MiniMatt

Not a lawyer. In fact my only qualifications are that I once worked in a law firm and I once lived on a marina and got a lift to the train station most mornings on a canal boat (not as fun as you might think, walking would have been quicker). Oh, and I've got a Bronze Swimming Certificate.

Don't see why not, you can obviously apply such charges to houses and you can also do the same thing to aircraft that haven't paid for hangering etc. As I understand it (not a lawyer remember) the mortgage company always gets first dibs, then other charges against the property are recovered on a first come first served basis (ie. whoever puts the first charge on the property gets their cut first). Again, if I've understood correctly the owner doesn't necessarily need to be informed (making every reasonable effort to do so is enough, success isn't a requirement). Wheras charges against houses are easy enough to recover because at some point the sale process always goes through official bodies, with property such as a boat it's harder to enforce at that point (esp if no mortgage companies are involved); I would guess that the effective process ends up being similar to how a baliff comes in and records all your valuables - at that stage there's nothing practically stopping you getting shot of the goods but legally the baliff has an interest on your telly and selling it without consulting the baliffs opens yourself up to.... dunno what it would be - contempt of court, something like that?