Glossary A to Z

When you buy or sell a share in a boat, you come across terms you may not have met before. Here they are in plain words, from A to Z. What the contracts say is binding: if a term is defined there, the version in the contract applies.

This glossary was written for owners and buyers in Germany. Legal, tax and boat-paper points refer to German law and practice; other countries may differ.

B

Boarding

You buy a share in a boat that already has a co-owner group, and you become part of that group. Beforehand you get to know the existing co-owners, and they can reject you only for good cause relating to you personally, or they take over the share themselves at your price. There is no option period on this route. On the listing you recognise it by the label “Existing co-owner group”; in the German contract terms it is called “Einstieg” (joining). The process is shown on How it works.

Boat papers

A boat’s papers name an owner, but do not by themselves prove ownership. Your purchase is documented by the purchase contract and the handover record. That the seller is the owner is shown by the documents on their own purchase; they hand these over to you as far as they have them, and you check them before buying. The seller hands over the original papers at the handover. After that, you buyers re-register the boat in your names yourselves, with a copy of the purchase contract, at the office that issued the papers, for example the Waterways and Shipping Office. You are then named in them together. That is how it works under the German flag if the boat is not entered in the ship register; if it is entered, the register needs declarations from seller and buyers with notarially certified signatures. If the boat is under another flag, you clarify re-registering the boat papers with the office there.

Brokerage agreement

The seller’s contract with PartABoat. It comes about when the seller submits their listing using the “zahlungspflichtig beauftragen” button (instruct, with obligation to pay) and PartABoat confirms receipt. The statutory 14-day right of withdrawal applies to the brokerage agreement.

Buyer service agreement

Your contract with PartABoat as a buyer. You conclude it before viewing the boat, using the “zahlungspflichtig beauftragen” button (instruct, with obligation to pay). It describes what PartABoat does for you in five service phases and governs the structuring fee. The statutory 14-day right of withdrawal applies to the buyer service agreement.

C

Commission

What the seller pays PartABoat when their boat or share is sold through PartABoat. It is based on the agreed purchase price. Anyone who places a listing by 28 February 2027 pays no commission for that listing if the purchase contract is concluded by 31 December 2027 (terms of the offer). When it arises, including under the commission protection, is governed by the brokerage agreement. More on the For owners page.

Completion

The moment the purchase is carried out: the purchase contract is effective, the boat has been handed over, and the purchase price has reached the seller, however it was paid. The handover record and the seller’s confirmation that the purchase price has arrived serve as proof. You pay nothing to PartABoat until completion.

Continued search

If the replacement procedure fails, the seller’s commitment ends. At the group’s request PartABoat still goes on looking for a suitable buyer, as a service with no deadline and no entitlement to success.

Co-owner

Someone who owns a boat together with others. See co-owner group.

Co-owner agreement

What the Living Contract is called in the contract documents. See Living Contract.

Co-owner group

The co-owners of a boat, at most four. They settle use, costs and decisions among themselves in the Living Contract (co-owner agreement). PartABoat is not part of it.

Co-ownership

Owning a boat together with others. See fractional co-ownership.

E

Exercising the option

Your declaration in text form that you are buying your share. You make it through the function provided for this on the platform or by email to PartABoat. When all buyers in the group have exercised their option, the purchase contract for the share comes about; you pay your share of the purchase price only after that, at the handover.

Existing co-owner group

Label on the listing: the boat already has co-owners, and you buy in. See Boarding.

F

Final price

The structuring fee, the commission and the price for the option are final prices; any statutory VAT and other price components are contained in them.

First conversation

Your first conversation with PartABoat as a buyer, before you conclude a contract. It is free of charge and non-binding. In it we clarify whether the boat, the share and your ideas about use and costs fit together. As a seller you list directly.

Fractional co-ownership

The legal form of co-ownership: each owner holds a share on paper in the whole boat, not a particular part of it. It is also known as fractional ownership or co-ownership.

Fractional ownership

Another term for co-ownership. See fractional co-ownership.

G

Group meeting

A meeting of everyone interested in buying a boat in a whole-boat sale. As soon as PartABoat accompanies the purchase, it organises this meeting. Until then, we introduce people interested in the same boat to each other if both of them want this. You get to know each other before you buy together. Anyone who joins only afterwards has one-to-one conversations instead with everyone already ready to buy for this boat. Taking part is one of the three conditions for being ready to buy.

Group of buyers

Two to four buyers who are ready to buy and whose shares together make up the whole boat. As soon as that is the case, the group of buyers comes together, and the seller decides whether to confirm it. If they confirm it, each buyer accepts the seller’s offer in text form within 5 working days; nothing is paid at this point. If one of them does not accept, the group dissolves, and that buyer loses their place, at no cost.

H

Handover date

The date on which the seller hands over the boat with keys and papers. Your purchase price never goes to PartABoat. As soon as PartABoat accompanies the purchase, you transfer it only on that day, once keys and papers have been handed over; if you buy as a group, you choose one of two ways together in the purchase contract: keys first or a notary. Until then, the information sheet shows how.

Handover record

The document recording the handover of the boat to the buyers, signed by everyone involved. Together with the seller’s confirmation that the purchase price has arrived, it serves as proof of completion.

L

Latecomer

Someone who comes forward for a boat only after the group meeting. Instead of the group meeting they have one-to-one conversations with everyone already ready to buy. See ready to buy.

Launch

Our name for the whole-boat sale: two to four buyers take over a boat together and form a new co-owner group for it; the previous owner goes ashore. On the listing you recognise this route by the label “New co-owner group”. The steps: becoming ready to buy, group of buyers, the seller’s confirmation, option period, completion. The process is shown on How it works.

Living Contract (co-owner agreement)

The contract in which your co-owner group settles use, costs, decisions and any later exit. PartABoat provides a template that you adapt together; hence the name. In the contract documents it is called the co-owner agreement. PartABoat is not involved in it. More in the guide Contract for boat co-ownership: what has to be in it?

N

New co-owner group

Label on the listing: the seller is parting with the whole boat, and the buyers form a new group together. See Launch.

O

Option agreement

The contract between you and the seller about the option. It comes about when all buyers in the group have accepted the seller’s offer in text form within 5 working days, not through a payment.

Option fee

Option fee: your price for the seller committing the boat to your group alone for 45 days. You owe it to the seller only if you do not buy in the end, and you then pay it when the option period ends.

It exists only in a whole-boat sale, and its amount depends on the size of your share, but is at most 10% of your share of the purchase price. It goes directly to the seller, not to PartABoat. You do not owe it if an independent survey shows repair costs of more than 5% of the purchase price that the seller did not disclose beforehand, and you do not buy for that reason.

Option period

The time during which the seller is bound to your group of buyers. It begins when all buyers have accepted the seller’s offer and as a rule lasts 45 days. During this time the seller may not sell the boat elsewhere, and each buyer decides whether to exercise their option. If a replacement procedure runs, the option period is extended by its duration. You set the handover date in the purchase contract; it may also fall after the option period.

P

Preferred share

The share you would like to buy in a boat. On the listing you choose it in the “Your share” box, for example ¼ or ½, and thereby register your interest. See stated share.

Purchase contract for a share

The purchase contract for your share. You conclude it directly with the seller; PartABoat is not a party to the contract and provides a template for it.

R

ready to buy

Your status in a whole-boat sale when three things are met: you have viewed the boat on site, taken part in the group meeting and bindingly stated your share. It begins, however, only once your withdrawal period has also expired, and then lasts 30 calendar days. Only buyers who are ready to buy can form a group of buyers.

Replacement procedure

If a buyer drops out after the seller has become bound to the group, a procedure in two stages runs. First, those remaining can divide the free share among themselves by mutual agreement; nobody is outvoted. If that does not succeed, PartABoat looks for a replacement buyer. The seller stays bound for that time.

Right of withdrawal

The statutory 14-day right of withdrawal applies to the buyer service agreement and the brokerage agreement. Your stated share counts towards forming a group of buyers only once your withdrawal period has expired. If a buyer exceptionally withdraws only after the seller is bound and before the handover, the replacement procedure runs for the others; the withdrawing buyer has paid nothing up to then, and whether they owe the seller anything is governed by the law.

S

Seller commitment

As soon as their offer has reached the group of buyers, the seller is bound to it. Before that they are free: a single stated share does not bind them, and until then they can also sell the boat to a single buyer. Once all buyers have accepted, the option period begins.

Service phases I to V

The five stages in which PartABoat accompanies you as a buyer:

I Information and explanation
II Onboarding into the co-owner group
III Structuring the transfer of the share
IV Support through to completion
V Follow-up support after the purchase

They are described in the buyer service agreement.

Your ownership share in the boat, for example a quarter or a half. You become a real co-owner, not a hirer. A boat has at most four co-owners, and the smallest share is ¼. In a whole-boat sale, three buyers can also take a third each.

Single buyer

A buyer who takes over the whole boat alone. Every listing for a whole-boat sale is open to a single buyer until the seller commits to a group of buyers. A single buyer pays nothing for an option and no structuring fee.

Stated by the seller

This is how we mark on a listing what the seller has stated themselves: technical data, engine hours, equipment and registration. The pictures carry “Photos: seller” for this. The label shows you where a piece of information comes from. What you should check yourself before buying is in the Checklist for buying a boat.

Stated share

Which share you want to buy. As long as you are only showing interest, you may give a range, for example ¼ to ½. As soon as the shares of all interested parties together could make up the whole boat, we ask you and everyone else with a range, at the same time, for the fixed size; you have three working days for this. The binding statement of your share is one of the three conditions for being ready to buy.

Structuring fee

The one-off payment you make to PartABoat as a buyer of a share, for the services in the five service phases. It arises only on completion; if no purchase comes about, you do not pay it. Anyone buying the whole boat alone does not pay it.

T

Template documents

What PartABoat provides for the purchase contract and the Living Contract: templates that you fill in and adapt for your case. Individual legal advice on your specific case is not included.

Terms of use

The rules for using the platform, which you accept when you register. By registering you conclude only this user agreement. You conclude a contract involving payment only through a separate ordering step. To the terms of use.

Tipping point

In the timeline on How it works, this is the step from which the seller is bound to the group of buyers. See seller commitment.

Logbook

The note you keep among yourselves as owners after every outing, for example on engine hours, consumption, damage and anything unusual. It has nothing to do with the purchase process; there the handover record applies.

W

Waiting list

If more buyers who are ready to buy come forward for a boat than fit into a group of buyers, the others go on the waiting list. What counts is the order in which the buyers became ready to buy, and whether exactly the whole boat can be reached with your share and those already admitted, supplemented where applicable by buyers who count after you. Before anyone is told, a human being checks the allocation; you learn your place and the reason. If someone drops out before the seller has confirmed the group, the waiting list moves up under the same rule; a human being checks this beforehand too.

Whole-boat sale

The seller parts with their whole boat and leaves. Two to four buyers take it over as a new co-owner group; we also call this route a Launch. Until the seller commits to a group of buyers, they can also sell the boat to a single buyer.