Your guide to residential mooring

Stunning views at a fraction of the cost of a waterside property. Kayaking to work instead of your daily commute. Waking up each day to the sound of the ducks, birds and all the other local wildlife that surrounds you. Living on a boat or floating home has many advantages.

No wonder so many of us are transforming our dreams of living by the waterside into reality. Whether on houseboats, narrowboats or sea-going vessels, around 15,000 people in the UK have turned their backs on bricks and mortar for good – and it’s a number that’s steadily increasing each year.

This move to waterside living is partly driven by the higher cost of traditional home ownership. Since stamp-duty rates went up in 2016, prospective buyers have been turning to houseboats in such large numbers that specialist estate agents can’t keep up with demand. 

But of course, money isn’t the only reason. Our waterways are the jewel in the UK’s crown, yet many of us don’t have the chance to fully appreciate them. Securing a residential mooring in a marina could be the answer, helping you transform your passion for the nation’s rivers, canals and coastline into your lifestyle.

Even if you’ve been a leisure boater for years, making your boat your permanent home brings with it its own joys and adventures. So, what do you need to consider before you plunge head-first into the live-aboard lifestyle? Could you live on a boat in the winter? How will you manage to work? Our guide to living on a boat in a residential mooring has all the answers.

It is, provided you get the right mooring. If you already have a leisure mooring for your boat, you’ll be allowed to spend holidays and weekends onboard, but can’t live there full-time.

To make your boat your home you’ll need to find a residential mooring. And if you secure one of nearly 800 residential berths at Aquavista’s 17 tranquil, UK-wide marinas, it will really allow you to put down anchor.

With a residential mooring, your berth can truly become your home and, as such, you can use it as your postal address. This lets you receive post, get on the electoral roll and register at the doctors.

Another option is to ‘continuously cruise’ the waterways. Whilst this sounds romantic, a nomadic lifestyle isn’t for everybody. You won’t get a permanent postal address and you’re committed to moving your boat every two weeks, so it’s not ideal if you’re tied to an area through work or school.

If you decide to change your leisure mooring to a residential one, there are a few other legal stipulations you should be aware of such as council tax, insurance and a boating license. We’ll explain these in more detail below.

Choosing a residential mooring means you won’t have to forgo any of the comforts of 21st-century living and you can still experience the joys of discovering nature, inner peace or time for yourself. Here’s a look at some of the benefits of living in a marina....

If you already have a leisure mooring at a marina, you may wonder why it costs more for a residential berth. After all, you have access to the same facilities as you did before.

Naturally when there are more people at the marina for more of the time, facilities and services like bins, water and electricity are used more, which adds costs to the running of the marina.

Residential moorings are also subject to VAT in accordance with HMRC guidelines. You can find more about this on their website.

At Aquavista we go the extra mile to make sure our residential moorers have the best waterside experience with access to extra benefits, such as laundry tokens, one free pump-out a month and guaranteed parking. As well as a secure home for your boat, an Aquavista residential mooring is enhanced with up to £650 additional benefits each year at no additional charge to you.

Find out more about the benefits of residential mooring at Aquavista here.

If you’re already a leisure boater, you’ll know that boats are like babies - they need constant attention! When you live full-time on your boat, keeping things running smoothly becomes even more important, to stop things going wrong when you least want them to. You don’t want to run out of water when it’s dark, or your heater to break down when it’s cold outside!

Learning to do a lot of the work yourself will save on the cost, but you’ll need enough money in reserve in case something goes wrong that’s beyond your capabilities.

Here are some of the things you need to consider:

The saying goes that boating is an expensive hobby, but a cheap way of life. Living on your boat means you’ll naturally lead a much simpler existence (long gone is a wardrobe full of shoes), and because it’s smaller than a traditional house, it will certainly be cheaper in terms of electricity and fuel.

But as anyone who owns a boat knows, there are always hidden costs to consider which can really add up. Besides licenses and safety certificates, there’s hull painting and blacking. If you don’t know how to do things yourself, even general maintenance can be pricey, depending on the type of boat you own and its condition. Plus, the price of a residential mooring varies with location, with London marinas being most expensive.

However, you will be getting a waterfront property with an enviable front seat view of the changing seasons for a fraction of the cost of the bricks and mortar options, plus the chance to turn your passion into your lifestyle.

Aquavista is the largest group of inland marinas in the UK and has almost 800 residential berths on offer at 17 of its beautiful marinas UK wide. Click here to find out more.