Buying "Abandoned" Boats

[bradford]

Figured I'd ask what ya'll thought about this before I called the DNR or the courthouse.

A cousin of mine has a boat in her backyard that has been sitting there for the last 15 months(since sept of '08). The owner was her next door neighbor that got evicted and asked to park the boat in her yard for a couple of weeks until he got a new place. This guy ended up moving across the country and has no use for the boat. He supposedly had a guy that wanted to buy it in May of '09, but that guy never showed up and the guy hasn't called and there is no way of contacting him by address or phone #. My cousin only knows his first name. I'vew gotten the #'s off the hull and trailer and figure I can call the DNR and at least get the guys full name. I figure she'll have to put some kind of quick claim deed or something on it.

My question is does my cousin have legal standing to sell the boat to me for a total Skool's Out price?

[THEFERMANATOR]

That is a tricky subject. First thing you will have to do is report it to the DMV and let them know that it has been stored at your cousin's place and that it was supposed to be removed months ago and that you want to put a lien against it for storage. Where it gets real tricky is your cousin probably isn't licensed to be storing a boat and could get bit that way. In any case they will contact the owner and let them know that you are filing a lien against it. If they don't respond to the lien then you can get a new titled issued to you. I doubt they will tell you who the registered owner is as I've tried that before and they wouldn't tell me due to the privacy laws.

[tsubaki]

The Georgia boat registration process has changed over the years to require bill of sale, affidavit, notary public when transfer/sale of a boat. A rebuilt/derelict or even homemade boat has a whole nuther can of worms to go through which includes an anal probe from the Coast Guard on both you and the boat.
If the boat is in his name you are most likely gonna have to contact him and get it transferred with the appropriate paperwork.
Here are some links.
http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us/boatregistration_boating.aspx
Also look at the bottom of the page at Boat Registration Database, search it to be sure it is his boat.

[spareparts]

I've tracked down a few motors here in SC, there was allways property taxes owed on them, between DNR and the tax office, they have given out the names of previous owners so I could contact them about the taxes, in the end I payed the taxes myself(at lot easier)

[tsubaki]

And if there is a trailer involved, besides the bill of sale/tag receipt (possibly notary needed), you must first take the trailer to your local police precinct (with all paperwork) have it inspected (on certain days of the week and certain hours of those days), once passed/approved, then you may apply for a tag at the tag office.
The biggest saving grace is like spare was pointing out.
Both the County and State want to collect revenue and will do what is needed to keep income flowing. They would rather have you own and pay taxes on it than the other guy not paying.

[phatdaddy]

i've tried to pick up a few in florida under similar circumstances and found it almost impossible. tax collector's office always tell me i have to go back to the owner who registered it last and aquire a clean title. that is why you see "clean title" in so many fl ads. i've heard of locals taking the boats to alabama & registering them there(all you need is a bill of sale) and then transfering them to florida. i think this more of a "myth" than a way to get a boat registered in fl. i have a cousin whos family owned a marina with stack storage and wet slips. a guy comes up in a 20' sailboat and ask to tie up during a storm. they say yes and he stays a day or two, then disappears. boat sits for a week or two and starts taking on water. they lift it with the fork lift and set it on stands. he went back to texas and abandoned the boat. they tried to get title for 2 years against storage leins, no go. finally just crushed it and put it in a dumpster..

[tsubaki]

And whatever you do DO NOT use the word "salvage".

[randlemanboater]

NC has a proceedure to claim abandoned vessels.

http://www.ncwildlife.org/License/documents/Vessel/AbandonVesselForm.pdf

[phatdaddy]

there is your answer bradford, haul it to rmb's yard & leave it for a couple of months, and the re-claim it.

i wish it were that way in fl...

rmb, how big is your yard?

[bcmarinamanager]

We had a boat like that here at the marina one time. People just left it, quit paying their rent for several years. When we finally got a hold of the owner and told them how much they owed us before they could get the boat back, they laughed and said it was more than the boat was worth, which is true. In our case, we had to list the boat in the newspaper for sale for rent owed for 30 days before we could get it regestered as a marina boat. I guess "finding" one is a lot easier to do.