what constitutes a residential or liveaboard mooring?

[Dastardly&Muttley]

Hello all

 

I'm soon to start a 3 year job near Ascot and am wondering what the best strategy for finding a mooring near there will be. It looks like the best waterways to base myself on would be the Thames around windsor or the Wey. I've read that it's hard to find a residential mooring but I'm wondering if I need one. My job takes me overseas quite a bit (I work in wildife conservation) and so I won't be living on the boat all the time. For that reason I was thinking that an annual berth at a marina might be my best bet but most of the ones I've seen say they don't do residential moorings.

 

I know I should just get out there and talk to them but I was hoping to get some advice first. What I'd really like to know is how long would I need to spend away from the boat for the marina managers to be satisfied I'm not living on it? Would it be ok just to move marinas every couple of months? I should probably say I'm living with my folks at the moment so would continue to be on the electoral roll here.

 

Also, if anyone has any specific mooring recommendations for the Wey or the Thames that would be great!

 

Thanks!

[blackrose]

Some marinas turn a blind eye even though the terms and conditions that you sign specify no residential mooring. You just need to talk to them first. However, if you do enter into such an informal arrangement, you can't then expect all the amenities of a residential mooring (post, parking, etc), or start making unreasonable demands like some people do.

 

Forget the Wey - it's National Trust and they are quite strict. The EA much less so. I lived on a garden end mooring on the Thames for 3 years, but if you live on a river you've got to deal with flooding. I hear that CRT are clamping down on unofficial residentials, but someone else may be able to give better information.

Edited June 21, 2014 by blackrose

[Pete & Helen]

If someone offers an offside mooring, how do you know it's legal in the eyes of CRT?? Just owning the land by a canal doesn't automatically give you mooring rights, or does it?

[Lady Muck]

. I hear that CRT are clamping down on unofficial residentials, but someone else may be able to give better information.

They're not, they're really not interested and in any case in some places they make too much money. I think it's the local authorities you need to watch, in some places it is they that 'crack down.'

My advice is always have a plan B. Do you know what you would do if you were evicted. If it is going to be a big problem for you if that happened then I wouldn't do it.

[John Williamson 1955]

Officially, a residential mooring is one where the local authority has given planning permission for that use. It gives you an address with the right to receive mail, and use council facilities. As well as the opportunity to pay council tax.

 

Any other mooring used for living aboard will almost certainly be the result of various people turning a blind eye to the situation.

 

Non-residential mooring places *may* permit you to receive mail, but you have none of the legal protections and rights (Schooling, rubbish disposal and the like) that a full residential mooring gives you.

 

If you can commute that far, Packet Boat Marina on the Grand Union about 20 miles away from Ascot have signs up advertising residential moorings, but they may have a waiting list. It's possibly worth a phone call, and you would be commuting against the main traffic flow, which could be a bonus.

 

If your parents are willing to act a a post drop, and you can claim to be living there, then speak to your chosen marina owner about the situation, and you may find they'll be happy as long as the boat is in regular use for cruising, say for an outing to a localish pub every week or so or just a bimble along the waterway now and then, such as a trip I do every so often to the nearest launderette, which is closer to the canal than the town car park. Just be aware that you will have absolutely no legal protection against summary eviction, and some places will add the insult of keeping any unexpired, paid in advance, mooring fees.

[MtB]

In summary, fully legit residential moorings are rare as rocking horse sh!t. And if you find one, it'll cost an arm and a leg in rent and council tax.

 

99.99999&% of peeps living on their boats are CCing or are on leisure moorings.

 

The Wey is an interersting case. The National Trust apparently fiercely oppose living aboard but I have no idea how they go about policing this. Does anybody know what the terms of a Wey licence are? Do they allow CCing? Must you prove you have a mooring? How do they stop you living on a leisure boat?

 

MtB

[KJT]

Apart from the CRT website, are vacant residential moorings advertised anywhere or are they filled by word of mouth?

Or do most residential moorings have a waiting list?

[John Williamson 1955]

I've seen them on Apolloduck, and some estate agents list the odd one on Rightmove, in addition to the CRT auction site. It's been suggested that it may be worth contacting the local CRT moorings manager, as they may know of moorings coming up soon, or which haven't gone in a previous auction, and which may be relisted for your convenience or, allegedly, just have a contract issued.

 

Others are, as you suggest, filled by word of mouth or by being on a waiting list. Or, if you're lucky, you go into a marina on the day someone decides to move out. The nearest pub to the mooring you're interested in can be a useful source of information, too.

 

As MtB said, they are about as common as hens' teeth, which is why I nearly fainted with shock when I found out that I'd got mine for the reserve price on a CRT auction, just a couple of miles from work, and only a week or two after I'd started looking.

[DeanS]

WELCOME TO THE FORUM !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[saltysplash]

WELCOME TO THE FORUM !!!!!!!!!!!!!

splitter

[cereal tiller]

In summary, fully legit residential moorings are rare as rocking horse sh!t. And if you find one, it'll cost an arm and a leg in rent and council tax.

 

99.99999&% of peeps living on their boats are CCing or are on leisure moorings.

 

The Wey is an interersting case. The National Trust apparently fiercely oppose living aboard but I have no idea how they go about policing this. Does anybody know what the terms of a Wey licence are? Do they allow CCing? Must you prove you have a mooring? How do they stop you living on a leisure boat?

 

MtB

Annual licence on the River is cheap but will only be issued to boats that have a mooring on the Wey.

 

The National Trust will not allow live aboards and they are Very vigilant.

 

CT

[MtB]

Annual licence on the River is cheap but will only be issued to boats that have a mooring on the Wey.

 

The National Trust will not allow live aboards and they are Very vigilant.

 

CT

 

So this is why Ting Dene at Pyrford are so expensive then eh?

 

I was more interested in how they are vigilant, and if they suspect you are a liveaboard, how they distinguish you from someone who 'lives' in a house but spends 'a lot' of time on their boat.

 

They must run into all the same problems that make BW then CRT not bother to try to distinguish.

 

MtB

[GUMPY]

To the OP

don't mention you are residential as being away quite a bit you could class as not.

If its a narrowboat Thames and Kennet Marina in Reading is about your best bet.

[MtB]

To the OP

don't mention you are residential as being away quite a bit you could class as not.

 

 

Yes this is a very good point.

 

If its a narrowboat Thames and Kennet Marina in Reading is about your best bet.

 

T&K to Ascot is one pig of a journey though. Would probably take about an hour in the rush hour.

 

 

MtB

[blackrose]

 

 

The Wey is an interersting case. The National Trust apparently fiercely oppose living aboard but I have no idea how they go about policing this. Does anybody know what the terms of a Wey licence are? Do they allow CCing? Must you prove you have a mooring? How do they stop you living on a leisure boat?

 

MtB

 

I've never been down the Wey but I hear they have a mooring warden at every visitor mooring - whether that's true or not I don't know. If it's controlled anything like where I am on the Warks Avon, they will only issue annual licences for boats with permanent moorings, so CCing is limited to those on temporary licences. I think it's changed now but when I checked the Pyrford marina webiste about 6 years ago it was quite explicit in terms of not even asking about living aboard in the marina. Have Tingdene taken over recently or was it always one of their marinas?

Edited June 22, 2014 by blackrose

[GUMPY]

 

Yes this is a very good point.

 

 

T&K to Ascot is one pig of a journey though. Would probably take about an hour in the rush hour.

 

 

MtB

True

Tims Boatyard in Staines on Thames or there is another yard just the other side of the motorway going upstream before Wraysbury that takes NB at least then it might be against the traffic.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Loddon

[Dastardly&Muttley]

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

 

I must say Pyrford would have been my first choice. Their website has this to say though: "We DO NOT offer any berths on a residential, or liveaboard basis." Fairly explicit I'd say. A shame because I'd love somewhere a little more rural to walk my dog.

 

From the sound of it though, a leisure mooring on the Slough arm of the Grand Union or nearabouts might work given that I'll be away a reasonable amount and have a house where I'm on the electoral roll. Does anyone know how often leisure moorings come up on the slough arm?

 

Having said all that, Tim's boatyard looks like it might be a good spot. This may be a stupid question but would it be an issue that I'd be leaving for the boats for possibly weeks at a time during the winter? I'd worry about changing levels or flooding - thinking a canal might be a better option for a newbie like me.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Dastardly&Muttley

[blackrose]

 

Having said all that, Tim's boatyard looks like it might be a good spot. This may be a stupid question but would it be an issue that I'd be leaving for the boats for possibly weeks at a time during the winter? I'd worry about changing levels or flooding - thinking a canal might be a better option for a newbie like me.

 

It's not a stupid question at all. Although I'm sure they would do their best to secure unoccupied boats, I also saw a narrowboat that had sunk at the yard upstream of the M25 after the relatively minor floods two winters ago. I wasn't in the area last winter when it really flooded badly so I don't know how well they coped. Some of the boats there are moored beam on to the current and I'm not sure I'd fancy that in flood conditions.

 

You would definitely find mooring on a canal much easier than a river - but for me it's much less interesting and exciting. Plenty of people moor on the Thames but it may be best to start off on a canal. If you do fancy an adventure in future I might be able put you in touch with someone with a garden-end mooring in Wraysbury. I moored there for 3 years and left my boat for weeks at a time including during floods, when I got a new job elsewhere. You've just got to know how to moor.

Edited June 22, 2014 by blackrose

[Higgs]

I've recently become residential in what was an otherwise 'turning a blind eye' sort of arrangement marina. Those who moor here and are not residential are limited to a maximum of 6 months living aboard. Most people are going to live aboard their boats for short periods in any case. As long your boat is not classed as your main place of residence and your have an alternative postal address, you will possibly be able to do short liveaboard periods.

 

Always best to check with the marina.

[MtB]

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

 

I must say Pyrford would have been my first choice. Their website has this to say though: "We DO NOT offer any berths on a residential, or liveaboard basis." Fairly explicit I'd say. A shame because I'd love somewhere a little more rural to walk my dog.

 

 

I really don't think you have anything to worry about on this count. Your use of the boat sounds more like genuinely conventional leisure to me anyway!

 

I mean, you have a house where you 'officially' live, no doubt this address is on yr driving licence, bank statements etc, and you'll only be 'holidaying' on the boat when you are not working abroad. In addition you can take the boat out onto the Wey for a week or two perhaps several times a year.

 

Set against this I know someone who lived properly on his boat in Pyrford marina so the stuff they are telling you is just the party line, probably because they don't know you and they have to be dead careful in case you work for the National Trust of the local council.

 

MtB

[Dastardly&Muttley]

I really don't think you have anything to worry about on this count. Your use of the boat sounds more like genuinely conventional leisure to me anyway!

 

I mean, you have a house where you 'officially' live, no doubt this address is on yr driving licence, bank statements etc, and you'll only be 'holidaying' on the boat when you are not working abroad. In addition you can take the boat out onto the Wey for a week or two perhaps several times a year.

 

Set against this I know someone who lived properly on his boat in Pyrford marina so the stuff they are telling you is just the party line, probably because they don't know you and they have to be dead careful in case you work for the National Trust of the local council.

 

Sounds promising! I guess my concern was that while I'll be going away a fair bit, there may also be periods of several months at a time when I'm on the boat. I can take the boat out along the Wey and work from there for a week+ every month or so, so maybe that's not as big a problem as I thought.

[John Williamson 1955]

Where there's a will,there's always a way.

[b0atman]

I think this is a subject that could do with being under general boating for discussion but Op should put it there .

Maybe the boating organisations should get to grips with the definitions Residential and Liveaboard.

Residential is surely moored in same position for a calendar year and living on board for more than 10 months of that year.

Liveaboard in a mooring but either boat or inhabitants away for more than 2 months in the calendar year.

This is basically how caravan sites on the Lincolnshire coast work.