Guide to buying your dream boat

Unless you’ve got a good idea of what style, type and length of narrowboat you’re looking for we suggest you look at as many as possible.  Once registered at the marina you can look at as many narrow boats as you like, however we only give three keys out at a time.

So you’ve seen the boat of your dreams – what happens next? 

There are ten key steps involved in the boat buying process.

1.     You make an offer. 

Remember when making offers subject to survey the closer the offer is to the asking price the more likely the current owner is to help towards the cost of remedial requirement work picked up after the survey.
 
2.     If your offer is accepted you pay a deposit of £1,000 and the boat is taken off the market. (Please note we do not accept American Express)

3.     If the offer is subject to survey, you appoint a surveyor to conduct a Survey.

We recommend all second hand boats have a pre purchase survey; there are three main types which are detailed in the survey section.
 
4.     Survey is commissioned.
 
5.     We help you review the survey once we receive the survey in writing.
 
6.     If there is any work required that effects the insurability or the boat safety of the vessel, dependent on the initial offer, price can be re-negotiated.

Once the boat has been surveyed the Venetian Marina team will help you understand the contents of the survey and set about estimating the cost of any post survey work that is required. The Venetian team will then do any post survey negotiations with the owner if necessary.
 
7.     You can pay for the boat, in any of the following ways: 
        a.     Direct transfer BACS 
        b.     Direct transfer CHAPS
        c.     Bankers draft 
        d.     Personal cheque
        e.     Debit card in person with chip and pin for large amounts
        f.      Cash (up to a maximum of £5,000 by prior arrangement only) 

Please be aware that your payment will need to clear into our account before we release the boat.

As soon as a final price has been agreed the boat can be paid for and ownership will be changed. This is the point where you will need to arrange some insurance on the vessel. Any post survey work can then be booked into our engineering department for us to complete on your behalf. At this point the narrow boat belongs to you and the marina team will organise and obtain your bill of sale.

8.     Complete the work with sign-off from surveyor

9.     We will do a basic boat handover by appointment

10.   Start enjoying your boat!