Looking to buy canalside land

[RichM]

Our boat lives in a marina and as nice as it is to have marina facilities, it feels distanced away from canal life. It's hard to explain exactly what I mean but I'm sure many can relate to this.

 

I'd like to invest in something and I like the idea of buying some canalside land perhaps on the K&A with space to moor my boat and perhaps have some space for a few more boats, which would allow me to let out the moorings, at least in theory..

 

Unfortunately, I do not (yet) know how feasible the idea is and I don't know where to look. Can I call on my fellow boaters here for advice and pointers?

 

Cheers

 

Arm

[peterboat]

years ago land was being sold on the leeds and liverpool next to the canal, when contacted the land was landlocked and no permission for mooring be careful

[GoodGurl]

land is at a premium price at the moment but just be aware CRT do not have to grant you mooring rights, best to check with them before you buy.

[Alan de Enfield]

Just because you own the land alongside the canal does not give you the right to moor. You need C&RTs permission and to pay them a hefty annual sum for the right to do so.

 

Buying land alongside a River with PRN is another kettle of fish - do what you like, you don't even need to licence your boat, moor your own boat and / or rent out spaces, C&RT can do nothing about it.

Several plots available alongside the Trent.

[Athy]

Just because you own the land alongside the canal does not give you the right to moor.

I was told, by the then moorings warden on my bit of the canal, that on the Oxford Canal the possession of riparian land did indeed confer the right to moor, as long as your boat wasn't blocking the navigation. There is, said he, an old Act which has never been repealed. Can anyone shed light on this?

[peterboat]

Just because you own the land alongside the canal does not give you the right to moor. You need C&RTs permission and to pay them a hefty annual sum for the right to do so.

 

Buying land alongside a River with PRN is another kettle of fish - do what you like, you don't even need to licence your boat, moor your own boat and / or rent out spaces, C&RT can do nothing about it.

Several plots available alongside the Trent.

does go up and down a bit and water can flow very fast or is it an offshoot

[dmr]

There is a policy of "no more offside moorings" on the K&A so even if you found a plot of land you would have a battle on your hands.

Very few potential places and those that exist rarely change hands and are expensive when they do. A far from optimum spot just above Newbury was up for sale a couple of years ago, room for just one boat, and I think it was £30,000.

 

...............Dave

[stagedamager]

We too are on the lookout for land, and have struggled. The last bit we saw was at Yardley Gobion, with 400M of offside frontage went for just shy of 100K, again, with no right to moor and CRT not keen on on line moorings, we would have had to look at creating a layby for the boats. Riverside bits do come up, but are mainly pastureland on flood plain, or subject to such tight planning you can't sneeze without planning permission!

Good luck with the search, i feel your pain!

Regards

 

Dan

[RichM]

Thanks for the insight. I think I will look for a new project!

[Chalky]

I was told, by the then moorings warden on my bit of the canal, that on the Oxford Canal the possession of riparian land did indeed confer the right to moor, as long as your boat wasn't blocking the navigation. There is, said he, an old Act which has never been repealed. Can anyone shed light on this?

 

We're moored on the south Oxford on a bottom of the garden mooring. We were told when we applied for it that there were no BOG moorings on the south Oxford. When we produced a copy of the property deeds BW as it was then promptly changed their minds. I'd be interested in your comments about original act.

[dmr]

Thanks for the insight. I think I will look for a new project!

 

If you have a lot of money, or are able to raise a big mortgage, then buying a big house with existing moorings and then renting the house out might be a better approach, but we are probably in the £million region here, though London road in Devizes would be a fair bit less if you don't mind mooring in a cutting. Even there you might struggle with CaRT unless there is a boat actually moored there already

 

.................Dave

[Alan de Enfield]

does go up and down a bit and water can flow very fast or is it an offshoot

 

Main River - moorings comes with house ( well sort of 'summer house') with planning permission, all legal & above board.

Several sites with 'for sale boards' out that can be viewed from the River - from memory there is one 'overgrown' undeveloped site.

[NigelMoore]

I was told, by the then moorings warden on my bit of the canal, that on the Oxford Canal the possession of riparian land did indeed confer the right to moor, as long as your boat wasn't blocking the navigation. There is, said he, an old Act which has never been repealed. Can anyone shed light on this?

 

Virtually EVERY canal Act included the rights for riparian owners to “make places for boats to lie” and to have pleasure boats free of charge [provided they didn’t use locks etc]. The right of the landowners to keep and use pleasure boats would be useless without the accompanying right to moor to their own land [where would they keep any sizeable boat unsuitable for pulling out onto the bank?]

 

It was the awareness of such rights that led BW to try having all such rights abolished in their 1990 Bill. They failed, hence they still exist on virtually ALL canals, regardless of what CaRT tell you. [i only use the word ‘virtually’ because there may be Acts that did not include such wording, but it was universal in every Act I have read.]

 

That will not help you avoid a fight with CaRT about it of course. In exceptional cases the modern title deeds to a riparian property may record such rights, but it is very unusual for rights of this nature to be itemised in the title. Not even the riverbed is usually appended to riverside properties; it is taken for granted.

[Just Heaven]

I was told, by the then moorings warden on my bit of the canal, that on the Oxford Canal the possession of riparian land did indeed confer the right to moor, as long as your boat wasn't blocking the navigation. There is, said he, an old Act which has never been repealed. Can anyone shed light on this?

There was a small plot of land alongside the canal for sale in Cropredy recently.

[Delta9]

land is at a premium price at the moment but just be aware CRT do not have to grant you mooring rights, best to check with them before you buy.

In most circumstances CRT has no say in the situation, even though they claim to. You do not need them to 'grant you mooring rights'

[GoodGurl]

In most circumstances CRT has no say in the situation, even though they claim to. You do not need them to 'grant you mooring rights'

do you have a link for that statement?

[NigelMoore]

In most circumstances CRT has no say in the situation, even though they claim to. You do not need them to 'grant you mooring rights'

 

See also s.20 of the 1995 Act. They cannot even use s.21 powers [never yet implementable] to deny private rights of mooring arising from custom or arising from land ownership.

[GoodGurl]

 

See also s.20 of the 1995 Act. They cannot even use s.21 powers [never yet implementable] to deny private rights of mooring arising from custom or arising from land ownership.

interesting, i am looking at a piece of land that has illegal moorings on it, by that i mean CRT have not said they are legal and have made the owner move the boats that were renting it away.

[Graham Davis]

Would you also require Planning Permission, since you would be changing from "agricultural" to "retail" if renting out moorings, or even "residential"?

[Southern Star]

My girlfriend phoned the number on the board about a piece of canalside land and when she told me the price I said "I'd want a four bedroomed detached house on it for that money".

[mark99]

Our boat lives in a marina and as nice as it is to have marina facilities, it feels distanced away from canal life. It's hard to explain exactly what I mean but I'm sure many can relate to this.

 

I'd like to invest in something and I like the idea of buying some canalside land perhaps on the K&A with space to moor my boat and perhaps have some space for a few more boats, which would allow me to let out the moorings, at least in theory..

 

Unfortunately, I do not (yet) know how feasible the idea is and I don't know where to look. Can I call on my fellow boaters here for advice and pointers?

 

Cheers

 

Arm

 

 

What's your budget?

 

Try this. Nowhere near K+A I'm afraid.

 

https://www.williamhbrown.co.uk/Property/RFD103182

 

Or sniff about here?

 

http://homes.trovit.co.uk/canal-mooring

Edited January 3, 2016 by mark99

[pearley]

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37497681.html?utm_source=trovit&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=trovit[resale]&utm_content=trovit[CV]

 

We were tempted by this but always seems a bit gloomy when we've moored there.

[peterboat]

 

Main River - moorings comes with house ( well sort of 'summer house') with planning permission, all legal & above board.

Several sites with 'for sale boards' out that can be viewed from the River - from memory there is one 'overgrown' undeveloped site.

think i saw that place in september

[mark99]

One on the K+A.

 

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26978895.html?utm_source=trovit&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=%5Bresale%5D&utm_content=%5BBA%5D&utm_source=Trovit&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=premium

[NigelMoore]

Would you also require Planning Permission, since you would be changing from "agricultural" to "retail" if renting out moorings, or even "residential"?

 

No. You would require planning consent for residential use, but not for moorings per se. The arguments for why canalside moorings have always been an inextricable part of use of the canals - and so not constituting a change of use [even if the moorings were rented out to the users] - were competently set out in the Ladies Bridge Planning Appeal by BW's Nigel Johnson. They were accepted by the Inspectorate and the appeal allowed against the Council.

 

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/107044/response/266530/attach/3/Evidence%20of%20Mr%20Nigel%20Johnson.PDF.pdf