Keep boat but living ashore

[LoganHarrow]

Hi all,

 

I’ve lived on my narrowboat since 2020, I’d like to keep it but possibly move ashore.

 

Has anyone moved from their boat to a static caravan? Any advice or pros and cons?

 

I’d like to keep my boat, and places I’ve looked at are sites with the canal next to the site.

 

Any advice welcome.

 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

Caravan doesn't rock you to sleep! And you will find the floor feels funny.

[BEngo]

Caravans are not, typically, particularly well insulated and are completely surrounded by cold air, so may cost more to heat.  Things like water capacity (usually tiny) and gas bottles may also be less convenient than in your boat.

 

 OTOH, there is no need to black the outside of a caravan every couple of years.

 

N

[robtheplod]

Don't you need to be careful with caravan sites as they may put an age limit on your caravan where it must be removed?  Also some dont allow you to live in them all year round?

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

Don't you need to be careful with caravan sites as they may put an age limit on your caravan where it must be removed?  Also some dont allow you to live in them all year round?

 

Depends on the terms and conditions, and some have full residential status.

 

But yes lots do have stipulations about age and condition and most if not all stipulate you can only buy and sell through the site owners.

 

@Alan de Enfield will have chapter and verse.

 

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by M_JG
To remove an extraneous 'o'

[Peanut]

When you sell, you may have to give 10% to the site owner. Members of the travelling community run some sites. In PC speech.

 

A boater local to here sold his narrow boat and moved into a mobile home, didn't like it, sold again, lost all his money and is now in rented accommodation. Make sure it will work for you.

[TheBiscuits]

2 hours ago, robtheplod said:

some dont allow you to live in them all year round?

 

If the OP still has a narrow boat, moving out for a month or more shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Peanut]

16 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

If the OP still has a narrow boat, moving out for a month or more shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Many, take a winter holiday somewhere warm.

[Guest]

Quite often non residential sites will require you to prove you have an address for which you are liable for council tax.

 

Not always easy if you dont have a land based property and the alternative to the static is your boat.

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by M_JG

[LoganHarrow]

56 minutes ago, Peanut said:

When you sell, you may have to give 10% to the site owner. Members of the travelling community run some sites. In PC speech.

 

A boater local to here sold his narrow boat and moved into a mobile home, didn't like it, sold again, lost all his money and is now in rented accommodation. Make sure it will work for you.

Definitely something to think about thanks 

[Mad Harold]

6 hours ago, LoganHarrow said:

Hi all,

 

I’ve lived on my narrowboat since 2020, I’d like to keep it but possibly move ashore.

 

Has anyone moved from their boat to a static caravan? Any advice or pros and cons?

 

I’d like to keep my boat, and places I’ve looked at are sites with the canal next to the site.

 

Any advice welcome.

 

 

Sounds a lot of expense for nothing gained really.

You want a caravan next to a canal, so why not forget the caravan and simply live on the boat. You can't really get any closer to the canal than that.

Have you a compelling reason for moving into a caravan?

[Alan de Enfield]

4 hours ago, BEngo said:

Caravans are not, typically, particularly well insulated and are completely surrounded by cold air, so may cost more to heat.  Things like water capacity (usually tiny) and gas bottles may also be less convenient than in your boat.

 

 OTOH, there is no need to black the outside of a caravan every couple of years.

 

N

 

He does specify Static Caravans which are generally insulated (although there are two grades of insulation (residential and leisure). Water, toilets & electricity is normally connected as a house is so n,  problem with 'tiny water tank capacity'.

 

2 hours ago, robtheplod said:

Don't you need to be careful with caravan sites as they may put an age limit on your caravan where it must be removed?  Also some dont allow you to live in them all year round?

 

Sites can put any conditions they like into the contract , and they will also have conditions applied by the council before granting PP. If you don't like it you go somewhere else.

Typically a site will have a 15 year age limit on the mobile homes, but as we do, if they are well maintained and kept clean and not looking like a Gypsy camp with rubbish stored around them, then we do not invoke the age-rule.

 

 

19 minutes ago, M_JG said:

Quite often non residential sites will require you to prove you have an address for which you are liable for council tax.

 

 

Very true and it will be a condition of the planning permission for 'leisure sites', on Residential sites you will need to pay Council Tax (generally band A)

Edited August 24, 2023 by Alan de Enfield

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Typically a site will have a 15 year age limit on the mobile homes, but as we do, if they are well maintained and kept clean and not looking like a Gypsy camp with rubbish stored around them, then we do not invoke the age-rule.

 

Which is great (and sensible) , until the site changes ownership. One local to us was council owned and they too were not bothered by the age limit.

 

They then sold it to Tingdene.....guess what happened next?

[Tacet]

19 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

He does specify Static Caravans which are generally insulated (although there are two grades of insulation (residential and leisure). Water, toilets & electricity is normally connected as a house is so n,  problem with 'tiny water tank capacity'.

 

 

Sites can put any conditions they like into the contract , and they will also have conditions applied by the council before granting PP. If you don't like it you go somewhere else.

If the pitch is protected by the Mobile Homes Act there are substantial controls on the terms of any contract.

[sueb]

facebook park action group will give an idea of problems.

[Tonka]

3 hours ago, M_JG said:

 

Depends on the terms and conditions, and some have full residential status.

 

But yes lots do have stipulations about age and condition and most if not all stipulate you can only buy and sell through the site owners.

 

@Alan de Enfield will have chapter and verse.

 

 

Some of them insist you get your Calor Gas from them obviously at extra expense 

[blackrose]

7 hours ago, LoganHarrow said:

I've lived on my narrowboat since 2020, I’d like to keep it but possibly move ashore.

 

So you've only lived on the boat for a couple of years but now you want to move off and keep the boat.

 

All I know is that owning a boat that you don't live on is generally the preserve of wealthy property owners. Justifying the £5k+ p.a. it costs to keep a boat is easier when you live on it.

1 hour ago, Mad Harold said:

Sounds a lot of expense for nothing gained really.

You want a caravan next to a canal, so why not forget the caravan and simply live on the boat. You can't really get any closer to the canal than that.

Have you a compelling reason for moving into a caravan?

 

That's what I was thinking too but the OP obviously has their own reasons.

[MtB]

12 hours ago, blackrose said:

All I know is that owning a boat that you don't live on is generally the preserve of wealthy property owners. Justifying the £5k+ p.a. it costs to keep a boat is easier when you live on it.

 

Changed my mind.

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by MtB

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, MtB said:

Unlike lefty teachers on here who never laid it all on the line and risked bankruptcy in their whole lives. "Oh you're so lucky" some people say to me, and it makes me feel like punching them. 

 

Luck enabled me to take early retirement at age 45

 

I have always found that the harder I worked, the luckier I got.

[MtB]

31 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Luck enabled me to take early retirement at age 45

 

I have always found that the harder I worked, the luckier I got.

 

 

Same here, and PAYE employees resent it.

 

Mind you, I still haven't retired as I haven't actually had a proper job since I was 22. Nor do I have any sort of pension, other than my investments.

 

 

 

[robtheplod]

8 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I have always found that the harder I worked, the luckier I got.

my new moto!  (hopefully!) 

[Crewcut]

Some non-residential caravan site licences allow you to spend up to 12 weeks at a time for up to 48 weeks of the year so that could work in your favour if applicable where you want to be & you can provide a home address. I would tread very carefully where static caravan sites are concerned, a colleague's sister & her partner were stung very badly when they decided to sell the one that they had - their choice was sell to the site owner at a ridiculously low price or move it off the site. Taking account of what they lost on the sale & the annual site fees, it worked out that each visit they'd made to spend a few days there had cost about £3k...😲

 

If you still would like to spend quite a lot of time on the boat might having a motorhome as well as the boat suit? I lived in one for a year, was surprised how well insulated it was, had double glazed windows, condensation was not an issue at all. In the winter I'd block book for several weeks at a time on sites where electricity was included and heat with an oil radiator (of course this may have changed somewhat now). It worked surprisingly well...