Increases of up to 89% are turning waterways into ‘a pied-à-terre for rich people’

People living on canal boats in London say they are being priced off the waterways by rising mooring fees. Some have been asked to pay increases that are higher than the total council tax bill for homeowners in the same area.

Earlier this year, 250 London boat owners received a letter from the Canal & River Trust (CRT), the charity that manages British waterways, notifying them of mooring fee increases of up to 89%. Many feel the new fees will be unmanageable.

“I’m being priced out,” said Rachel Brown, 36, a freelance film-maker who lives at a CRT residential mooring in Islington, north London.

“I’m a low-income single mum. This situation is causing instability in my child’s life as we will be forced to change school if we have to move.”

The fees for boaters in Brown’s permanent mooring are set to increase from a yearly figure of just over £9,000 to £12,521 in three years. When asked to explain the increase, she says, the trust said it had to operate within the boundaries of competition law (not all moorings are managed by the CRT, with some being privately leased).

The price increase could damage long-established boaters’ communities all around London, claim those opposing the rise.

“I’ve been living on my narrowboat for 14 years. My mooring used to have a vibrant community,” said Joseph Caldwell, 47.

“Now more and more people are being forced to abandon their homes and neighbours, and the place is turning into a leisure pied-à-terre for rich people that is half empty all the time.” Caldwell is being asked to pay £12,000 a year in mooring fees for his berth in central London.

In comparison, the council tax paid by the owners of the flats that overlook his boat is between £1,271 and £2,382, depending on the property.

It is estimated that more than 15,000 people live on boats across the UK. This alternative housing solution has become extremely popular in the past decade, especially in London, where property prices have been escalating since the 2000s.

For many young people and first-time buyers, living on a boat in a residential mooring has been the only way to get on to the property ladder and own their own place in the capital. “I moved on the boat when I was pregnant. It was the only way I could afford living in London, close to my family and friends,” said Brown.

“Being a freelancer, this situation is costing me much more than £12,000 a year. I’m losing income because I’m dedicating my time to challenging this unfair price raise instead of working.”

In June, the CRT released a mooring strategy for London to deal with the increasing number of boats on canals and rivers. This number has almost doubled in the past eight years.

“We’ve made proposals to increase our mooring prices in central London so that they reflect the market rate,” said a Canal & River Trust spokesperson. “We’re still in the consultation phase and working with boating groups, including to look at options that help people who might struggle to afford the market price.

“The current popularity of London’s canals is unprecedented. More and more people are choosing to live on water, and we are trying to find the right balance between residential, leisure and casual moorings so that everyone can enjoy the waterways.

“As a charity, we also have to raise the money that is required to maintain the canals. We need to ensure that we charge a fair market rate for the services we offer, including moorings, so we can invest in looking after the network.”

Some of the boaters concerned are now preparing to challenge the increased fees. They are especially critical of the way that prices are determined by the CRT, accusing it of over-reliance on figures drawn from auctions – the usual way of securing a mooring – in the setting of yearly fees.

“They assume a winning bid is the ‘market price’,” a member of the London Mooring Action Group said.

“This is wrong. The winning bid doesn’t mean this is what someone is prepared to pay year after year, until they push the fees up more because someone else bids a higher price.”

Some names have been changed