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Buying a Narrowboat


Jacobyte

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It's not 100%, but in that situation it's easier for one party to flog the boat one weekend when the other party isn't around, than it is to remove the boat and take it to a brokers and leave it there for a length of time without the other party becoming aware. Not full proof by any means but nothing ever is.

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Actually, what happened was a work colleague went down to his boat on its towpath mooring at Norton Jctn. on The G.U. only to find it had a For Sale sign and two young men in attendance.

He approached them and enquired what was occurring.

They asked him his name and opened a sheet of paper to check him against a list of people who were popping down that day to view their boat.

Having strongly advised them the boat was his, they demanded he prove it.  After a few minutes they got tired of his arguing and threw him in the cut, by the time he got out they'd gone. 

His boat was emptied of all personal belongings, new padlocks had been added and he later discovered from someone who turned up to view that it was Advertised on LOOT.

 

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5 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Ownership of boats often is not always 'black and white', and I have no idea how brokers go about checking it.

The classic situation is a couple jointly own a boat, they split up and one party flogs the boat. This looks totally legit to the broker as the bloke did all the administration and his name only is registered with CRT. How would the broker reveal or discover that the boat was actually jointly owned with his (ex) wife?

Answer... the broker will never know and the ex-wife could surface at any time and demand the boat back. How would buying via a broker protect you against this?

The Bill of Sale declares the vendor to be selling the vessel free of lien [or somesuch], that is to say the vendor declares the boat to be his to sell. His and his alone to sell, free of debt. That is about as good as you can get, I think.

Chances are you are have already satisfied yourself that the boat exists, and the vendor has recepts for bills paid by him, and of course you know his name, address, and phone number and have done a bit of digging [google his mobile number]. You need his bank account, address and details as well. Social media of course, but that is not always credible.

You can always ask that a third party, your solicitor holds the money till all is done. Sort of ring fencing.

Any reluctance on his part can only be negative. 

Any last minute change of arrangements may be negative. 

Edited by LadyG
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Tricky innit. Depends on so many things, for a newish self fitted boat there should be a stack of photos of the build progressing complete with the sellers in the pictures plus some receipts for stuff installed. For a cheap old boat you might get a few photos of a tar covered individual lying under it whilst on dock. I would be a bit suspicious of anybody flogging a boat who didn't seem to know anything about it but then a lot of people don't seem to know much about their boat these days. Questions about age of batteries, when oil was changed, where the various pumps are, where the seller has actually cruised, how long they've owned it, who built the hull, any doubt over any of that should raise a question but of course a broker probably won't know much of that. Buying / selling a boat takes a while though so if the seller wants a v. quick, cash sale on the towpath and has no neighbouring boats/friends near by or will not entertain having it surveyed or will not wait a week or two till you can raise the money or bring friends to see it then that is suspicious. Ideally the sellers will be a lovely, elderly couple with a fluffy white dog who will have albums of pictures going back years and a hundredweight of rally plaques.

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Hello Jacobyte, best of luck on your search for the right boat. I have very recently bought a narrowboat myself via a brokerage. The advantages of using a broker is that you will be able to view a number of boats in one location instead of travelling to see only one. The broker is just an agent acting for the vendor so wont offer any guarantees but will do what they can to establish the vendor has the right to be selling the vessel. Also what are the chances that a boat being sold without the owners permission could sit at a brokerage being advertised for sale for perhaps many weeks without the owner or someone who knows him getting to know about it.

Hopefully the boat will have plenty of paperwork such as the original builders certificate, a bill of sale to the vendor and various other paperwork such as old licences, servicing details and receipts for equipment etc etc. Assuming all are in the vendors name it at least shows he has had possession of the boat for that period.

Although I used a broker I did have the opportunity to speak to the vendor himself and everything I saw and heard suggested this was a genuine boat being sold by a genuine seller for a genuine reason.

Expect to be asked for a 10% deposit but do your best to reduce the deposit as much as possible. The deposit is basically your commitment to buy and is generally non refundable unless the survey throws up some significant issues. Check the agreement and be clear in what circumstances the deposit is refundable and when it is not.  

One piece of advice I would give is negotiate the price you are willing to pay before any deposit is put down. Presuming the boat is more than a few years old assume that the survey will throw up at least a few thousand pounds worth of work required and base your negotiation on that presumption. You may want to renegotiate post survey but ofcourse the seller may not be willing to come down any further.      

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