Sub-letting a marina berth for a few months

[Oily Rag]

Could anyone offer advice on how to go about finding a spare marina berth to be sublet for a few months. I'm considering the south coast of the West Country and am fairly flexible about locations.
Any experience and tips would be gratefully received.
Many thanks.

 

[MoodySabre]

My marina doesn’t allow subletting. Although I have a designated berth the terms are that it is not exclusive. I guess that’s fairly common.

 

[V1701]

I think your best bet is decide where you want to go and contact the marina(s) to ask if they have a suitable berth for a couple of months. Most will have monthly rates, hardly any berths are sublet by anyone other than the marinas themselves though some berths at some marinas are owned by whoever owns the adjacent flat and I've seen the odd one of these advertised on the likes of Apollo Duck. If you can put a wanted ad on Apollo Duck FOC that might be worth a punt...

 

[Sandy]

My last marina had a clause in the contract banning me from subletting.

Finding a berth anywhere on the south coast will be an interesting exercise. Plymouth is full and we are quite far west.

 

[KompetentKrew]

When I was in Plymouth Yacht Haven, winter of 2019 / 2020, there were 3 on the noticeboard by the office there.

I have the impression there is more competition for space now though.

At the time Plymouth Yacht Haven's rules were that a berth could be sublet once, for the remainder of the year, and the marina took a fee for allowing it. This seemed to make for odd economics - I couldn't afford the price asked by the owner of a 50' berth, because it to them it was "worth" more than a 40' berth; but the value of the berth erodes as the end of the year approaches. I bet few of these get rented, as sellers hold out for more than they're worth.

 

[Tranona]

As said most marinas do not allow subletting by berth holders with annual contracts although some may allow short term lets themselves . However some marinas (MDL for example) have many berths where they sold long leases to investors and these are often available direct from the berth leaseholder. Some do it privately and direct but many use berth brokers like Triangle. Given the high demand as others have suggested guess availability is pretty limited.

 

[rotrax]

We dont have a Marina berth but have a very secure Littlehampton Harbour Authority alongside walk ashore berth at Dukes Wharf. Water, electricity, close to all amenities.

I put it on here for sublet and no one replied. The HM has sublet it for us.

Result..........................................

 

[Oily Rag]

Many thanks to all for your responses.

I may have a look at swinging moorings. ??

 

[ashtead]

I can only suggest port Solent where the house owners sublet via local estate agent but the same may happen at island harbour on IoW where the houses have berths. I guess a bit far from West Country though?

 

[mediterrano]

if the boat-owner A has an annual berth in the marina A and boat-owner B has an annual berth in the marina B and
the boat-owner A wants to cruise to and stay in the marina B and the boat-owner B wants to cruise to and stay in the marina A and
they just can't sublet or barter their marina berths to each other so they both have to rent daily/weekly transitory berths??

If so, can the boat-owner A and B forbid their marinas to rent their annual berths to others in their absence? Because clearly, this is then the intent of marinas, the double-sell the berths, once annually and once short-term while the annual tenant is absent.

Here in the Mediterranean, some marinas have a clause in the contract, stipulating that the annual marina berth has to be vacated for a certain number of days during a certain period of the year. e.g. in Cannes it is 20 days during the boat festival and in other marinas it is just a certain number of days during the high season. In such cases, where the marinas have already written such a clause into the contract, they might not also forbid the annual berth holders subletting to others.

 

[chriscallender]

if the boat-owner A has an annual berth in the marina A and boat-owner B has an annual berth in the marina B and
the boat-owner A wants to cruise to and stay in the marina B and the boat-owner B wants to cruise to and stay in the marina A and
they just can't sublet or barter their marina berths to each other so they both have to rent daily/weekly transitory berths??

If so, can the boat-owner A and B forbid their marinas to rent their annual berths to others in their absence? Because clearly, this is then the intent of marinas, the double-sell the berths, once annually and once short-term while the annual tenant is absent.

Here in the Mediterranean, some marinas have a clause in the contract, stipulating that the annual marina berth has to be vacated for a certain number of days during a certain period of the year. e.g. in Cannes it is 20 days during the boat festival and in other marinas it is just a certain number of days during the high season. In such cases, where the marinas have already written such a clause into the contract, they might not also forbid the annual berth holders subletting to others.

Usually it works that boat owners A and B don't have "annual berths" , they pay for a licence allowing them to keep boat A and boat B in the respective marinas. If you go away sailing (or off to a different marina) they will happily put a visitor on "your" berth and make some extra money because you are not making use of a service that you paid for.

Whether that is fair or not we can argue, but that is a pretty typical arrangement and it won't make any difference to them if there is an agreement or a barter between the owners. If boat B turns up in the marina where boat A has a contract and vice versa, they will expect payment and do all the usual things if they don't get paid.

Some/most of the bigger companies who run chains of marinas do allow swaps within their group, but that would be done through agreements with the marina company, not directly between the two owners.

 

[Momac]

if the boat-owner A has an annual berth in the marina A and boat-owner B has an annual berth in the marina B and
the boat-owner A wants to cruise to and stay in the marina B and the boat-owner B wants to cruise to and stay in the marina A and
they just can't sublet or barter their marina berths to each other so they both have to rent daily/weekly transitory berths??

If so, can the boat-owner A and B forbid their marinas to rent their annual berths to others in their absence? Because clearly, this is then the intent of marinas, the double-sell the berths, once annually and once short-term while the annual tenant is absent.

In the UK I expect , as said above, we do not in most cases rent a particular berth. In theory we can be put in any berth in the marina. In my case that does not happen and we keep the same berth all of the time.
The boat owner has no rights to sub let.
I heard of one marina, where a friend keeps his boat, that gives the bertholder some cashback if they allow their usual berth to be let to a short term visitor , which seems very fair.

 

[Robih]

My last marina had a clause in the contract banning me from subletting.

Finding a berth anywhere on the south coast will be an interesting exercise. Plymouth is full and we are quite far west.

Sandy,

I read somewhere recently that said King Point has spare annual berths, I think it was a SHG advertisement. I was surprised but haven’t enquired further.

 

[Refueler]

In all the years I lived in UK ....

Dunno if still the system .... but MDL used to advertise that take a berth in marina A ... you then had X days of possible berthing in another MDL marina - if you booked ahead ...

Second that unless the Berth was linked to a property you rented or purchased .. such as Port Solent / Hythe etc. - the berth you were allocated was not g'teed all time to you - marina reserved right to put visitor / other on that berth and direct you to alternative berth. Of course generally you used same berth and marina only allowed short stay visitors on it when you are away with your boat.

Subletting berths was not allowed in most marinas - only where berth was linked to a property you owned ... most rented I knew off had clause in contract prohibiting sublet.

 

[Sandy]

Sandy,

I read somewhere recently that said King Point has spare annual berths, I think it was a SHG advertisement. I was surprised but haven’t enquired further.

Robih

I left King Point in 2021 and am now enjoying life at Saltash Sailing Club so can't comment.

 

[mediterrano]

If the marina doesn't let me sublet, then I don't want to let the marina to give my berth to others.
What If deployed a buoy to prevent that?

 

[doug748]

Many thanks to all for your responses.

I may have a look at swinging moorings. ??

Not sublet but you could probably find space in Mayflower Marina Plymouth @ c 800 per month direct from the marina, though might be tight in July - Aug. Other marinas are probably the same, and don't take kindly to subletting. There may be one or two in Mayflower, the problem is finding them, as the marina, obviously, has a vested interest in keeping their own berths full.
King Point may well have space but they have rammed their prices up and now do not include parking - which for me makes the thing worthless.
As KompetentKrew said, Plymouth Yacht Haven notice board normally has a few sublets, I took one once.

For swinging moorings, I believe a number of clubs would have vacancies, the costs are pretty low so it is hardly worth the hassle of trying to find a sublet.
Plym Yacht Club - have many fore and aft, and is convenient for arriving via the A38
Mayflower Boat Owners Association - May have something on a weekly basis if you arrive in the summer, but in advance you would need to Join and pay a fee + mooring charge.
Cattewater Harbour Commissioners would be worth a contact
There are at least three clubs on the Tamar worth talking to, plus the moorings operated by Huggins Torpoint - though personally I would only look at those near Cremyll, which are nicely placed but isolated. Expensive though maybe twice the price of a club mooring but they do have a launch service.

If it were me, I would just rock up and look for something, though you often need to actually visit clubs in order to get sorted.

.

 

[Sandy]

King Point may well have space but they have rammed their prices up and now do not include parking - which for me makes the thing worthless..

I knew that they had a 25% price increase and were only offering annual contracts after I left, but without inclusive parking it is not an easy place to get crew and kit to, that must be putting a lot of people off staying long term.

To my mind King Point is in one of the prime location in Plymouth, well sheltered, quick access to the open sea and away from the hurly-burly of The Barbican. While it is one of the 'finishing yards for Princess Yachts', I always found their workforce polite and their skippers would always give you priority.

 

[Tranona]

If the marina doesn't let me sublet, then I don't want to let the marina to give my berth to others.
What If deployed a buoy to prevent that?

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Surely it depends on the contract? Most marina berths in the UK are not leases but a service and the contracts prohibit sub letting. As i explained in post#6 some berths are under a lease and therefore the leaseholder is able to sublet. It is the same in the Med, although long term leases are more common than service contracts. some marinas - San Carles for example were partly financed by selling long term leases for berths and can be rented from the leaseholder. That marina also acts as agent for the leaseholder as an option.

 

[mediterrano]

Surely it depends on the contract? Most marina berths in the UK are not leases but a service and the contracts prohibit sub letting. As i explained in post#6 some berths are under a lease and therefore the leaseholder is able to sublet. It is the same in the Med, although long term leases are more common than service contracts. some marinas - San Carles for example were partly financed by selling long term leases for berths and can be rented from the leaseholder. That marina also acts as agent for the leaseholder as an option.

I don't think this practice of marinas would withstand legal scrutiny. Marinas are trying hard to represent the nature of the agreement as a provision of service, so that they then can argue that there is no need to provide the service when the boat is not there. This way they rent the berths short-term to others and make money which actually you should be making as you have paid to occupy a berth for the whole year.
I think the way to go is to leave behind a spare dingy when leaving the berth, ideally with a Wifi webcam in a water-protected casing, attached to a battery, so to make sure the marina does not and cannot rent it to others in your absence. If enough people would do this, marinas would eventually come up with revenue-sharing offers.