Would it be posible to ‘rent-out’ your berth when you are cruising yourself?

[Pancake91]

Let’s say I have year contract with a marina for a particular berth in their harbour, but I’d go out cruising and not use my own berth for instance for three weeks. Would it be allowed to out-rent my berth to someone else? Or would this be a violation of marina rules and regulations?

Happy to hear some thoughts on this.

[Calif.Ted]

My contract stipulates that if I'll be absent for an extended period I must inform them and they MAY at their discretion sub-lease and split the proceeds with me.

[newhaul]

Its called a sublet and its fine in some Marinas and not ok in others. check with your Marinas office and rental contract.

[sailorboy1]

In all the marina I've been they can rent out the slip you are paying for and keep ALL of the money. And no you can't sub lease your slip out.

[LoudMusic]

The few I've been to I believe they take a brokering fee and the rest goes to the slip owner. Fees vary.

[SailingPNW]

Really depends on the marina, my guess is that most have some sort of sublet program but require billing to go through the marina, where they would put some or all against your moorage fees, preventing people from keeping a slip and renting it out at a greater rate than the marina requires as well as enabling them to ensure things like the people subletting the slip have appropriate insurance.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Pancake.

[valhalla360]

Most of the marinas we've been in longer term have a clause that if you aren't using the slip, they can rent it out. None have indicated, you get anything back.

I suggest looking at your contract and if it's not clear ask the marina.

[NYSail]

Mine the marina has full rights to lease my space if I am away..... I cannot and will not benefit from anything made. However I have never seen the marina do so......

[SV Siren]

It is marina dependent. Here in SW Michigan it is the norm to have a stipulation that if you are to be gone for more than a few days, you are to notify the marina so they can sublet your slip to transients and the like, and they keep the profit. They justify it by saying it is to keep slip rates as low as possible for the permanent slip renters, which might be the case but it is hard to know that with any degree of certainty.

[Snore]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

The few I've been to I believe they take a brokering fee and the rest goes to the slip owner. Fees vary.

Really depends on the marina. St. Petersburg Muni rents your slip out and keeps all the money!! When I called it "double dipping" I was told that is part of our standard lease term

[valhalla360]

A few options you can use if you feel offended by the issue:
- Don't sign a lease with the marina. Once you read the contract and sign on the bottom line, you don't have anything to complain about.
- Ask them how much to remove the clause and they keep the slip empty for you no matter how long you are gone.
- Ask them how much to remove the clause and add a clause that allows you to sublease. (They will likely want the right to vet any potential renters and include insurance and other requirements. Thy also will likely want a portion to cover the hassle of vetting the sub-letters)

Only place I've heard where you might be able to do something like this is the condo-marinas where you own the slip but even then, they usually have rules.

[Group9]

Our marina does not alliow subletting, and reserves the right to rent our slip out (to transients) while we are away. They keep the extra money.

The no subletting is fair. We have one city marina nearby that does allow it that has a waiting list of fifteen years for a leased slip, with half of the slips leased and subletted by people who haven’t owned a boat in twenty years.

[Chotu]

Sure! But your marina will remove all the stress of listing it, getting calls and getting ready paid by the renter. Ha ha ha.

They rent *their* slip out while you are gone.

[FabioC]

As others have said, this depends highly on the marina.
In my marina, they do not allow subletting, but if you go cruising for more than a week, you can tell the office, and if they are able to rent the slip to transients, I believe they waive your fee for those days.