Letting your boat turn(s) you into a Landlord
If you charge anyone to stay aboard your boat, even just for odd nights, you are now classed as a ‘Landlord’ by CRT. You must apply for a new Letting Licence, have commercial insurance and pass the more stringent commercial Safety Scheme Inspection. If you don’t comply your existing licence gets revoked.
From June 12th 2017 owners of static rented boats must apply for a Static Letting Licence. This covers all types of static boat rental, including long-term renting, Airbnb-style short breaks, and overnight stays. Boat owners will need to have a permanent mooring with planning permission if their local planning authority requires it. The price and safety requirements will be the same as for the current Self-Drive Holiday Hire licence, for a full length narrowboat this is currently just under £2000 compared to just over £1,000 for a similar private boat. The Static Letting Licence has more rigorous safety requirements that require potential renters to be fully briefed before spending a night on board. Boat owners will be required to have: proof of adequate insurance; a Non-Private Boat Safety Scheme Certificate; a detailed handover document including emergency procedures and contact numbers; a Landlord Gas Safety Certificate; and written permission from their mooring provider.
CRT says it is introducing the new letting licence to ensure the safety of the increasing number of people living on rented boats in London and further afield as people try to find alternatives to rising housing costs. A second market has sprung up with the advent of website letting sites which regularly feature listings of boats for rent, while anecdotal evidence from boaters shows that it’s becoming more common. This ‘explosion’ in number of people living on urban canals (some estimates put it as over 10,000 in London alone, has seriously overloaded facilities designed for passing holiday boaters. (See London boats ‘explosion’ and infrastucture can’t cope)
Enforcement is obviously going to be problematic. CRT will be introducing a new process for dealing with boat owners who may be breaching the terms of their licence by renting out their boat. If a boat is suspected of being rented out illicitly the Trust will contact the registered licence holder, as well as hand posting letters onto the boat itself to alert tenants. The licence holder will be given 28 days to clarify the situation, cease trading if appropriate, or apply for a Static Letting Licence. After this period their licence will be revoked if they continue to rent out their boat.
Matthew Symonds, boating strategy and engagement manager at Canal & River Trust, explains: “Living afloat can be a great lifestyle choice but too often there are frightening accidents, from carbon monoxide poisoning to fires and boats sinking. Boat owners may not be aware that they have greater responsibilities to tenants than they would if they were using the boat themselves, and it’s vital that those renting boats are protected by more rigorous standards to ensure they are safe.”
Although the Static Letting Licence seems a sensible way to begin to manage a worrying situation it does raise concerns.
1. It will not apply to the large majority of urban liveaboard boats which have Continuous Cruising licences, which may be equally unsafe.
2. Given the very small number of official residential moorings most ‘landlords’ will not be able to satisfy the requirements, so will face the choice of trading illicitly or stopping renting.
You can find out more about renting boat your boat on the CRT website.
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