Could your C-Dory be a Zombie vessel?

B

Blueback

New member
This is for Canadian's and therefore applies to the law in Canada but, who knows, our American C-Brats may have some issues here too.
I will quote from the "Western Mariner"(WM) the magazine of Canada's west coast marine industry which is mainly interested in commercial vessels.
So what is a Zombie vessel? It is a term WM used for a vessel (boat) whose ownership has been terminated (sold) but continues to be active without the control of the apparent (registered or licenced) owner. In other words, Zombie ships or boats (both pleasure and commercial) are bought by the new owner but because they have not registered the Bill of Sale with "Transport Canada, Vessel Registration, in Ottawa, Ontario, the vessel remains in the name of the previous owner! The new buyer may feel that by not registering this Bill of Sale they have got free of the tax owing through this sale. However, the boat now is in a Zombie state, and may have in turn been sold again, and at some point if this boat is in an accident, oil spill, fisheries infraction etc. this will come back to the Registered Owner, maybe years later. Therefore if your selling your boat print off a Transport Canada "Bill of Sale". Get the buyer to sign it along with yourself, just like you would if you were selling a car. Then after keeping a copy, send this off to Small Vessels Registry in Ottawa. Then if the buyer doesn't follow through and submit their copy to Ottawa at some point - at least you "should be cleared from liability" with you paper trail of record.
Now let me say I think I was close to buying a Zombie 19' C-Dory on Vancouver Island. As you know they are hard to find over here and I really wanted it. I asked for the record of ownership and he said "I will give you the bill of sale and the registration papers for transferring the trailer into your name --"O-K"? I was a little concerned and phoned Ottawa's Vessel Registration Office and gave them the vessel registration number and said the owner-- or purported owner, wishes to sell this boat to me - is it registered in his name? I was dumb struck with their answer. They said: "Under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act we can't give you that information sir". Needless to say as the person selling this Dory could not give me a copy of his registration papers in his name I did not buy it. But I know somebody did and these Zombies move amongst us .
 
We have had the same problem with cars. iIf you sell your car you need to submit a bill of sell to the state as the SELLER. If you dont and the buyer oh lets say get a traffic ticket or parking ticket guess hows house its coming too? We had this problem on one of Susans cars AND WE SENT IN THE PAPER WORK> but we got sent several parking tickets and a speeding ticket anyway. because we had a copy of everything and when we sent it in we did not have to pay.
 
IME, (for both cars and boats) the seller signs the title (in the seller box) and gives it to the buyer. The buyer takes/sends the signed title to the appropriate registration office and gets a new one with their name on it. If there is a lien listed on the sellers title, the seller must provide a letter from the lien holder saying that the lien is released or that it is transferred. The buyer cannot get plates (or a boat registration) without presenting the title.

The place where this falls down is if the buyer never registers the vehicle or the boat (perhaps he as extra tags lying around). In that case they may be able to come after you because the state thinks you still own the boat. The buyer will have his own problems (e.g. not legal tags or registration).

In VA the number transfers to the new owner with the boat. So the only thing you might be able to do is remove the registration sticker to "encourage" him to register it. However, someone who is going to operate like that is going to do what he wants anyway. The only thing you can do then is not sell them the vehicle/boat.

Never let them use your tags even if it is "just to get it home". Some places might give you a pass if you are stopped driving an untagged vehicle home right after buying it if you have a signed title (and a convincing story) in your possession. However, you are likely to get stopped.
 
Speaking of extra tags lying around, the licence plate from my trailer was stolen recently. I was checking my lights on Sunday and noticed that it was gone. It is not likely that two nylock nuts chose to come loose at the same time after holding solid for a year. My tags expire next month, so I'm not sure what the thief's thinking was, assuming that there was some thought involved.

Mark
 
starcrafttom":drbem7bb said:
We have had the same problem with cars. iIf you sell your car you need to submit a bill of sell to the state as the SELLER. If you dont and the buyer oh lets say get a traffic ticket or parking ticket guess hows house its coming too? We had this problem on one of Susans cars AND WE SENT IN THE PAPER WORK> but we got sent several parking tickets and a speeding ticket anyway. because we had a copy of everything and when we sent it in we did not have to pay.
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I should have underlined the difference between a boat and a motor vehicle at least in BC is: If you sell a car you take the plates off and the buyer can't licence the vehicle until the transfer of ownership takes place with insurance also issued at that time. However, a boat sells with the registration number and goes merrily down the road with you "hoping" they will do the right thing and complete the registration transfer into their name--its almost an honour system--Hence there are Zombies amongst us in the boating world.
 
In my state I would tell the state/county that I sold the boat as soon as the sale is done, just to stop the personal property tax accumulation. So a copy of the acknowledgement of the that from the local government might be sufficient to show that you sold the boat on x date if the buyer does not do what he's supposed to and register the boat.
 
I had an uncle who had this same problem with a 50 foot documented vessel. He even had sent the paperwork in to the CG, indicating that he no longer owned the vessel. All of a sudden he started getting yard bills, marina bills and he stopped getting the payments on the boat (He had taken a low down, with "payments". It took him well over a year, and over $10,000 to re-posess the boat, (Sheriff Seizure) and get back a clear title to a boat he had sold! All along the way, there was the worry about liability!
 
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