Registering your pleasure craft

If you own a pleasure craft, you may want to register it with the UK Ship Register. You can register your boat online or by post, fax or email. Read our step-by-step guide to find out what type of registration you need and how to apply.

Registering your pleasure craft

All pleasure craft (like yachts) can be registered on Part I or Part III of the UK Ship Register. For more information about pleasure craft (like renewing your registration, changing port/name or transferring ownership of your boat), see 'Owning a registered pleasure craft'.

Owning a registered pleasure craft

Registering pleasure craft on Part I of the Register

Any eligible pleasure craft owner can apply to register under Part I of the UK Ship Register. The advantages of Part I registration is that you can:

prove title to your boat
prove your boat’s nationality
use the boat as security to obtain a marine mortgage
obtain ‘Transcripts of Registry’, which show the boat’s previous owners and whether there are any outstanding mortgages

Eligibility for Part I registration

Part I registration costs £124. To be eligible you need to be one of the following:

British Citizen
British Dependent Territories Citizen
British Overseas Citizen
company incorporated in one of the EEA countries
citizen of an EU member state exercising rights under articles 48 or 52 of the EU Treaty in the UK
company incorporated in any British overseas possession which have its principal place of business in the UK or those possessions
European Economic Interest Groupings

To find out more about registration fees and the documents you need to register, read Fees, forms and checklists for pleasure craft.

For advice about what type of registration is best for your pleasure craft, contact the Registry of Shipping and Seamen (RSS).

UK Ship Register - RSS
Anchor Court
Keen Road
Cardiff
CF24 5JW

Tel number: +44 (0) 29 2044 8800
Fax number: +44 (0) 29 2044 8820
Email address: rss@mcga.gov.uk

Registering craft on Part III of the Small Ships Register (SSR)

Part III is a simple and cheap form of registration that proves a boat’s nationality. If your pleasure craft is under 24 metres you can register with Part III of the UK Ship Register. Registration costs £25.

Eligibility to register

In order to be eligible, all owners must be resident in the UK for 185 days of the year and be one of the following:

British Citizen
non-UK citizens exercising their EU right of freedom of movement or worker’s right for establishment
British Dependent Territories Citizen
British Overseas Citizen
British subject under the British Nationality Act 1981
British National (overseas) under Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986
Commonwealth Citizen not falling within this list

Part III registration is not for:

companies
fishing vessels
submersible ships
boats 24 metres or over in length

Registering online for Part III

If you would like to register your boat you can do so online. You will need to complete a registration application and pay £25 by credit or debit card. To find out more about registration fees and the documents you need to register, read Fees, forms and checklists for registering pleasure craft.

Registration for non-eligible owners

If you share a boat that you're eligible to register but your partner isn't, your partner can still have a minority share in the boat. For example, you can own 33 shares of the boat and your partner 31. The bills of sale and Declaration of Eligibility form will have to reflect this.

When completing the Declaration of Eligibility form, all eligible owners must be listed first with a line drawn under their names. Any non-eligible owners can then be listed.

Fees, forms and checklists for registering pleasure craft

Transcript of Registry

To get details of the ownership of a registered boat, you can apply for a Transcript of Registry. The current transcript costs £21. Past entries, such as an historic transcript (full history of the boat) will cost £32.

If you have any questions please contact the UK Ship Register – Registry of Shipping and Seamen (RSS).

UK Ship Register - RSS
Anchor Court
Keen Road
Cardiff
CF24 5JW

Telephone number: +44 (0) 29 2044 8800
Fax number: +44 (0) 29 2044 8820
Email address: rss@mcga.gov.uk