BOATS AND CANALS

Interest in private syndicate how do you check everything is legit?

Pete and Andrew can you help with this please?

Thanks.

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Maurice

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I'm not sure on that one Maurice.
Andrew Cooley from boat share 4 you could most likely be the person for that.
I could only say that if the syndicate is managed externally then they the management will deal with the change over of ownership.
If the syndicate is self managed then the chairperson should deal with it. If it's person to person like a gentleman's agreement I'm no sure.

Pete

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Pete Russell NB SORCERESS

As far as I know, there is no guaranteed way of checking as the shares are not registered with any external body.

I suggest that you talk to the chairman of the syndicate as well as the vendor (or another member, if the vendor is the chairman). The chairman is probably the person who would issue the new share in your name. You should also get a copy of the syndicate agreement and read it carefully - particularly to see what rules apply to buying and selling shares.

Obviously you will have looked over the boat and concluded that it is well maintained and would meet your requirements. Check to see what you will be expected to do - some self-managed syndicates rely on only a few members to do all the work, and that is a potential risk in the longer term. Find out what your vendor actually did towards managing and/or maintaining the boat and ask whether you will be expected to take on the same role.

Remember that the running costs of a self-managed syndicate will be lower simply because there are no management fees - but the jobs that a management company does will still have to be done by the syndicate members, so it should be very clear who does what and who takes responsibility.

Please don't think I'm trying to put you off joining a self-managed syndicate. Around half the shared ownership narrowboats on the waterways are self-managed, and some have been doing it that way for a long time and/or very successfully.

I have never heard of a non-existent share being offered for sale - but that doesn't mean it has never happened or that it won't. But trying to con someone into buying a share in a narrowboat is not the most obvious way of making a quick and dodgy quid.

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All the best,

Andrew C
boatshare4u.co.uk and sometime owner of shares in Sojourn, Sorceress and Sundowner

Not by an individual posing as the owner of the share, that is. I believe it did occur with Challenger, one of the shared ownership companies that went out of business and whose proprietor served a prison sentence!

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All the best,

Andrew C
boatshare4u.co.uk and sometime owner of shares in Sojourn, Sorceress and Sundowner