Mooring squatter removal

Tintin

Tintin

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Some thoughts please.

My club owns some moorings and either rents them "maintained" (where the club owns the tackle) or "bare" (where a licence to moor is issued and the user buys the tackle.

We have someone squatting a mooring. They have been offerred club membership and have agreed to join and pay for their mooring but they always have an excuse for not paying (spent money on holiday etc).

Does anyone know the basic law around this? Can we seize / arrest / remove the offending boat, hold it for a while to give the squatter time to pay (eg 4 weeks) then, if he fails to pay, sell the boat to recover the outstanding debt?
 
Does the club actually 'own' the moorings or is it more of an intermediary for Crown Estates?
Is the hardware squatted on club owned, or some previous tenant's?
 
Comrade Red said:
Can we seize / arrest / remove the offending boat, hold it for a while to give the squatter time to pay (eg 4 weeks) then, if he fails to pay, sell the boat to recover the outstanding debt?
Click to expand...

You can if you say so in the mooring contract he signed. There's some specific law about it - I remember the notices on seized boats at our yard mentioned the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act so that might be worth a read.

However, it sounds like he hasn't actually signed a contract. So I guess you have two options - either argue that he's accepted the standard contract by his actions (the fact he's agreed in principle to pay will help here) or treat him as using your mooring without any permission at all.

I've no idea what the law is in the latter case - I'd guess you can probably remove his boat if you don't use unreasonable force, but it's going to be hard to stop him coming back.

Pete
 
Ask to see proof of insurance, then write to the insurance company to say that he is using a mooring without permission and that the club cannot attest to the state of the mooring or to its suitability for his boat.
 
lw395 said:
Does the club actually 'own' the moorings or is it more of an intermediary for Crown Estates?
Is the hardware squatted on club owned, or some previous tenant's?
Click to expand...


We rent the area from the Duchy.

The hardware is club owned.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Ask to see proof of insurance, then write to the insurance company to say that he is using a mooring without permission and that the club cannot attest to the state of the mooring or to its suitability for his boat.
Click to expand...
Insurance is a mooring condition but he has not yet either signed a mooring contract (one of the outstanding issues in addition to the money) nor provided any insurance details.
 
Two thoughts - 1 the Duchy has an illegal squatter. Would they get involved as land owner?

Two, give notice that the mooring is to be removed on such and such a date, and the boat will be moved at owners expense to a safe (and expensive!) berth elsewhere at owners risk. Last point is important as if you move the boat otherwise, you are liable for any damage real or imagined or possibly even pre-existing if the owner tries it on!
 
Comrade Red said:
We rent the area from the Duchy.

The hardware is club owned.
Click to expand...
So, to some extent, he's squatting on Duchy property, unless they've given you right to manage the area, rather than just a licence for x amount of moorings.
But, if he ha agreed to pay in principle, it's not quite squatting, it's non-payment of an agreed contract.
So what you need to do is get the money out of him, as opposed to get rid of him.

I would suggest some sort of letter saying, please pay by date x, with vague hints of debt recovery.
 
lw395 said:
But, if he ha agreed to pay in principle, it's not quite squatting, it's non-payment of an agreed contract.
So what you need to do is get the money out of him, as opposed to get rid of him.
Click to expand...

I suspect they'd prefer to get rid of him (ideally after collecting some money for the use to date) rather than end up with an ongoing problem. Extracting next year's money isn't going to be any easier - probably harder as he'll feel more legitimate having "already paid" (for last year) and been there so long.

lw395 said:
I would suggest some sort of letter saying, please pay by date x, with vague hints of debt recovery.
Click to expand...

Do they have an address to send it to?

Money Claim Online is good for getting court documents onto somebody's doormat for little outlay of money or effort (my former landlady returned the deposit post-haste) but I think you do need a UK address for the recipient.

Because there are so many options, I think this is a case where a little advice from a lawyer with relevant experience would be really useful.

Pete
 
prv said:
I suspect they'd prefer to get rid of him (ideally after collecting some money for the use to date) rather than end up with an ongoing problem. Extracting next year's money isn't going to be any easier - probably harder as he'll feel more legitimate having "already paid" (for last year) and been there so long.



Do they have an address to send it to?

Money Claim Online is good for getting court documents onto somebody's doormat for little outlay of money or effort (my former landlady returned the deposit post-haste) but I think you do need a UK address for the recipient.

Because there are so many options, I think this is a case where a little advice from a lawyer with relevant experience would be really useful.

Pete
Click to expand...
But they may have entered into a contract, by agreeing terms under which he can use the mooring.
He may be entitled to some sort of proper notice to end the contract, despite having never paid.

You are right, ask an expert if you can't sort out an agreement.
It could all come right in the end.

If no address, an envelope taped to the boat will have to do.
 
Comrade Red said:
Some thoughts please.

My club owns some moorings and either rents them "maintained" (where the club owns the tackle) or "bare" (where a licence to moor is issued and the user buys the tackle.

We have someone squatting a mooring. They have been offerred club membership and have agreed to join and pay for their mooring but they always have an excuse for not paying (spent money on holiday etc).

Does anyone know the basic law around this? Can we seize / arrest / remove the offending boat, hold it for a while to give the squatter time to pay (eg 4 weeks) then, if he fails to pay, sell the boat to recover the outstanding debt?
Click to expand...


Have you actually asked them to leave rather than join? - It may be worth withdrawing the offer of club membership and giving them a date by which they have to be gone. If you can get them shifted without recourse to legal action it'll be a lot easier for all concerned.
 
Write, by special acknowledged delivery, that by using the buoy he has tacitly accepted the contract and that he now owes the mooring fee. If the fee is not paid by (date) his boat will be removed at his expense and will be sequestered until payment and costs are recovered in full.
 
There's clearly no substitute fro proper legal advice, but my club had a boat left on its pontoon a few years back. When notice to pay mooring fees was ignored, a large padlock attached it to the pontoon and a notice of impending sale to get the owed money was attached to the boat. From memory, under maritime law, interference with either the lock or the notice was a criminal offence. When the notice was ignored, the boat was sold by sealed bid.

It seems to me that mooring fees are overdue and as soon a there's a significant debt attached to a vessel, the vessel can be seized to pay the debt plus costs, but I couldn't quote act & section.
 
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