at the boat brokers Virginia Currer Marine, located in London, told The Telegraph that the boat market in and around the capital has seen a period of unprecedented activity in the last two years.

"I personally think [boats are selling for] between 20-25 per cent over their true value," she said.

"You are finding a lot of private sellers that are going way over and I would say easily 85 per cent of new buyers are continuously cruising.

"There is probably twice as much interest in purchasing a boat than normal. It is definitely a seller's market.

"Because the demand was so high over the last year there's now a shortage of boats. There's still a lot of people wanting to buy but not enough boats for everyone and it's pushed the prices up so they’re selling for more than what they should.

"What we tended to have before was a lot of boats for people to look at. Now, people turn up and most of them are under offer so I've only got one or two boats to show.

"Some of them I'm selling before they reach the open market because you've got people wanting to buy and obviously you know what your clients are looking for."

[Slim]

Remarkably honest.

[Alan de Enfield]

9 minutes ago, Slim said:

Remarkably honest.

 

 

Not really ..........

 

16 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The compromise for escaping the money-sucking pit of the rental industry is a scaled-back, confined and nomadic lifestyle necessitating the sacrifice of modern creature comforts such as microwaves, washing machines and a flushing toilet.

 

We have :

A microwave

A Washing Machine

A (actually two) flushing toilets

Central heating

and many other 'creature comforts'

[MtB]

Yes but you live in a house, lol! 

 

(And your boat is not suitable for London canal CCing.)

[Bacchus]

8 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 the reality is often hard work and time-consuming, with hours spent on maintenance and upkeep.

 

 

INT: Morning. The paint desk of any London DIY shop. CONTINUOUS_CRUISER enters and smiles at SHOPKEEPER.

 

CONTINUOUS_CRUISER: Morning Mr Shopkeeper, I would like a tin of paint please. I have hours of maintenance and upkeep to do on my recently acquired narrow-boat.

SHOPKEEPER: Certainly Madam, what colour paint would you like?

CONTINUOUS_CRUISER: Duh. White.

 

[Slim]

8 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

Not really ..........

 

 

We have :

A microwave

A Washing Machine

A (actually two) flushing toilets

Central heating

and many other 'creature comforts'

So do I, and on a narrowboat. However, the article was written in the context of living on a boat, cc ing in London not in a marina in North Wales. When was the last time you physically saw a canal within the M 25?

[Athy]

It's not a bad article, but it's scarcely breaking new ground. People have been buying boats to live on because doing so is cheaper than buying a house or flat for decades. 

[robtheplod]

Is the time approaching when liveaboards who don't CC will be required to live in marinas, as surely eventually the canals will clog up in key areas?

[Alan de Enfield]

17 minutes ago, Slim said:

So do I, and on a narrowboat. However, the article was written in the context of living on a boat, cc ing in London not in a marina in North Wales. When was the last time you physically saw a canal within the M 25?

 

Proabably about 4-5 years ago.

We had a 45ft NB which also had a flushing toilet, microwave, washing machine and central heating.

 

Didn't stay long - Southerners and their boating seem to be a strange lot - I'd far rather be North of Watford Gap - even if the locals are still making bangles out of the telegraph wires.

 

Sime years previously we had a GRP cruiser (23 footer) based on the Thames.

[Tonka]

19 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Proabably about 4-5 years ago.

We had a 45ft NB which also had a flushing toilet, microwave, washing machine and central heating.

 

Didn't stay long - Southerners and their boating seem to be a strange lot - I'd far rather be North of Watford Gap - even if the locals are still making bangles out of the telegraph wires.

 

Sime years previously we had a GRP cruiser (23 footer) based on the Thames.

are you not from Enfield then which is in London

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Tonka said:

are you not from Enfield then which is in London

 

Perish the thought. - our lineage is Conwy right back to the 1600s but I've moved about from Nottinghamshire back to North Wales, bought a farm, sold up, retired to the East Coast (although still with 4-5 months a year back in North Wales).

 

No1 Son played Prop for Mold and North Wales before joining Llanelli - Welsh thru & thru.

[MtB]

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

No1 Son played Prop for Mold and North Wales before joining Llanelli - Welsh thru & thru.

 

And there was me trying to work out what kind of welsh musical instrument a Prop was....

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

And there was me trying to work out what kind of welsh musical instrument a Prop was....

 

Well the prop on our second shareboat sang when the boat was first launched.

[Tonka]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

Well the prop on our second shareboat sang when the boat was first launched.

Joe Mahler sings Adele songs.

[john.k]

I wonder how long before the first over water  houses built on bamboo stilts appear?...Its cured the housing problem in Asia.

[Arthur Marshall]

1 hour ago, john.k said:

I wonder how long before the first over water  houses built on bamboo stilts appear?...Its cured the housing problem in Asia.

There was an equivalent on Grand Designs a year or two back.

[Arthur Marshall]

6 hours ago, robtheplod said:

Is the time approaching when liveaboards who don't CC will be required to live in marinas, as surely eventually the canals will clog up in key areas?

I think it's more likely that the only people allowed to register as CC will be those living on their boats rather than those just avoiding mooring fees by pretending.

Either way, the process and enforcement will be so inefficient that it'll make no difference.

[Higgs]

6 hours ago, robtheplod said:

Is the time approaching when liveaboards who don't CC will be required to live in marinas, as surely eventually the canals will clog up in key areas?

 

How do you force liveaboards on to marinas that have no residential planning permission? 

 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

1 hour ago, john.k said:

I wonder how long before the first over water  houses built on bamboo stilts appear?...Its cured the housing problem in Asia.

Only because in most Asian countries if you live over water off the land you pay no taxes.

[Athy]

54 minutes ago, Higgs said:

 

How do you force liveaboards on to marinas that have no residential planning permission? 

 

 

Easy. They move to a different marina every 14 days.

[MtB]

34 minutes ago, Athy said:

Easy. They move to a different marina every 14 days.

 

Or a different berth in the same marina! 

 

1 hour ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I think it's more likely that the only people allowed to register as CC will be those living on their boats

 

I think a definition for "living aboard" would be needed for that to happen. 

 

And the more one thinks about it, the more difficult it becomes given to get a license one needs to come up with a land address. 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, MtB said:

I think a definition for "living aboard" would be needed for that to happen. 

 

And the more one thinks about it, the more difficult it becomes given to get a license one needs to come up with a land address. 

 

 

In BWML Marinas the only way you would be granted a 'Leisure Mooring' was if you provided a Council tax bill in your name showing that the boat was not your 'primary residence'. Anyone who still wanted a mooring there would be 'given' a residential mooring and be charged accordingly.

[nbfiresprite]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

In BWML Marinas the only way you would be granted a 'Leisure Mooring' was if you provided a Council tax bill in your name showing that the boat was not your 'primary residence'. Anyone who still wanted a mooring there would be 'given' a residential mooring and be charged accordingly.

 

Which is how the Anglia Revenues Partnership deem a berth holder be charged council tax on a mooring. It you cannot provide a council tax bill with your name on it for another address. Proves a problem for people who's 'primary residence' is else where and their name is not on the bill or live overseas.

[ditchcrawler]

15 hours ago, MtB said:

 

(And your boat is not suitable for London canal CCing.)

Thats basically what I was going to say, not if you CC in London with permanently flat or under charged batteries

[Tonka]

16 hours ago, MtB said:

Yes but you live in a house, lol! 

 

(And your boat is not suitable for London canal CCing.)

Most of the boats that linger longer in London are not suitable, but it does not stop them