Boats in Gardens

chibb

chibb

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136
Location
West Sussex, UK
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We're planning on taking our steel cutter out the water for a couple of years and plonking her in the garden to allow us to gradually fit out the interior. My concern is that it would be near the fence adjacent to our neighbours. It would be 1-2m away and the boat is 3m at its tallest point (stanchions) which is taller than the 6 foot high fence. Does anyone know of any legal grounds that the neighbours might have to object?

Obviously I'd like to have a chat with them about it to see how they feel, but it would be nice to know of any legal standing on the matter. Many thanks.
 
As it is likely to be called a 'Temporary Structure' similar to a caravan, I would check with your local town council's planning department.

A quick phone call to them will invoke a far better and more accurate response that this forum.

If in your favour, find out the name to whom you are speaking and follow this chat immedeately with a letter confirming the conversation and asking for the reply to be confirmed in a letter from the Council.

I would contact the council BEFORE I contacted your neighbour so that I would be armed with the facts and can speak from a position of strength.
 
Great idea! I built a 31' boat in my back garden last year. The garden was only 32' wide and the boat was proud of the surronding fence. It took about a year and half. Mostly people were inquisitive and ok with it although one person in our road wasn't happy and remarked that she didn't want to look "at that for the next year". I managed to resist commenting that her husband no doubt felt the same (!). She's still not speaking me, but our immediate neighbours either side of us were fine about it. FYI it is a modern housing estate with small gardens & very built up so I guess if it can be done there it can be done almost anywhere. In terms of planning, my wife rang the council and was told that it was OK. No permission was needed, however you may need to get a licence for a crane and this could be an issue depending on if you need to close the road. We got round it because fortunately the council had not yet adopted the road. I know its stating the bleedin obvious but communication is the key - one person assumed I would bring the boat back every winter so simple re-assurance removed that fear.
 
Check your deeds (really) We lived on an estate built on land bought from Trinity House and the covenants in the deeds were ludicrous. No caravans, pigeons etc etc.

No-one took any notice, but I wondered if someone have got really shirty and got lawyers involved over an issue which way it would have swung.
 
I have had no problems.

I hired a mini digger and dug a pit for the cradle. 11' x 7' x 4' deep

This had three advantages.

1 Levelled off the ground.
2 Dropped the total height to nearer 6'.
3 Less of a climb to go on deck and less of a distance for me to fall.

I did let let all the people (7), in the small crescent I live in know what I intended to do before I started anything. They were quite happy.

The only comment I got was from my daughter (she lives next door). She did not like it when I put a cover over it
'dad it looked better from the road without the cover'

P1010011.jpg


The was taken when I was repairing the cover.

The house over the fence is my daughters.

I had to put a pump in the hole to keep it empty.

The hole will be a pond when the boat is removed.

I let the local police know when I intended craneing the boat in -
They said they might send a car up when the road was closed (20 mins), but they didn't.
I happened to chose a local holiday when the police were short staffed.

Iain
 
I built my Prout 37 Catamaran in my back garden. When I contacted the planning department they confirmed that they were not really interested as it did NOT constitute a structure either permanent or temporary. I do agree one should communicate with neighbours but the only grounds for them objecting (assuming that there is nothing in the deeds to prevent you) is that it interferes with their rights to light (which it won't) or interferes with their enjoyment of their own property or constitutes a danger of some sort. Key issues here are noise, smells, and other obvious things, which if you are not working late into the night should not be a problem or if you are storing large amounts of inflammable materials (like big drums of resin as I was) in which case you need to construct a bund store out of concrete blocks to contain the fire risk away from the house. I would also suggest you check the terms of your household insurance and inform the insurers. Also consider a "builders risk" insurance for the boat.
It might be splitting hairs but when INFORMING your neighbours tell them what your intentions are and ask them if they have any objections. DON'T ask them for permission. Basically if you are sure you are not doing anything that they could legitimately object to you don't need to ask their permission but informing them is good manners and allows them to comment. It also allows you, if they have nothing to say at the time, to say at any subsequent juncture that you did ask them before starting which would be in your favour if a dispute did arise later.
 
I used to park a 25ft boat on a tralier in my front drive, the deeds which were then 10years old specificaly stated no caravans no boats, commercial vehicles etc...
I recieved an anomonous complaint pointing this out, definately not from neighbour that overlooked it though. My solicitor at the time stated that the deeds were an agreement between the orignal builders and the then purchasers and in fact had little value once the house had changed hands. Anybody with a complaint would have to prove the boat was causing a nuisence or contravened local planning regs (sitting on a water main or something). So bascialy if your direct neighbours overlooking are happy you should be ok.
 
I would disagree with your solicitor, there are no "agreements" as such in the transfer, there would have been legally enforceable "covenants" between the developer and the original purchaser, and even when the developer has sold off the site these covenants are enforceable by the other property owners, since these covenants are there to protect the tone of the development. You will probably find that on your purchase of the property you effectively agreed to indemnify the previous owners against any breaches of covenant, and confirmed you would stand in their stead.
OK, folk rarely seek to enforce them because of the cost of going to the county court,but upset a few neighbours and this is a prospect you could face.
 
My R34's in the back garden. Spoke beforehand to neighbour and Police (transporter and crane somewhat impeded traffic!). Both were fine though next door were a bit taken aback by the size and impact of the boat when it arrived. Went round with pressy and card at Christmas thinking I might get a frosty reaction. Not a bit - great big snog for my 'trouble' (from the Mrs next door of course!)
 
[ QUOTE ]
In My garden she would float

:

[/ QUOTE ]

If I didn't pump out the water virtually every day so would mine.

Like yourself clay, clay and more clay.

I have a large sump under the rudder with a pump in it.The hull and keel are always clear of the water.

Iain
 
When planning to fit out my brand new Sadler 29 in the front garden, I mentioned to the immediate neighbours that 'a boat' would be sitting there for around 6 months. When the boat transporter arrived, he had TWO boats in tow: mine and a very decrepit motor boat. The latter had the neighbours worried! ... they were mighty pleased when they realised the new one was mine!

Amusingly, 3 telephone lines had to be temporarily disconnected .... but not mine.... (I had pre-warned BT and the neighbours). Because the lines were not mine, the service was free; had mine needed to be disconnected there would have been a charge.

Vic
 
So
Cant interest you i some of Cambridgeshires finest then /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

just very pleased that after we found water + clay, we then stopped digging i had the building inspector call in to advise. had we continued digging he wouldnt have passed the trenches. as it was he told us ok, so, his call after trenches were dug.
one could see by his double take he would have failed them.
 
On a completely different tack. Unless you admit that your love really is more in working on the boat than sailing it don't take it home. It will be there for years (I see a few around our neighbourhood that seem to become permanent fixtures).
Life is too short, if you really love sailing then just do it and put up with less furniture than you really want. and or do it slowly in the water. My opinion is simple is best for furniture.
good luck olewill
 
Mine is on my drive, shes only a little Contessa 26, so not too big, I am not sure if the neighbours object or not, they dont seem to notice me when I try to speak to them!

They do look a little peturbed that whilst on the deck, I am able to wave down to them as they come to and from their front door, but they dont say anything.... at all....

I guess in my case there isnt a lot that can be done about it, or perhaps it would have been done by now, the poor things dont know that its only there untill spring!
 
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