Reregistering a foreign vessel on the SSR

[Chris Pink]

A bit of help please; I've just bought a dutch boat, currently registered in France and I would like to register it in England. I am resident in the UK so it seems that I have the right to do this, but on starting the process it says I can only register on the SSR if the vessel isn't on a foreign registry.

So how do I go about re-registering as an English vessel?

The french government websites are no help in this, it is straightforward to re-register a vessel as French or change the owner but to give up French registry doesn't appear anywhere I can find.

Has anyone gone through this before?

 

[RupertW]

A bit of help please; I've just bought a dutch boat, currently registered in France and I would like to register it in England. I am resident in the UK so it seems that I have the right to do this, but on starting the process it says I can only register on the SSR if the vessel isn't on a foreign registry.

So how do I go about re-registering as an English vessel?

The french government websites are no help in this, it is straightforward to re-register a vessel as French or change the owner but to give up French registry doesn't appear anywhere I can find.

Has anyone gone through this before?

SSR is so lax you can register any vessel as long as you are a UK resident. Doesn't even matter whether you own it or have even stepped aboard. However at some point you should deregister it with the original country to make your life simple afterwards.

As an example I saw a boat I liked in Croatia and as I wanted to sail it away as soon as negotiations and sale paperwork were completed - and as the SSR only gets sent to a UK address - I took the Hull identification number, made up a new name for the boat and applied for the SSR, ready for me to pick up back in the UK to bring out a couple of weekends later. In that time we negotiated a prices and started the Croatian deregistering part. One bought I changed the lettering on the boat to the one I had chosen for the SSR and started sailing without having to go back to the UK again.

If the negotiations had fallen through it was just £25 thrown away and I'd already paid a lot more than that on flights and hotel.

 

[Irish Rover]

I don't know anything about the French registry procedures but based on experience with other registries I'll be surprised if you are able to de-register yourself - this is something that needs to be done by the previous owner and the requirement is usually listed in the sale and purchase agreement. However, as already said, there's really nothing to stop you going ahead with your SSR in the meantime.

 

[markc]

I bought a French registered boat and the previous owner needed to give up the Orange book and send to be de-registered. I then received paperwork form the French authorities that I then used to register as a UK vessel. Maybe you can register on SSR without it, but I would want everything done properly so I have a paper trail.

To add, a vessel cannot be registered in France privately without proof of VAT paid status, so proof of French registration / de-registration is useful in showing VAT paid.

 

[davidej]

Just a question for the experts.

If you bought a boat abroad which was on its local register, sailed it to the UK and put it on the SSR, who would ever know or bother that you had failed to de-register it?

 

[Chris Pink]

SSR is so lax you can register any vessel as long as you are a UK resident. Doesn't even matter whether you own it or have even stepped aboard. However at some point you should deregister it with the original country to make your life simple afterwards.

This is what I am tempted to do. But I'm a bit worried that the French authorities won't accept the SSR (not withstanding Brexit!)

 

[Chris Pink]

I would want everything done properly so I have a paper trail.

This. I don't want to be fined because I don't, for example, have a French Permis, and the authorities don't accept the SSR

 

[Chris Pink]

Just a question for the experts.

If you bought a boat abroad which was on its local register, sailed it to the UK and put it on the SSR, who would ever know or bother that you had failed to de-register it?

It wouldn't be a problem in the UK but it might if you, for example, registered a boat in England as French and then continued to use it in England

 

[Chris Pink]

I bought a French registered boat and the previous owner needed to give up the Orange book and send to be de-registered.

I am, or will be soon, the owner with the French papers. Maybe it will be clear from the papers - there must be a procedure for breaking boats up for instance.

 

[mcanderson]

When we bought our boat in France the broker sorted out the deregistration. He went to the Douanes t have the boat removed and we then sorted out registration in the UK.

Get the broker to help. He knows the ins and outs of the French system. Well he should do....

 

[Chris Pink]

'broker' - I've heard the word somewhere ;-)

 

[Irish Rover]

'broker' - I've heard the word somewhere ;-)

I think I like you.

 

[RupertW]

This is what I am tempted to do. But I'm a bit worried that the French authorities won't accept the SSR (not withstanding Brexit!)

To be clear I didn't actually sail the boat away until all the sale and the deregistering was done - just had the SSR in advance to save a couple of weeks and a trip back to the UK. The SSR is of course is accepted everywhere and by the time I used it I had the full paper trail showing my ownership and the previous owners de-register.

 

[jrudge]

Just a question for the experts.

If you bought a boat abroad which was on its local register, sailed it to the UK and put it on the SSR, who would ever know or bother that you had failed to de-register it?

My belief is yes if you are stopped.

For example Spain has compulsory licensing for most things above ( small number of meters). So if you don't have a Spanish licence ( which requires a theory in Spanish ..) and you where stopped in charge of a Spanish boat then I think you could have an issue.

Next would be that the ownership and insurance would not match.

I have been stopped many times in France but never in Spain. I have also been boarded for VAT proof in France - so whilst relatively rare it does happen, and all you need is an eagle eyed official and it could turn into a bad day if the docs don't add up.

Not in your name? Ah must be an illegal charter etc.etc.etc.

Personally I would not go there.

 

[Portofino]

The pressure is on the seller to get off the register because while on it he’s gonna get taxed on his boat .
He needs the proof of off more than you .
I,am sure he’s well aware and squatting in the blocks so to speak .
If the joker sorry broker decides to wake up at some point in the sake and twitches a muscle then great .

@rupert , I hear what you are saying but technically it’s illegal to ( dispite it’s ease ) do a SSR while it’s still on another reg , there’s a box to tick and accept some truthfulness it reminds you of the legal situation.

How ever having said that how many times do you exceed the speed limit on raids ?

So wait the seller will blink first .