- I sold my boat "Olive" to a friend of a friend 18 months ago. He paid me in full at that time and said that he would collect the boat from me " in a few weeks time". Some 18 months have passed and I have tried all ways of contacting him but to no avail. Olive is moored at a local boat club and I have had to pay mooring fees to keep her there. This is becoming a problem for me and I'm not sure what to do. Can I still use the boat? Do I have to pay the mooring fees or can I get rid of it?
A Firstly, when you sold the boat to your acquaintance, ownership of it transferred to him at that point and he became the legal owner of Olive. Where an owner of goods leaves those goods with another to look after like this, the law regards the latter as a " bailee" of the goods. As such, you will be expected to take reasonable precautions to safeguard Olive and if you breached your obligations you can be held liable in damages.
A bailee is generally not entitled to the use of property while it is in his possession. Therefore, in the absence of the owner having given you permission to use the boat, don't. Otherwise you would be in breach of the agreement and liable for all damage caused to the boat; if it sunk whilst you were sailing, for instance, you would be liable for its full value and damages.
So what to do? Clearly, this was only ever intended to be a short term arrangement and it is unreasonable to expect you to look after the boat and continue to pay the mooring fees indefinitely. We would therefore suggest that you sell the boat it at it's current market value and discharge the mooring fees from those monies and hold the balance in a separate bank account. Then, if the Popeye the reluctant sailor man knocks on your door at some point in the future looking for Olive you can hand him the proceeds of the bank account.
Should you have a queries regarding a legal matter please contact Keith Swan of Patterson, Glenton & Stracey Solicitors by email at ks@pgslaw.co.uk or by telephone on 0808 231 7043. Patterson, Glenton & Stracey have provided legal advice to the people of South Tyneside for over 125 years. For details of their full range of services and to view previous Gazette articles please log on to www.pgslaw.co.uk.
