woops

[ewenm]

got a letter to day from the recievers, the marina where i moor my boat has gone belly up. alot of boats have been disappearing

dont know if thay are going to cheaper marinas or sold, one house boat i see is now mooring out in the channel, along with a lot

of other boats of all shapes and sizes

cant see it making any difference to me, only i hope that when its restructured or new owners are found that the prices dont go up

to much

the existing management and staff are nice people to deal with, hope nothing drastic happens to them

the owners did a lot of improvements over the last few years, spent a heap of money on infrastructure, had grand plans for the place

seems a shame if we dont see it finished

time will tell i guess

 

[roscoe]

Re: woops

Some of those boats out in the channel were likely put there after the owners got the news of the bankruptcy.
They don't want their boats locked up in the marina when the gates get locked.


Good Luck.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: woops

Some of those boats out in the channel were likely put there after the owners got the news of the bankruptcy.
They don't want their boats locked up in the marina when the gates get locked.

that happens A LOT, both with marinas as well as boat repair/dealers. I personally had it happen to me with a boat in for repair, the dealer locked up, never to be seen again. Turns out he was selling customers engines/boats to other people, and then claiming they were stolen. Well... After I figured out there was an opening in the fence, I 'retrieved' my boat. (which hadn't been touched) The sheriff wasn't at all happy that I did that, and actually had a couple threatening words about me retrieving my property. I had a quick talk with my lawyer, but luckily it was dropped before it came to that. (apparently nobody wanted a 30 year old trihull with an electric shift evinrude, of which reverse was not shifting...)

So in summary, to the OP... get your boat out ASAP!

 

[seaboo]

Re: woops

I LOVE my marina. If it traded hands I would hope to slip there with the new owners. If bankruptcy was mentioned or others were concerned I would be too and protect my property until the new ownership took over. Words are cheep, promises are cheep, (my stuff is cheep, but it is mine and I would like to keep it WITHOUT a hassle). I would probably look into different arrangement's until the marina is in secure hands.

 

[ewenm]

Re: woops

good thinking, see thats why i posted , i hadnt given any thought to what the consequences might be

 

[Fireman431]

Re: woops

If you moor your boat (in the water) at the marina, I can't see how they could possibly lock up your vessel so you couldn't get to it. Any marina I have ever been in is open waterway from the basin to the lake/river. The only way they could actually keep you from your boat is to secure any gates which provide access to the docks and there is no way that would keep any owner out.

If the marina goes bankrupt and either changes owners hands or goes back to the "bank", they cannot keep you from your property, as your privately owned vessel is not part of the marina site itself. This is different than if a small boat were locked in a building and the proprieter was banned from the site by a trepass warrant or something similiar. This can be equated to a mobile home park changing owners...they would not keep the residents from their homes. It's illegal. What about the people that live aboard their boats? Are they going to evict them or sequester them? In either case, either the new owners or the "bank" would want all potential operating capital from current residents.

 

[oops!]

Re: woops

get your boat out asap.....if they lock the gates......you will have a heck of a time getting your boat back.....thats why you got the letter.......if it was a simple company matter....you would not have heard anything

 

[relocyo]

Re: woops

Amen, that would be a helluva time recovering if the feds get involved... Get it out asap, or at least have a back up plan involving either a friend with a boat or diving amd swimming off the nearest dock to "steal" your own boat, unfortunately if the bank takea ownership their may be a significant amount of time before you could walk thru the open gates to motor your boat off... What I CAN see is some sort of equity the previous owners might use on your vessel be it mooring fees, docking fees, gas fees and projected maintenance fees, all of which they MAY use as a barter to the banks, that ultimately deny, and run with the marinas percieved charges.... I dunno, but if it were me, id be swimming off the closest dock to retrieve my baby, my pride and joy, and my families happiness.. Just a thought! Good luck, please let us know how this works out!

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: woops

Also keep in mind that most of your replies here come from the opposite side of the globe from you..... there may be things we don't know about your local laws

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: woops

Possession is 9/10th s of the law.

Get your boat out, but then keep an eye on things and be one of the first to go back in under new management. Or sign a new contract (month to month) with the receiver. be aware that you may end up owing rent during the time th eplace is closed. Also, if you have a lease with time left on it, you want to be sure to cancel it if you take your baot out. How you do that, is determined by the lease itself and Aussie contract law, so best ot get a lawyer there tio advise you on that.

How about a call to the receiver to see which way the wind is blowing?

 

[roscoe]

Re: woops

If you moor your boat (in the water) at the marina, I can't see how they could possibly lock up your vessel so you couldn't get to it. Any marina I have ever been in is open waterway from the basin to the lake/river. The only way they could actually keep you from your boat is to secure any gates which provide access to the docks and there is no way that would keep any owner out.

If the marina goes bankrupt and either changes owners hands or goes back to the "bank", they cannot keep you from your property, as your privately owned vessel is not part of the marina site itself. This is different than if a small boat were locked in a building and the proprieter was banned from the site by a trepass warrant or something similiar. This can be equated to a mobile home park changing owners...they would not keep the residents from their homes. It's illegal. What about the people that live aboard their boats? Are they going to evict them or sequester them? In either case, either the new owners or the "bank" would want all potential operating capital from current residents.

Speaking in the US.
They can and do lock the gates when the property is seized by the state of federal bankruptcy courts.
Everything on the property is seized also.

Has happened several times that I know of in just the past 2 years.

More than likely, in a couple weeks, or months, the owners would get their boats back, after the courts determine that they do not belong to the marina, and if they can determine who the rightful owner is.
Federal courts move slowly, could take a long time.

And several months without your boat, and having to deal with the courts, is not fun.

And a lot can happen to an unattended boat in a couple months.

In one near me last fall, a court order was rushed through, allowing boat owners to get their boats before they iced in.

You still had to show up at a specified time, prove ownership, give the court time to prove there was no monies or liens due for repairs on your boat, because that lien would be considered an asset of the marina.

 

[slag]

Re: woops

After reading Roscoe's post, I immediately got very angry with what he was describing (not at him, but the process). By golly, if someone is obstructing access to my property, I'm going to go in and get it whatever means possible. I cannot fathom or see how retrieving my property could be construed as a criminal action. If anything, withholding my property from me for longer than an arbitrary value of, say 24 hours, should be criminal (its theft of my property), and I should be allowed to sue or get it back within those 24 hours.

At this point, I couldn't give two sh1ts if the court steps in and says I cannot take ownership. My contract was with the marina, not the government, and the courts need to take that up with the marina, not me.

Now I understand my view of this procedure is naive because I've never been in this situation, but lets say that on July 1 the marina is taken over and I'm denied access to my items. Knowing this could full well go on for months, that means that basically all summer my family and I are denied the pleasure of using our boat, I'd raise holy hell and find a way to get it back, whether by sneaking aboard at night and towing it off, or whatever.

 

[The Famous Grouse]

Re: woops

I agree, I would get the boat out until the situation is resolved.

To the concerns about being locked out, I would add overall security concerns. Is anyone watching the facility on a 24-hour basis? Are the access points being locked and controlled? Is there staff on site on a day-to-day basis? I would guess not.

Also, as the facility is now in recievership, I would be concerned that the marina's insurance has been allowed to lapse, and other services like automated fire alarm monitoring may also be disconnected.

It's too bad, but for a variety of reasons I'd get my boat out of there until the situation is reslolved.

Grouse

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: woops

Just a word to the wise, you are assuming far too much and if there is a lawful injunction of removing ANY property from the marina then that is exactly what means, ownership is determined by the court if it goes that far. Going in and taking your boat could dang well result in time in the pokey for you. Courts do NOT take kindly to having people ignore their injunctions. In fact some judges get down right testy about it.

Do yourself a favor, the marina sent that letter out as a warning, HEED IT.

Bubba, I agree with what your saying but if the alternative was the possibility of my boat getting iced in I will take that risk, all that can be laid out during the winter which would take far less time then it would to go through the courts and get a settlement to replace my boat, yes your likely to get a visit from the local authorities but lets face it, its a bad situation all around right now and I can't imagine a boat owner receiving anything more then a pretty serious butt chewing.

I wonder if there are any Marinas that have been taken over by CO-OP's or shared ownership? seems like this would be a pretty decent opportunity?

 

[Fireman431]

Re: woops

Speaking in the US.
They can and do lock the gates when the property is seized by the state of federal bankruptcy courts.
Everything on the property is seized also.

Has happened several times that I know of in just the past 2 years.

More than likely, in a couple weeks, or months, the owners would get their boats back, after the courts determine that they do not belong to the marina, and if they can determine who the rightful owner is.
Federal courts move slowly, could take a long time.

And several months without your boat, and having to deal with the courts, is not fun.

And a lot can happen to an unattended boat in a couple months.

In one near me last fall, a court order was rushed through, allowing boat owners to get their boats before they iced in.

You still had to show up at a specified time, prove ownership, give the court time to prove there was no monies or liens due for repairs on your boat, because that lien would be considered an asset of the marina.

I understand what you are saying, and any boat that has been racked or in dry storage, i would agree completly. I'm speaking of boats moored in the water, which in case, the water is not marina property. The docks to get to the boats are and there could be some sticky legal issues, mainly trespassing, but if have proof of ownership of the boat sitting in the water in the basin, it is not considered marina property. What about the people that live aboard their vessels? Is the bank going to claim eminant domain and evict the owners from their boats and keep them as personal property? Not a chance, unless the boat owner was in arrears and owed the marina money.

I do agree with moving your boat until all of the issues have been worked out, though...in case some over zealous bank employee decides to secure the property.

 

[ewenm]

Re: woops

i called the receivers and feel a little better, it seems that for the time being its business as usual, there most interested that all money owing comes to them and not the marina, as for day to day running and purchases of fuel that still goes through the normal marina staff, so to with services lift out etc for repairs and maintenance.

which i was particularly concerned about as my annual service is coming up next month and i don't want my boat out of the water and then hassles getting it back in.

typically the marina staff wont put the boat back in until office staff notify them that the bill is paid in full.

which is reasonable as long as all is well with the company, but at times like these i would hate to have the boat out on the hard and THEN the gates get closed, so i,m going to keep a close watch on this, and hope for a smooth transition

as it stands they cant hold my boat while its in the water, i can swim out to it and just untie it and drive off.
which is very easy at the moment as its coming into our summer and the water temp is fine.

imagine doing that in colder climates brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

i,ll keep all posted

 

[Fireman431]

Re: woops

as it stands they cant hold my boat while its in the water, i can swim out to it and just untie it and drive off.
which is very easy at the moment as its coming into our summer and the water temp is fine.

imagine doing that in colder climates brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

That's what jet ski's, inflatable tenders, and friends with boats are for.

 

[ewenm]

Re: woops

yep heheheh