Mooring possibilities and regulations

[riverflower]

Hi, this is my first message to the forum and I have a few questions. In time I'm hoping to live aboard a narrowboat in the south of England, pay my way and live peacefully within the boating community.

 

Official residential moorings such as on marinas appear to be extremely rare. I've noticed that marinas tend not to offer residential moorings anyway, so these moorings seem generally to be for leisure boaters only.

 

I believe I now need to look for alternatives, such as paying a farmer to let me moor. I'd be happy to do this but I understand that neither party is legally able to do this on a long term basis. Is this correct? I would buy a licence so surely I am contributing to the upkeep of the waterways? Doesnt the licence count? So bearing in mind there seems to be little or no residential moorings available, how does a person actually get to live on a boat without getting into a 'dodging' scenario?

 

I'd like to add that I work and pay my taxes. I am not looking for freebies, just an answer to what seems to be a problem. I understand I can moor up for a couple of weeks then move on. I'd look forward to this during holidays and once retired but for the time being this is not an option. I appreciate I need to do more research but as I go on these matters seem less clear. Can anybody help, please?

[bag 'o' bones]

Plenty of people live aboard unofficially on line moorings and don't cause a problem. In fact I am of the opinion it that having a few live aboards amongst a non residential line mooring is a good for security. In fact where our boats moored I can think of at least two who do a stirling service checking mooring lines and have on occasions dragged boats back in after breaking loose.

 

Having said that though, they do have 'official' addresses in the form of houses! which of course are taxed in the usual way.

[sueb]

Hi, this is my first message to the forum and I have a few questions. In time I'm hoping to live aboard a narrowboat in the south of England, pay my way and live peacefully within the boating community.

 

Official residential moorings such as on marinas appear to be extremely rare. I've noticed that marinas tend not to offer residential moorings anyway, so these moorings seem generally to be for leisure boaters only.

 

I believe I now need to look for alternatives, such as paying a farmer to let me moor. I'd be happy to do this but I understand that neither party is legally able to do this on a long term basis. Is this correct? I would buy a licence so surely I am contributing to the upkeep of the waterways? Doesnt the licence count? So bearing in mind there seems to be little or no residential moorings available, how does a person actually get to live on a boat without getting into a 'dodging' scenario?

 

I'd like to add that I work and pay my taxes. I am not looking for freebies, just an answer to what seems to be a problem. I understand I can moor up for a couple of weeks then move on. I'd look forward to this during holidays and once retired but for the time being this is not an option. I appreciate I need to do more research but as I go on these matters seem less clear. Can anybody help, please?

You can join the many who live illegally on their boats or you can wait for a mooring. If you want to live in a certain street you have to wait for a house to come up for sale, it is the same with boats.

Sue

[Chris Pink]

You can join the many who live illegally on their boats or you can wait for a mooring.

 

'illegally'? is this a statement of NABO views, or just your own?

 

and do you mean those who live on 'leisure' moorings? in which case i think the phrase you are looking for is 'in breach of their mooring agreement conditions', luckily a whole country mile away from 'illegal'

[bobtom]

Not exactly off topic but, on our 5 yrs of CCing, we have noticed many boats on online moorings not displaying mooring licenses. Whats that about ? Tom

[carlt]

Not exactly off topic but, on our 5 yrs of CCing, we have noticed many boats on online moorings not displaying mooring licenses. Whats that about ? Tom

I never displayed my licence or mooring permit.

 

As far as I'm concerned my tax status is a private matter between myself, the enforcing authority and nobody else.

Edited June 7, 2009 by carlt

[bobtom]

I never displayed my licence or mooring permit.

 

As far as I'm concerned my tax status is a private matter between myself, the enforcing authority and nobody else.

EDIT:Was'nt prying into anyones business just interested thats all. Edited June 7, 2009 by bobtom

[carlt]

EDIT:Was'nt prying into anyones business just interested thats all.

Sorry, wasn't meant as an accusation, merely an explanation why I (and perhaps others) don't display their tax receipts.

[Dominic M]

You can join the many who live illegally on their boats or you can wait for a mooring. If you want to live in a certain street you have to wait for a house to come up for sale, it is the same with boats.

Sue

Sue, please explain what is illegal about living on a boat, excluding those who own or lease an officially recognised residential mooring.

 

I'm not looking for an argument, I just think that bold statement requires some fleshing out on your part.

[sueb]

'illegally'? is this a statement of NABO views, or just your own?

 

and do you mean those who live on 'leisure' moorings? in which case i think the phrase you are looking for is 'in breach of their mooring agreement conditions', luckily a whole country mile away from 'illegal'

 

I haven't been connected with Nabo for several years so why should my views be Nabos? Phrase it how you like but the result could well be the loss of your boat.

Sue

 

Sue, please explain what is illegal about living on a boat, excluding those who own or lease an officially recognised residential mooring.

 

I'm not looking for an argument, I just think that bold statement requires some fleshing out on your part.

To live on a boat you either need a residential mooring or to cont cruise. I know too many who have had to get rid of their boats because they have been turned off leisure moorings as they haven't planning permission.

Sue

[alan_fincher]

I never displayed my licence or mooring permit.

 

As far as I'm concerned my tax status is a private matter between myself, the enforcing authority and nobody else.

Genuine curiosity, honest....

 

Does the same apply to "tax" discs on your road vehicles, or do you consider them to have a different status to the things that BW hand out ?

[mayalld]

Not exactly off topic but, on our 5 yrs of CCing, we have noticed many boats on online moorings not displaying mooring licenses. Whats that about ? Tom

 

Mooring permits are only issued where the mooring is a BW mooring, or where the residents pay end-of-garden fees direct to BW.

 

Where the landlord pays BW directly for a mooring agreement, no mooring permits are required.

[Chertsey]

My understanding is that you can spend four nights a week on a non-residential mooring without compromising its status. How strictly that status is enforced depends very much upon the owner of the moorings, and how worried they are about their relationship with the local authority (planning and possibly council tax implications). Unless it is a BW owned mooring then I don't think BW are overly concerned about its residential/non-residential status.

 

I think in the south east there is a lot of concern about overcrowding because there is a perception that if living here on a boat was easier there would be overwhelming demand to the detriment of 'leisure' users. Therefore you are unlikely to find a farmer's field for any sort of mooring - anyone who could have developed moorings on their land is likely to have done so (profitably) by now.

[alan_fincher]

My understanding is that you can spend four nights a week on a non-residential mooring without compromising its status.

I've heard that too.

 

But if there is any basis in that, I'm curious where that 4 day figure is actually laid down.

 

Does anybody actually know please, (or can prove that it isn't) ?

Edited June 8, 2009 by alan_fincher

[mayalld]

My understanding is that you can spend four nights a week on a non-residential mooring without compromising its status. How strictly that status is enforced depends very much upon the owner of the moorings, and how worried they are about their relationship with the local authority (planning and possibly council tax implications). Unless it is a BW owned mooring then I don't think BW are overly concerned about its residential/non-residential status.

 

They are getting tougher on it.

 

I suspect that they reckon that they will have more luck getting PP for some more lucrative "real" residential moorings if they are not seen to be turning a blind eye to unauthorised residential use.

 

The 4 nights "rule" is actually that if you spend 4 nights a week on-board, it is residential, so the limit is 3. This is, however, just a "rule of thumb". the real rule is that if it is your main or only home, it is residential. 3 nites means that you sleep 4 nights elsewhere, so "elsewhere" is probably your main home (but if you regularly work away from home that may not be the case). If you spend 4 nights a week on board, you clearly spend more nights there than anywhere else, and there is an assumption that this is your main or only home.

 

Clearly, this is not something that is enforced on a week by week basis, and occasional longer stays don't affect the status, but if over a period of a few months, you are on-board at night more often than you are somewhere else, you could be classed as residential usage.

[nb Innisfree]

I never displayed my licence or mooring permit.

 

As far as I'm concerned my tax status is a private matter between myself, the enforcing authority and nobody else.

 

Not now it aint!

[carlt]

Not now it aint!

Isn't it?

[Lady Muck]

They are getting tougher on it.

I suspect that they reckon that they will have more luck getting PP for some more lucrative "real" residential moorings if they are not seen to be turning a blind eye to unauthorised residential use.

 

I think anyone who is considering living on a leisure mooring to think really hard about what they are doing and would be well advised to do their research. Follow all the user group meetings (minutes available on the BW website), join RBOA, don't just cross your fingers and hope.

 

Just the same as towpath moorers who don't move very far, can do it without too much hassle at the moment, in the future, (from recent BW meetings) this really looks like its going to change.

 

What would you do if you got evicted from a leisure mooring that you are living on? What if they can suddenly stop you from mooring on a stretch of towpath that you've moored on for years? If it wouldn't work out for you if that happened, then you'd be well advised to not take the risk.

Edited June 8, 2009 by Lady Muck