Legalities

[Novice21]

Well, the decision has been taken - we're buying the boat that I fell in love with a couple of months ago... what do we need to do/know? What paperwork needs doing, or formalities following? Any pointers? This is our first boat (as you've probably guessed), so we're pretty clueless! All advice welcomed...

 

[Shanty]

A big subject, however some brief thoughts:

The central document in all this is the Bill of Sale. This shows change of ownership of the vessel. The seller (or his broker) should give you one when you hand over the money.

The seller should also be able to provide a Bill of Sale to show that he actually owns the vessel, and hopefully a chain of bills back to the builder. These will serve as evidence of VAT paid status.

You will also need to make sure you have her insured from the moment of handover.

Not strictly a legality, but make sure you get as much info about the boat's equipment as possible from the seller - manuals, invoices, note of when the standing rigging was last replaced, what that strange object in the aft locker is for, etc.

Th RYA produce a very useful booklet called "Buying a secondhand yacht - the legal aspects". Worth getting hold of a copy.

 

[Talbot]

The most important advice:

Get a survey

If a motor boat, get the engine oil analysed

Do you have somewhere to keep the boat

is it a relatively new boat - does it have a CE mark

Is VAT paid, and do you have the ORIGINAL of the VAT certiificate. Furthermore, transaction must take place in EU waters and the VAT certificate must have a trail through EU from the original certificate.

Have you investigated insurance and berthing costs?

Are you buying direct or through a broker

Is there any guarantee with the vessel

Is the vessel part one registered, and if so have you checked that there is no mortgage outstanding. If not, make sure that the bill of sale (see RYA site for an example) includes words such that it is sold free of any mortagage.

 

[MoodySabre]

If it is likely to have outstanding finance then you can check here (bottom of link) HPI Boatmark