Abandoned property

[TheBuggerofSuburbia]

Can anyone advise on this situation? We are in Scotland.

Several boats have been left, some chained, others not, on private land by the side of a lake for over a year. The owner of the land has had a sign up for some time, saying that if the boats are not claimed or removed by a certain date, they will be disposed of. This sign was up for several months, and the date of disposal was listed as October last year.

Is the landowner able to dispose of the boats? In what manner? If someone else wanted one of them, and the landowner gives them permission to access the land and remove them, what is the legal position?

TIA to anyone who can help!

No idea, sorry, but here is a bump for you anyway.

You can't just nick them!

See here

The land owner should contact the Police. Once reported they then need to keep the item for a year, or the police could move it. After 1 year, the goods are the landowner's to dispose of as he/she pleases.

You would be best to ask either the CAB or landowner's factor. (Although some estates tend to make up their own laws....)

What sort of boat are they? Do they belong to a private fishing or sailing club? Perhaps someone local would know who they belong to.

Lougle, thanks for the link, that's helpful. No one was going to 'nick them'! They are obstructing the landowner's access, and they are in varying states of disrepair, and an eyesore.

Swans, they are a mixture of dinghys, fishing boats, even a canoe. No one appears to know anything about them.

How strange.

None of these boats are cheap but perhaps they have been insurance write offs or something.

Would anyone from the local newspaper come and do an article on the abandoned boats and see if the genuine owners come forward?

Swans, v strange indeed isn't it? However, people do just leave boats in boatyards, etc. I don't understand it! The article in the local paper is a good idea - it's a small community, so you would think that someone would know.

Sometimes the Outward Bound groups from the big universities leave equipment seemingly abandoned and then turn up to find it all broken by the weather or something.

We had a lifejacket tied to one of our fences for months and are as landlocked as you can get in Scotland.. no idea where it came from.