Mooring Leases 

Many clubs on coastal waters which do not own the freehold of the foreshore or seabed (fundus) for their members moorings, will have leases either from the Crown Estate Commissioners or from some other public or private landlord.

Although the law relating to mooring rights is currently subject to uncertainty in some areas (See Also 'Mooring Law' developments), many clubs have established leases and enjoy good relations with the freehold owner and are content to wait on the sidelines until the necessary test cases have been through the courts to establish which landlords (if any) are entitled to levy rents, and in what areas.

However, these clubs will still be faced with the need to negotiate a reasonable rent with the landlord whether at the start of a lease period, or whenever a rent review occurs (typically at three or five year intervals). Valuation of a mooring area is a notoriously difficult art, and clubs have the added disadvantage of dealing with landlords who, in general, have a far greater knowledge of the market as a whole, and thus are in a far stronger bargaining position. Some years ago the RYA and Crown Estate Commissioners, acting through independent professional advisors, agreed to explore the possibility of establishing national yardstick rents for moorings. After a short period of negotiations the advice to both parties from their professional advisors was that mooring areas differed so greatly in terms of geography, demand and desirability that it would be impossible to adopt a single national yardstick approach, and the joint effort was discontinued.

However, the exercise proved useful in identifying some of the valuation factors that should be taken into account, and the trial figures put forward by the RYA as a basis for negotiation have proved remarkably near the mark in many cases around the country since then. Clubs faced with rent reviews may wish to test their current and proposed annual rent figures against the table below, and any feedback on the results would be useful in assessing the continuing validity of the proposed figures.

RYA proposed mooring rent formula

Basic yardstick rent

2.15 per foot per annum (index linked from September 2002)

1. Regional Multipliers

A. Southern Central (Selsey to Poole inc. I.O.W) x 1.3
(Excluding certain high demand areas)
B. Lands End to Great Yarmouth x 1.0
C. Other x 0.7

2. Shelter Factor over arc of 15

Max Fetch from any direction

Over 2 miles x 0.8
1 - 2 miles x 0.85
1 - 1 miles x 0.9
- 1 mile x 0.95

Less than mile x 1.0

3. Tidal Factor

Available for time on spring tides

4 hours x 0.6
6 hours x 0.65
7 hours x 0.7
8 hours x 0.75
9 hours x 0.8
10 hours x 0.9
Available at all times x 1.0

4. Facility Factor

Distance of mooring from nearest dinghy lanuch point

over mile x 0.7
over 500x (yards) x 0.8
under 500x (yards) x 0.9
under 200x (yards) x 1.0
walk ashore x 1.5

5. Space Utilisation Factorh

Aapplies only to fully sheltered waters in Regions A and B

Fully swinging x 1.2
Fore and Aft Single x 1.0
Fore and Aft Shared x 0.8

6. Possible additional amenity factors to be taken into consideration

• below average shore-side facilities (e.g. poor parking, difficult access)
• low bridge restricting access to mooring
• tidal bar at harbour entrance
• heavily polluted water/air
• long distance up river
• strong tidal streams
• heavily commercial/naval traffic
• swell not directly related to fetch
• area outside harbour authority jurisdiction and subject to theft, vandalism, encroachment by unauthorised moorings
• no security of tenure

Example 1

An area of 20 moorings used by yachts totalling 600ft overall in the South West.

Subject to a fetch of 500 yards; Afloat at all states of the tide; within 200 yards of dinghy slip; fully swinging, and with no adverse amenity factors, might be valued as follows :- 600 x 2.15 x 1 (SW region) x1 (good shelter) x1 (afloat 12 hours) x1 (within 22 yards of dinghy slip) x1.3 (fully swinging and therefore not making best use of space in a sheltered area in a region of moderate demand) = 1548.

Example 2

An area of 20 moorings used by yachts totalling 500ft overall in the North West.

Subject to a fetch of 1500 yards; Afloat 9 hours per tide; 300 yards from the dinghy slip; fully swinging, and with no adverse amenity factors, might be valued as follows:-

500 x 2.15 x .7 (North west Region), x.95 (open to 3/4 mile fetch), x .8 (afloat 9 hours per tide), x .9 (between 200 and 500 from dinghy slip) = 515.

If you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact the Legal Team Tel: 0844 5569519  Email: legal@rya.org.uk.