Boat sale in France: transfer certificate, formalities and securing the price

Key points

• Transfer certificate: there is no official form for a pleasure boat in France; the bill of sale serves that purpose and must contain the particulars of article D. 5114-51 of the French Transport Code.
• Deadline: the bill of sale is filed with the authorities within one month (article D. 5112-2-5 of the French Transport Code).
• Online process: private individuals declare the sale and the purchase on demarches-plaisance.gouv.fr; the seller passes on to the buyer the transfer code issued by the portal.
• Marine mortgage: it follows the vessel into the buyer's hands; the statement of registrations should be checked before signing.
• Price escrow: the price is locked on a CARPA account and released to the seller only after release of security interests, declaration of the sale and handover of documents.

Whether between private individuals or professionals, selling a pleasure boat in France takes more than a handshake on the pontoon. The French Transport Code governs the content of the bill of sale and requires it to be filed with the authorities within a short deadline. Above all, the vessel may be encumbered by security interests that follow it into the buyer's hands. Until these points are settled, paying the price is a risk; handing over the boat without being paid is another. Escrow of the price brings the two into step.

A bill of sale whose content is set by law

There is no administrative form for a pleasure boat comparable to the transfer certificate used for cars: the bill of sale itself is the reference document. The law leaves it to a decree to define its content (article L. 5114-1-1 of the French Transport Code), and that decree lists the mandatory particulars (article D. 5114-51 of the French Transport Code):

• the name of the vessel, its type and model;
• its registration number and port of registry, as shown on the registration certificate (or the numbers on titles issued before 1 January 2022);
• the year and type of construction, stating whether the vessel was built by a professional or not;
• for individuals: surname, first names, address, date and place of birth;
• for legal entities: company name, registered office address and SIRET number or equivalent.

These particulars are an administrative minimum. A well-drafted deed also sets out the price and payment terms, the inventory of equipment sold, the maintenance record and the date of the last survey, the vessel's tax position, and the conditions precedent on which the sale depends: financing, survey results, release of a mortgage. The escrow is built around these conditions.

The administrative transfer: a one-month deadline

The bill of sale must be filed within one month, with the services of the minister responsible for the sea for vessels on the French international register and, in other cases, with the prefecture (article D. 5112-2-5 of the French Transport Code). Since 2022, private individuals complete these formalities online at demarches-plaisance.gouv.fr through FranceConnect: the seller declares the sale, the portal issues a transfer code that the seller passes on to the buyer, and the buyer completes the registration of the vessel in their name.

This two-step process often causes deadlock. If the seller is slow to declare the sale or to pass on the code, the buyer cannot register the vessel; if the buyer does not complete the process, the seller remains recorded as owner, with the taxes and liability that go with it. Companies, which do not use FranceConnect, must deal directly with the competent services. Stating in the deed who completes each formality, by when and against which documents avoids these dead ends.

Documents the seller hands over to the buyer

• the vessel's registration certificate, or the former titles (navigation card, francisation certificate);
• the transfer code obtained on demarches-plaisance.gouv.fr;
• inspection and survey reports, maintenance log and invoices for works;
• manuals and technical documentation, including the CE declaration of conformity where applicable;
• proof of payment of the annual tax on pleasure craft (formerly the annual francisation and navigation duty) for vessels subject to it;
• for a corporate seller, a recent company registration extract (Kbis).

The marine mortgage, the buyer's main risk

A vessel bought on credit is often subject to a marine mortgage. This security follows the vessel: a registered creditor may seize it in the hands of a buyer, even one acting in good faith. Before signing, the buyer should therefore obtain the statement of registrations against the vessel. A mere declaration by the seller that the boat is free of any charge offers little protection: it only gives a claim against a seller who will already have received the price.

If the vessel is mortgaged, there are two routes. The simplest is to have the creditor repaid and obtain the release before or at the time of payment. Otherwise, a buyer who wants protection from enforcement may start the purge procedure: it notifies all registered creditors of an extract of its title and a table of the registrations, before enforcement or within fifteen days, and this notification must appoint a lawyer (article R. 5114-14-12 of the French Transport Code). Either way, the question is the same: how can the creditor be paid without the price passing through a seller who might not repay it?

Why escrow the price of a boat

Conventional escrow answers exactly this difficulty. The depositing party, the buyer, pays the price into a CARPA account opened in the lawyer's name and dedicated to the transaction. The funds are locked there: the buyer cannot take them back, and the seller cannot use them. They are released to the beneficiary only once the agreed conditions precedent are met, and the lawyer may, on instructions set out in the agreement, pay the mortgage creditor directly before paying the balance to the seller.

The seller, for its part, has proof that the price exists and will be paid as soon as the conditions are met: it can hand over the vessel and its papers without fear of non-payment. The mechanism is detailed in our analysis of escrow of the price of a yacht.

Release conditions to provide for

The escrow agreement lists the supporting documents on which the funds are released. For a boat sale, these usually include:

• signature of the final bill of sale containing the mandatory particulars;
• the statement of registrations and, if the vessel is mortgaged, the release or the creditor's agreement on the amount to be paid to it;
• the seller's declaration of sale and the handover of the transfer code to the buyer;
• handover of the registration certificate, the ship's papers and, where applicable, the survey report;
• for a vessel under a foreign flag, the deletion certificate from the original register.

The agreement also provides for what happens to the funds if the conditions are not met within the agreed period: as a rule, they are returned to the depositing party. Every step is time-stamped and documented, and KYC and AML/CFT checks cover the identity of the parties and the source of funds before they are received.

Sales between companies and vessels under a foreign flag

Where a party is a legal entity, the deed states its company name, registered office and SIRET number or equivalent, and the formalities do not go through FranceConnect. The sale also raises VAT and capital gains questions that should be settled before signing. For a vessel under a foreign flag, a buyer wishing to place it under the French flag must obtain its deletion from the original register; the deletion certificate then naturally becomes one of the conditions for releasing the price.

Hidden defects and warranties: what escrow does not settle

Escrow secures payment, not the condition of the boat. The seller remains liable under the warranty against hidden defects (article 1641 of the French Civil Code), and the buyer has two years from discovery of the defect to bring a claim (article 1648 of the French Civil Code). A survey before the sale remains the best protection for both parties; its findings can also be one of the conditions for releasing the price.