Proof of ownership

[realslimshady]

Apologies if this has been covered before.
I now own a house in central Portugal, but haven't been able to get out to it, and looks like I won't this year. The plan is to take my boat (1970 Albin 25) out with me and put it on the lake, but of course all the rules change on 1/1/2021.... So there is talk of customs check on personal goods (clothing, furniture, kitchen goods etc) so presumably customs will want to know about the boat.
I am of course in a situation the same as many must be, I shook hands with a guy over an agreed price, paid some money and a few days later the boat appeared at the yard and has been there ever since, three years now. All I (may) have is an email agreeing to the sale of a boat (with a different name, I changed it), and I may possibly be able to find the bank transfer on a statement. Maybe. But no 'proof'. I have no proof it was the guy's to sell me in the first place! There is no registration document, receipt of original sale (50 years ago!), nothing....
So....thoughts please.

 

[Momac]

It would be difficult for most people to prove they own most of their household goods and clothing . Almost all transactions are based on trust and your boat purchase is a good example of that .
Not sure why your modest sounding boat should be of any interest to customs .

 

[Leighb]

I think most customs authorities will take any opportunity to screw money out of you!
When I returned from Germany in 1971 I arrived at Dover customs on the overnight ferry from Ostend. I had two cases of champagne that I declared and paid the duty as expected, he then said “What about the car sir, did you buy that in Germany?” I replied that it was nearly 20 years old and I had taken it out to Germany 3 years previously, he then said “My colleague will have to look into that, pull over at the end of the shed and wait” I decided this was absurd so just drove out of the shed and home to Essex. As it was wearing BFG plates when I arrived and I switched them for its original U.K. plates once I got home I did not expect to hear anything further and nor did I.?

 

[realslimshady]

It would be difficult for most people to prove they own most of their household goods and clothing . Almost all transactions are based on trust and your boat purchase is a good example of that .
Not sure why your modest sounding boat should be of any interest to customs .

Me neither, but browsing the 'moving to Portugal' pages, there is talk of having to 'declare' everything when moving out there, including T shirts! I guess I'll find out in due course.

 

[dunedin]

It would be difficult for most people to prove they own most of their household goods and clothing . Almost all transactions are based on trust and your boat purchase is a good example of that .
Not sure why your modest sounding boat should be of any interest to customs .

The VAT status of boats is of considerable interest to U.K. and EU customs, particularly from 1 January 2021.
Perhaps if the OP is moving permanently to Portugal there may be some exemption available, but otherwise there will presumably be EU VAT payable on entry to the EU, at first port of entry (or at border if on a truck).

 

[Alicatt]

Just gone through this with my car to import it to Belgium.
It's been13 years and the original docs have been misplaced across the various house moves I've had in that time, even the dealer that I bought the car from had been bought out 3 years ago but luckily they still had a back up of the previous company's transactions. I called them and they sent me a screen grab of the sales page relating to my car and the douane in Belgium accepted that, the only thing I had missing was the proper "Attest van Woonst" a document stating I now live here, I got that by email from the local authority and 30 minutes later my car was imported.
Compared with importing my son's BMW from Holland it took about 3 months before the douane accepted it, and my wife's BMW from Germany it took about 6 weeks.
My Range Rover I submitted the docs by email at 10am, 11,30am I got an email saying the attest was missing, called the gemeente and they emailed it to me in a couple of minutes, I forwarded it on, and by 12 noon I had an email back from the douane with the car imported.
No VAT (BTW- Flemish for VAT)) and no import duty either to bring the car in, car is now going to the local test station to be inspected and then given a registration number which should be end of next week.

 

[realslimshady]

Ok, well maybe if I can, I will take the boat across the channel before the end of the year. Does anyone know of a place in northern France where I could park it for a couple of months before taking it down to Portugal?