Homes that will float your boat
LONG gone are the days when a houseboat was a scruffy, lop- sided craft tethered to a post on the sodden canal bank.
Throughout the country these floating homes now go in for lavish interiors that look as though they could be centrefolds in an upmarket interiors magazine.
Last month, the houseboat Matrix Island came on the market with unique property company. offering a huge 5,200 sq ft of internal space and five bedrooms — never mind ‘extras’ such as a sauna, winter garden with retractable walls and ceilings, trampoline and a decking area big enough to throw a sizeable welcome-aboard party.
It’s moored in St Katharine docks Marina in London — viewings strictly by appointment. The price? A mere £3.5 million please.
For those with a smaller budget, buying a houseboat can be a cheap and cheerful way of getting on the property ladder. That was the experience of Hilary Forrester. ‘I wanted a place I could design to my own specifications,’ says Hilary, a marketing director in her 40s who lives on dutch barge, Anny, which is moored, at a cost of £13,000 a year, at Imperial Wharf, Fulham. ‘ I made bedroom ceilings higher, widened stairs, made a kitchen diner, installed under-floor heating and put in a wood burner — serious structural alterations that are surprisingly doable on a boat.’
Apart from being handily located in Central London, Hilary has loved the relaxed way of life on the river.
‘Everybody looks out for each other and it’s far more neighbourly than the rest of London,’ she says. ‘ We have great barbecues in summer and sometimes a new super- yacht will pull up and glamorous people will appear on deck — it’s like permanently being on holiday.’
Houseboat Anny is for sale with Knight Frank for £500,000 (knightfrank.co.uk).
SOME of the favourite, if less glitzy, houseboat marinas are in the Midlands. The Mercia Marina, in South derbyshire, is popular and Crick Marina, in Northamptonshire, is one of the most sought-after spots in the country.
It is set in a quiet location close to a friendly village, with tight security, as well as good communications. There is electricity, water and light on every jetty, as well as free wi-fi.
‘It’s the wonderful freedom of having no neighbours,’ says Ian West, 63, an accountant who has installed a new interior in his 18-year-old craft moored outside Knowle, in Solihull.
‘I am only half a mile from shops, pubs and restaurants and there is nothing like waking up to the sound of ducks playing outside your window.’
Ian’s two- bedroom replica dutch barge houseboat on the Grand Union Canal, where he moors for £3,000 a year, is for sale with Hunters for £139,000 (hunters.com).
According to the Canal & River Trust ( CRT) the number of boats using London’s waterways has increased by 57 per cent since 2012.
Six years ago, Hugh Carter had rented a single room in a house in Notting Hill for £ 900 a month. He could have continued saving for a deposit on a flat, but as a keen sailor he decided instead to buy a rusting hulk of a boat in Rochester, Kent.
‘I spent £65,000 putting an extra seal on the hull and totally upgrading the interior before sailing her up to Brentford for mooring,’ says Hugh, 37, an events organiser. He pays mooring fees of £13,000 a year and now his two- bedroom houseboat is for sale with Chestertons for £180,000 ( chestertons.com).
Buying a houseboat is not without risks. ‘Get a legal expert to check your lease,’ says Rex Walden, of the Residential Boat Owners’ Association. ‘The boat owner is often dependent on the goodwill of the mooring owner, who can put up his fees as he sees fit.’
The houseboat owner should also study his access rights to the towpath and check on where there is parking. Is the mooring secure in flood conditions? Is it connected to mains drainage?
Rookies should know the craft will have to be hauled out of the water and subjected to a hull inspection for insurance purposes every 25 years and this is an expensive exercise. Like the lifestyle itself, owning a houseboat is a quite different ball game from buying a property on dry land.
‘It can be a fantastic way of life,’ says Walden. ‘ But make “buyer beware” your motto.’