Boat Handover Checklist: Documents, Condition, Money

1. The written agreement

Use a written sale agreement, even between friends. The RYA and British Marine both publish standard forms for private sales; a broker will use their own. It should name both parties, identify the boat by name and hull number, state the price, the deposit, the completion date, what is included (the inventory), that the boat is sold free of any finance or charge, and the condition it is sold in. Sign two copies.

2. Documents the seller hands over

• Bill of sale for this sale, plus the earlier bills of sale that show how the seller came to own the boat. The longer the chain, the better.
• VAT evidence. The original invoice showing VAT paid, or the evidence that applied when the boat was imported. Without it, the buyer inherits the problem.
• Builder's documents. Declaration of conformity and owner's manual for boats sold new from 1998 onwards; the builder's certificate if there is one.
• Registration. Part 1 registration documents if the boat is registered; the Small Ships Register entry if it has one. Note that registration is transferred or re-applied for by the new owner — it does not move by itself.
• Surveys and service history. Every survey the seller has, engine service receipts, yard invoices, the rigging replacement date, the last antifouling, the gas certificate.
• Manuals and spares. Engine, electronics and equipment manuals; the keys (ignition, lockers, padlocks, outboard); the spares that were listed.
• Insurance and berth. The seller's policy ends; the buyer's must start before the boat moves. The berth or mooring contract is between the marina and the seller — the buyer applies afresh.

3. The condition record on the day

Whatever was written in the agreement, the condition on the day is what both sides will remember differently. Make the record together:

1. Walk the boat with the inspection checklist or SoundHull's guided walk. Photograph each area, including the ones that are fine.
2. Note engine hours, fuel and water levels, battery state, and the position of every seacock.
3. Go through the inventory line by line and tick it. Sails by name, electronics by model, the dinghy and outboard by serial number.
4. Write down anything either side wants on the record — the known weep from a window, the scratch on the port bow.
5. Both sign and date it, and both keep a copy. In SoundHull the report is signed in the app, fingerprinted so it cannot be altered afterwards, and the boat's record is handed to the buyer so the history carries on.

4. Making the money safe

• Cleared funds before the keys. A bank transfer that shows as cleared in the seller's account; never a cheque or a "pending" transfer on a phone screen.
• No unexpected intermediaries. A buyer who wants to pay through a third party they introduce, or who overpays and asks for the difference back, is the shape of the common scams.
• Deposits in writing. How much, by when it becomes non-refundable, and what it is conditional on (usually a satisfactory survey and sea trial).
• Through a broker, the deposit sits in the broker's client account until completion. Ask which account and get it in writing.

5. After the handover

• Buyer: insure from the moment of completion; apply for registration if you want it; tell the marina; change the emergency contact details on the EPIRB and any tracker.
• Seller: cancel insurance after the buyer's starts; cancel the berth; keep your copies of everything for at least six years.
• Both: keep the signed condition record with the sale documents. It is the one piece of paper that answers "it was like that when I bought it".

Questions people ask

Who transfers the registration?

The buyer applies to register the boat in their own name (Part 1 through the UK Ship Register, or the Small Ships Register). The seller's registration does not pass to the buyer automatically.

Does the seller have to hand over VAT evidence?

Nothing forces them to, but without it the buyer may struggle to prove the boat's VAT status later. Make it a condition of the sale in the agreement.

What if we disagree about the boat's condition after the sale?

The written agreement and the signed condition record from the handover are what either side would rely on. If there is no record, it becomes one memory against another — which is why making the record together, on the day, matters more than almost anything else on this list.