Living on a boat

floatingshed

As the title suggests I live on a boat. Its a 35 year old narrowboat that I bought six years ago for £5000. It is worth no more than that now, possibly less. It is my home and my office from which I do some online work. I have debts of around £20,000 (mostly to Revenue and customs) and income which varies from £0 - £700 per month. I need to know what would be the likely fate of the boat in the event that I went BR. I'm not trying to do anything underhand, I have all my eggs in one basket and that clearly has to be a factor in deciding how to proceed.
Thanks.

skylight

Its your home.

As long as you have no other property then thats that. I think that you will have to list it as an asset, as it is. I would put it down as less value but do not mention any repairs (cos then your OR may regard it as not cost effective for you and take it!). It is your home. ORs do not take mortgaged properties or force people out of rented accommodation. I know you probably have mooring fees etc but if need be, your arguement is that the running costs are cheaper than a brick built place.

maxmycardagain

hi there FS and welcome to the madhouse

is your revenue/work harder from the boat?

Big_Purple_Bloke

I knew someone in a very similar situation a couple of years back only the home in question was a Caravan on a fixed site, it was worth similar money and they had similar debts; when push came to shove they were able to retain their home because it was just that, they were self employed but rather than reading the signs they buried their head in the sand and waited until it was too late, the really sad thing there was that their business folded only after an opportunity to sell it had been ignored. Good luck FS

floatingshed

maxmycardagain wrote: »

hi there FS and welcome to the madhouse

is your revenue/work harder from the boat?

No, the sort of work I do can be done anywhere with a PC and internet access. Is that relevant? Cheers.

maxmycardagain

nothing that can be affected by the weather then thank god!