Hamble Mooring - sharing pontoon costs

[matt1]

I currently jointly own an 11m pontoon on a pile mooring, issued by the Harbour Authority. It has worked very well for many years. My mooring neighbour is a great guy and we share the £50 annual insurance costs and every 7-10 years will split the costs of replacing the chain (I guess around £300). We bought a new pontoon a few years back and split the cost of that too.

I now need to move to a bigger mooring and the Hbr Mstr has found a really nice one. The only snag is that the other mooring holder, who I assume owns the pontoon, wants approximately £300 pa to cover running costs! This is about 1/3 of the actual harbour dues and clearly way over the top. I don't want to bother the Hbr Mstr as I'm sure its a hassle they can do without. Does anyone have any experience of the Hamble and how to deal with this and what the actual legal position is? I want to accept the mooring but not on the basis of committing to pay the other party £300. Can I just accept the mooring but say I will only agree to pay half the genuine, receipted, maintenance costs. BTW, they haven't asked for a contribution to "buy" half the pontoon, which I know can sometimes be the case and that people try to sell on their share of a pontoon when the leave a mooring.

Cheers

 

[Applespider]

Might be worth letting the other party know your previous experience with costings - and suggest that if together it’s costing £600pa, you could put them in touch with better contacts that could bring running costs down for you both? They may bite your hand off, give you a more detailed breakdown of the cost or realise that you know they’re trying to subsidise their mooring costs. They might have been stung in the past by someone conveniently disappearing when major work is required and ending up out of pocket.

 

[Bobc]

If the other mooring tennent has chosen to put a pontoon there, it is up to them and has nothing to do with you. You can choose to take the mooring and refuse to pay towards the pontoon if you wish. He/she is not in a position to refuse to let you tie up to said pontoon either, but you are within your rights to ask for the pontoon to be removed.

So I would suggest that you refuse to pay for half the pontoon, and offer to pay 50% of all invoiced maintenance costs.

 

[Resolution]

If the other mooring tennent has chosen to put a pontoon there, it is up to them and has nothing to do with you. You can choose to take the mooring and refuse to pay towards the pontoon if you wish. He/she is not in a position to refuse to let you tie up to said pontoon either, but you are within your rights to ask for the pontoon to be removed.

So I would suggest that you refuse to pay for half the pontoon, and offer to pay 50% of all invoiced maintenance costs.

That's a bit aggressively legal, probably not the best way to establish good relations with a new neighbour. I think you should meet up over a drink on the river, let him know that you are properly experienced, and see exactly what he is trying to charge for. You may find that he is including depreciation on the pontoon cost (or a sinking fund for its replacement) and that the total is not unjustified.
Whatever, if you do take up the berth you are going to see a lot of the other berth holder and a positive relationship will be so much preferable.
Peter

 

[Bobc]

Of you could just tell the HM that the mooring isn't suitable, and they will then find you another one.

 

[dunedin]

So how much would it cost to buy half of the pontoon and half the cost of laying the chains as a one off up front cost?

It is meaningless to compare the annual costs of the previous berth, which excluded the capital costs of the pontoon, with an annual cost for the new berth without any one off “buy in” cost.
If you do some sums it might be you are getting a bargain with the new pontoon, at least for a few years. Or discuss with the owner an acceptable up front capital buy in payment in return for lower annual costs.