Ipswich Haven berthing contract

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Carduelis

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Just in case anyone hasn't noticed, the renewal contracts for the Haven Marina contain the "1% commission due on sale" clause.

I gather that this has been ruled 'unfair' and has been removed by most marina operators.
 
For the benefit of those without a legal background, what is the precident for saying that this is "completely unenforceable"?

Surely, if you sign a legal contract including this clause it stands, unless it is viewed as being an "unfair" clause (I cannot remember the correct term).

I am not disagreeing, just seeking knowledge and clarification.

Cheers, Len
 
LenT said:
For the benefit of those without a legal background, what is the precident for saying that this is "completely unenforceable"?

Surely, if you sign a legal contract including this clause it stands, unless it is viewed as being an "unfair" clause (I cannot remember the correct term).

I am not disagreeing, just seeking knowledge and clarification.

Cheers, Len
Click to expand...

a forumite took Shotley to Court & he either won or they backed down .
i will search out the thread.
 
Carduelis said:
Just in case anyone hasn't noticed, the renewal contracts for the Haven Marina contain the "1% commission due on sale" clause.

I gather that this has been ruled 'unfair' and has been removed by most marina operators.
Click to expand...

I am not sure that "fair" is a consideration here, especially if the vendor has signed a contract containing the obligation. But the essence of a contract is that something performed attracts a charge. Clearly a marina that plays no part whatever in the sale transaction has not earned anything, so has no entitlement.

Anyone signing a contract has the right to scrub any obligation he thinks inappropriate. If the other party accepts this, the matter is at an end.

PWG
 
I always move my boat to my chosen brokers marina as soon as I put it on the market with them, sold two boats in past 10 years. This stops any issues with my home marina trying to charge me a percentage.

I can however see the marinas viewpoint re wanting a percentage though if they had to hand out my keys and ensure they were returned etc and I was not using the resident broker.
 
By 'unfair' I meant as in the Unfair Contract Terms Act. IIRC these contain a test of 'reasonableness' and it would seem that if a marina contributes nothing to the process of the sale, then it would be unreasonable for them to be awarded 1% of the sale value.

Even imposing an effective charge of many hundreds of pounds for 'handing over the keys' sounds a bit OTT to me - although I suppose that they then have something of a responsibility to see that they are returned afterwards.

Of course if the boat was on a mooring and the yard was being asked to ferry prospective buyers out, then that would be a different matter... Maybe that is where this idea originated?

Anyway, I'm intending to delete it from my contract.
 
Carduelis said:
By 'unfair' I meant as in the Unfair Contract Terms Act. IIRC these contain a test of 'reasonableness' and it would seem that if a marina contributes nothing to the process of the sale, then it would be unreasonable for them to be awarded 1% of the sale value.

Even imposing an effective charge of many hundreds of pounds for 'handing over the keys' sounds a bit OTT to me - although I suppose that they then have something of a responsibility to see that they are returned afterwards.

Of course if the boat was on a mooring and the yard was being asked to ferry prospective buyers out, then that would be a different matter... Maybe that is where this idea originated?
Click to expand...

It did indeed originate from that practice - when boatyards would meet prospective vendors, uncover the boat (in its winter storage) or row them out to the vessel on the mooring. There are still some boatyards that do that service.
 
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