Jump to content

The Guardian- Boat-dwellers ‘are being priced off London’s canals’ as mooring fees soar.


Nunovyrbizz

Featured Posts

What Drivel - have folks nothing better to do ?

 

Earlier this year, 250 London boat owners received a letter from the Canal & River Trust (CRT), the charity that manages British waterways, notifying them of mooring fee increases of up to 89%. Many feel the new fees will be unmanageable.

“I’m being priced out,” said Rachel Brown, 36, a freelance film-maker who lives at a CRT residential mooring in Islington, north London.

“I’m a low-income single mum. This situation is causing instability in my child’s life as we will be forced to change school if we have to move.”

The fees for boaters in Brown’s permanent mooring are set to increase from a yearly figure of just over £9,000 to £12,521 in three years

 

That looks to me something like 30% over 3 years (in simple terms 10% per annum), not the 'scare mongering' headlines of "increase of 89%".

 

 

Some of the boaters concerned are now preparing to challenge the increased fees. They are especially critical of the way that prices are determined by the CRT, accusing it of over-reliance on figures drawn from auctions – the usual way of securing a mooring – in the setting of yearly fees.

“They assume a winning bid is the ‘market price’,” a member of the London Mooring Action Group said.

 

Then what is a market price ?

 

The rent increases are also immoral as they will cause serious hardship to people who have contributed millions of pounds to the waterways over the years. Many of these boats are residential and the only homes we have known for as long as 28 years. Some of those who face being forced out of their homes are amongst the poorest in the capital. Most have nowhere else to go.

 

The UK is a very big place - if you choose to live in Europe's most expensive city then you pay the 'going rate' Its your choice !!

 

Apparently C&RTs responsibilities are not what we, or the Government, thought they are :

 

As a Charity with a broad responsibility to serve the ‘Public Good’ CRT should not engage in predatory pricing, abuse  of market position or forcing large numbers of people from their homes.  

Edited by Alan de Enfield
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paradoxically, the higher CRT's mooring charges get, the greater the incentive for moorings renters to dump the mooring and CM on the general towpath instead. Thus reducing CRT's income and increasing the general congestion in London. Or anywhere else. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Paradoxically, the higher CRT's mooring charges get, the greater the incentive for moorings renters to dump the mooring and CM on the general towpath instead. Thus reducing CRT's income and increasing the general congestion in London. Or anywhere else. 

 

 

I suppose it will help them to establish what a market rent is?

 

If they end up with empty moorings, their rents are too high... if they are able to auction them of at the same, or higher, rents........

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Paradoxically, the higher CRT's mooring charges get, the greater the incentive for moorings renters to dump the mooring and CM on the general towpath instead. Thus reducing CRT's income and increasing the general congestion in London. Or anywhere else. 

 

 

I don't think there's any evidence of residential moorings going unsold in London, is there?  Indeed, people seem to be prepared to pay very large sums for them.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, adam1uk said:

I don't think there's any evidence of residential moorings going unsold in London, is there?  Indeed, people seem to be prepared to pay very large sums for them.

They have certainly struggled to fill both Engineers Wharf and "Willow Wren" at Bulls Bridge on "book" prices being asked in fairly recent past.

I must admit I have not followed the very latest situation, though, and neither of those I think is a particularly convenient location.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

They have certainly struggled to fill both Engineers Wharf and "Willow Wren" at Bulls Bridge on "book" prices being asked in fairly recent past.

I must admit I have not followed the very latest situation, though, and neither of those I think is a particularly convenient location.

Quite -- anyone wanting to be in Islington would probably regard them as not really being in London!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A price hike like this is not a new phenomenon.  Nearly twenty years ago our son lived on a boat in Battlebridge Basin* for five years, paying a high, but reaonable rent to the property company who were the leaseholders.  When the lease expired BW (as it then was) took back the basin and at a stroke tripled the mooring fees.

Argument was futile and negotiation proved fruitless because BW's attitude was "take it or leave it".  At the time, continuous cruising was very rare and it was an option we never considered.  Reluctantly, our son came back onto the land and we had to move the boat to a location we could afford.

 

eta * now known as Ice Wharf.

 

 

Edited by koukouvagia
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What some folks don't seem to realise is that C&RT undertake regular, detailed, research into 'mooring competitors by region' and price their own moorings in consideration of these competitors, having compared :

Mooring type, (Pontoon, bank-side etc)

Facilities, (on site - toilets, pump-out, electricity, water, elsan, showers etc)

Location (how close to shops, public transport etc)

Overall "Quality" of the marina / moorings.

 

Anyone looking for a mooring could do worse than get a copy of their local "Market Area Report" as it identifies all of the moorings operators.

 

 

As C&RT make clear :

 

It is our policy, set at Board level, to set prices which reflect market rates and to compete fairly with private operators. The Trust has neither powers nor duty to provide subsidised moorings.

 

Attached is the 2015 Survey of 'my region'

 

 

Moorings-humber-to-the-wash-market-area-report-2015.pdf

Edited by Alan de Enfield
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, adam1uk said:

I don't think there's any evidence of residential moorings going unsold in London, is there?  Indeed, people seem to be prepared to pay very large sums for them.

There have always been people prepared to buy at hugely inflated prices, sometimes dilapidated boats, on residential moorings in London purely to obtain the mooring.

 As for price hikes, the boaters that moored on the mainline beside the marina at Cowley went from paying just over £1000 for a full length berth before the marina was built to above £5000 afterwards. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, BWM said:

There have always been people prepared to buy at hugely inflated prices, sometimes dilapidated boats, on residential moorings in London purely to obtain the mooring.

 As for price hikes, the boaters that moored on the mainline beside the marina at Cowley went from paying just over £1000 for a full length berth before the marina was built to above £5000 afterwards. 

Did they not have a choice, were they obliged to move into the Marina, or did they have the option of moving elsewhere ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Did they not have a choice, were they obliged to move into the Marina, or did they have the option of moving elsewhere ?

No, they remained on their previous spots which now came under the the administration of the marina but it was presented as a take it or leave it as far as i'm aware. There was a lead in period of around 12 months I seem to remember. It did seem unfair and many ended up moving elsewhere over a period of time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, BWM said:

There have always been people prepared to buy at hugely inflated prices, sometimes dilapidated boats, on residential moorings in London purely to obtain the mooring.

 As for price hikes, the boaters that moored on the mainline beside the marina at Cowley went from paying just over £1000 for a full length berth before the marina was built to above £5000 afterwards. 

Same as on land where an area becomes ‘nice’ and house prices rocket leaving the lower paid, often local people, unable to afford to buy or even rent.  Not saying it’s right or moral, but it is not a new problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The article makes reference to Council Tax, this quite misleading as if you are living in a rented flat in Central London you would be paying not only Council Tax but a huge rental on top and even if you owned the property there would probably be a mortgage plus of course service fees which could easily be in the region of 7k to 8k pa.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, tommytelford said:

The article makes reference to Council Tax, this quite misleading as if you are living in a rented flat in Central London you would be paying not only Council Tax but a huge rental on top and even if you owned the property there would probably be a mortgage plus of course service fees which could easily be in the region of 7k to 8k pa.

Now don't go spoiling a good story  Mr T

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 15/07/2018 at 12:55, Alan de Enfield said:

What some folks don't seem to realise is that C&RT undertake regular, detailed, research into 'mooring competitors by region' and price their own moorings in consideration of these competitors, having compared :

Mooring type, (Pontoon, bank-side etc)

Facilities, (on site - toilets, pump-out, electricity, water, elsan, showers etc)

Location (how close to shops, public transport etc)

Overall "Quality" of the marina / moorings.

 

Anyone looking for a mooring could do worse than get a copy of their local "Market Area Report" as it identifies all of the moorings operators.

 

 

As C&RT make clear :

 

It is our policy, set at Board level, to set prices which reflect market rates and to compete fairly with private operators. The Trust has neither powers nor duty to provide subsidised moorings.

 

Attached is the 2015 Survey of 'my region'

 

 

Moorings-humber-to-the-wash-market-area-report-2015.pdf

In fairness I think most people should realise that is what CRT are obliged to do. If you are trying to run a marina business and are being undercut by CRT, the people to whom you pay your NAA fee to, you'd perhaps be a bit miffed. To my understanding CRT set their fees to reflect the local average so that they aren't putting other local marinas out of business and thereby losing another significant form of income, the NAA fee.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.