Vanished buyer - what to do?

[Crispan]

OP - Please clarify, it sounds like you still own the boat?

If so, its you who is responsible for the current insurance and storage costs etc and of-course you are free to either retain or sell your vessel.

The last time i witnessed a similar situation, there was a signed sales contract in-place and so 'abandonment' clearly broke that contract (its not open-ended) hence the sale did not complete. So upon legal advice, all records of the attempted sale (including the banking records) were retained. Also kept proof of all reasonable attempts to contact the purchaser by logging every phone call and email. Then the money was put aside ...for about two years before finally spending it.

At-least you are in-credit ...so if you are lucky and the same happens again, you could be ~£5k up! LOL ;o)))

 

[Vid]

Thank you for all of your comments.

I have spoken to my yacht club, whose yard the boat is in, and they said I should stop paying the fees and provide them with the new owners details and they will contact them. They will not release the boat until all debts have been paid. If there is no response ultimately the boat will be taken over by the club and sold by them, they have done this before with abandoned boats.

I think this is the best approach - if I sold the boat again that would be a fraudulent transaction, as it is not my property to sell.

I will contact the owner myself to advise them of the boats new status, hopefully this will prompt a response.

 

[RivalRedwing]

deleted, missed the relevant info in post #1

 

[High'n'Dry]

I think a contract existed. You put it up for sale, he made an offer and you accepted it. He paid and the contract is completed. It is now his. Tell the marina that it is no longer yours and give them the contact details. Stop paying and acting as though you have some responsibility for it.

I agree, under the law this is correct. If Vid continues paying the rent then his money will run out, he won't technically be able to recover the funds and he no longer owns the boat. Stop paying the rent and the marina/yacht club will have to decide to dispose of the yacht and repay Vid the money owed and the money owed to themselves. Continuing to pay the rent is just being sentimental.

 

[SaltIre]

I agree, under the law this is correct. If Vid continues paying the rent then his money will run out, he won't technically be able to recover the funds and he no longer owns the boat. Stop paying the rent and the marina/yacht club will have to decide to dispose of the yacht and repay Vid the money owed and the money owed to themselves. Continuing to pay the rent is just being sentimental.

He isn't paying it. See #22.