Mooring on my own land

[Mac57]

We own a plot of land on a a river back stream and would like to know if you can moor a boat or rent the mooring to others for leisure only .can anyone advise .Thanks mac

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, Mac57 said:

We own a plot of land on a a river back stream and would like to know if you can moor a boat or rent the mooring to others for leisure only .can anyone advise .Thanks mac

 

1) Do your deeds say you own the River banK ?

2) Do your deeds say you have riparian rights to the centre of the River ? (If not then you would be  mooring OVER some one elses land.

[Tony Brooks]

1 minute ago, Mac57 said:

We own a plot of land on a a river back stream and would like to know if you can moor a boat or rent the mooring to others for leisure only .can anyone advise .Thanks mac

 

Basically if you are the riparian owner of your half of the river bed then probably yes, but putting a jetty into the river bed may need permission for the river authority. However, you need to check the deeds and any covenants carefully. The next question is does the backwater have a public right of navigation, if not then adjacent landowners could prevent boats reaching your land.

[Mac57]

The deeds to show us owning the land up to the river bank as a floating pontoon is present which replaced an old wooden type.we have been advised it does have riparian rights but it is not mentioned on the deeds or paperwork.Regards Ken

[Alan de Enfield]

16 minutes ago, Mac57 said:

.we have been advised it does have riparian rights but it is not mentioned on the deeds or paperwork

 

Then anything you do is at your own risk.

 

There was recently some riverside land sold 'with moorings', but if you actually delved deeper there was a very expensive legal battle going on that was not mentioned in the sale details.

 

Ask your solicitor to investigate if you have riparian rights, if you do then you MAY be OK, if you don't then you definitely cannot develop the bank side.

 

Where is it ?

Which 'back stream' to which River ?

Are there navigation rights ?

Who is the Navigation authority ?

 

If the pontoon had been put in legally then DEFRA would have been involved as they have to authorise anything that can affect flow rates (and that includes floating pontoons as trees and rubbish can get caught up in them).

[MtB]

40 minutes ago, Mac57 said:

The deeds to show us owning the land up to the river bank 

 

 

In which case I'd say you have no rights to moor.

 

You may well get away with it if you just proceed as though you do have, but be prepared for someone or some organisation to surface at any time and tell you to stop. This might take years or decades. 

 

Alternatively if you need a definitive answer you can rely on, engage a solicitor to investigate for you and put their findings in writing. 

 

 

[Mac57]

50 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Basically if you are the riparian owner of your half of the river bed then probably yes, but putting a jetty into the river bed may need permission for the river authority. However, you need to check the deeds and any covenants carefully. The next question is does the backwater have a public right of navigation, if not then adjacent landowners could prevent boats reaching your land.

I believe the backwater has public right of navigation as bouts do go up and down.I will check on the riparian rights.thanks for your imput

[Tonka]

2 minutes ago, Mac57 said:

I believe the backwater has public right of navigation as bouts do go up and down.I will check on the riparian rights.thanks for your imput

Bouts of what ?

[Paul C]

Bouts of trying to type on a smartphone, possibly?

[Barneyp]

48 minutes ago, Mac57 said:

I believe the backwater has public right of navigation as bouts do go up and down.I will check on the riparian rights.thanks for your imput

Just because boats go up and down doesn't mean there is a legal right to navigate it.

Is there a navigation authority fir the river?

 

[Mac57]

2 hours ago, Paul C said:

Bouts of trying to type on a smartphone, possibly?

Sorry for the spelling I did mean boats.thanks for pointing out.cheers mac

1 hour ago, Barneyp said:

Just because boats go up and down doesn't mean there is a legal right to navigate it.

Is there a navigation authority fir the river?

 

Where do I go to find out about the navigation authority.thanks for your imfo

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Mac57 said:

Sorry for the spelling I did mean boats.thanks for pointing out.cheers mac

Where do I go to find out about the navigation authority.thanks for your imfo

 

If you don't know, tell us the name of the River and the 'stream / backwater' you are refering to.

 

Someone here will know.

 

 

 

If you don't want to announce it worrying that the authority will be banging on your door wanting money, a licence, safety certificates etc the answer may be here :

 

Who maintains the UK's canals and rivers? - Inland Waterways

[blackrose]

4 hours ago, Mac57 said:

The deeds to show us owning the land up to the river bank as a floating pontoon is present which replaced an old wooden type.we have been advised it does have riparian rights but it is not mentioned on the deeds or paperwork.Regards Ken

 

In which case I can't think of any reason that riperian rights wouldn't apply? However, that's just my layman's view as I'm no expert. I just thought landowners of river banks had riperian rights by default in most cases. That doesn't automatically give you the right to erect mooring facilities but if a pontoon is already present that might indicate it's been used as a mooring in the past. 

[David Mack]

5 hours ago, Mac57 said:

The deeds to show us owning the land up to the river bank

 

45 minutes ago, blackrose said:

In which case I can't think of any reason that riperian rights wouldn't apply?

In exactly the same way as many property owners own the subsoil up to the middle of the road in front of their property, but this is often not shown as such on the property title.