Boat registration: new part year registration
Updated 19 April 2022
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/boat-registration-refunding-or-transferring-your-registration/boat-registration-new-part-year-registration
This guidance explains our terms for the annual registration of a boat on our waterways part way through a registration year. You can find out if you qualify and, if so, what you need to do.
New part year registration
If a powered or unpowered enclosed boat is registered for the first time part way through a registration year, then a pro rata (reduced) charge may apply in certain circumstances.
If a boat does not qualify then the full annual charge is applicable.
When does a new part year registration apply?
A ‘new part year registration’ will apply if the registration of a boat is:
- for the first time on the waterway
- by a new owner following the purchase of a previously registered boat
- a boat which has not been kept or used on the waterway by the existing owner for the previous annual registration period
- by the same owner following a period on ‘trade exemption’ for repair
*repair does not include winter storage or general maintenance.
New part year registration only applies to annual registration charges for powered and unpowered enclosed boats. This includes private and business boats.
“New owner” means:
- someone who is bringing a boat onto the waterway for the first time
- someone who has not brought the boat onto the waterway in the current or previous annual charge periods
“trade exemption” means an exemption, that has been granted by the Environment Agency, to a business operating on the waterways undertaking a boat sales, brokerage or repair business. The exemption is for boats under the business’s sole control which are moored afloat as demonstrator models, as stock for sale, on brokerage or being restored, refitted or repaired
We do not offer new part year in the following circumstances:
- existing owners renewing a registration from the previous annual charge period
- for unpowered open boats
“existing owner” means someone who is not a “new owner”.
Calculation of new part year charge
When a new part year registration occurs after the start of the annual charge period, the charge payable shall be calculated as follows;
Charge = Annual charge x (number of months remaining in annual registration period (including the current month)/12
The annual registration period ends on 31 December on the Thames, and on 31 March on the Medway navigation and Anglian Waterways.
Example
For a boat first registered on 10 August for the River Thames, with a full annual registration charge of £100 the ‘part year charge’ will be:
Charge = £100 x 5/12 (Where 5 is the months August, September, October, November and December)
Charge = £41.66
Boats registering with compliance/enforcement notices
‘New owners’ registering for the first time that have a compliance or enforcement notice recorded against the boat, will need to pay the registration charge applicable from the date of the notice.
‘Existing owners’ renewing a registration that have a compliance or enforcement notice recorded against the boat, will need to pay the full annual registration charge.
Boats registering following a change of ownership
When a new owner registers following the purchase of a previously registered boat, the charge period will start from the date the ownership of the boat was transferred. If the boat has been off the waterway, it will start from the date it returns to the waterway.
Boats returning after a refund
Where a ‘permanently removed boat’ returns to the waterway with the same owner during the same annual registration period then the full annual charge is payable taking into account any charge already paid.
Where a ‘permanently removed boat’ returns to the waterway with the same owner in the following annual registration period after it was permanently removed, then the full annual charge is payable for the previous annual registration period when the boat was permanently removed, and the current annual registration period that the boat returns to the waterway, taking into account any charge already paid.
“Permanently removed boat” means an annually registered boat that is removed from the waterway and will not return to the waterway during the current annual registration period and the next annual registration period.