Luxury boat owner fights eviction from ‘Billionaires' Row'
A luxury houseboat owner has claimed he is being unfairly evicted from his berth next to London's 'Billionaires' Row', where his £1.5 million floating home is moored.
Simon Howard, 69, a business consultant, is fighting the bid to remove him from his premier berth at the entrance to Cheyne Walk, a Chelsea road known as 'Billionaires' Row' and where Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch, had a £25 million home.
Having 'committed to a life on the water', Mr Howard and his then wife Kate spent almost £900,000 on the dilapidated 'Joseph Conrad' in 2010 before turning it into a lavish floating residence.
The former Dutch shipping barge was transformed from a 100ft two-bedroom boat into a home boasting a spiral staircase, three bathrooms, a sun terrace, floor-to-ceiling windows and a retro-inspired bar.
Mr Howard said he spent so much on the boat instead of buying a house because he wanted to live on the river, but claimed that while recovering from major heart surgery in 2022, he was informed by his landlord that he had missed the deadline to renew his mooring licence.
Chelsea Yacht and Boat Company Ltd (CYBC) – which manages the moorings – is now suing to have his boat removed, as well as claiming damages for trespass by him having remained beyond the end of his licence period.
However, Mr Howard and his now ex-wife Kate King are counter-suing, arguing it would be almost impossible to find another berth on the Thames, where he has lived for more than 15 years.
Timothy Polli KC, their barrister, said: 'They are litigating to secure a berth for Joseph Conrad – Mr Howard's home – it being practically impossible to find an alternative berth to which the vessel can be moved.'
The former couple's boat is one of a flotilla of about 50 houseboats moored at Chelsea Reach, dubbed London's 'original houseboat village'.
The assorted boats, which lie west of Battersea Bridge, are located on the site of a former Second World War naval yard where D-Day landing craft and torpedo boats were originally used to accommodate ex-serviceman and struggling residents.
Over the decades since, the houseboat village has acquired aura of glamour and the moorings were used as a backdrop for a number of films, including the 1958 comedy The Horse's Mouth, with Alec Guinness, and The Deadly Affair, a 1966 spy drama based on John le Carré's first novel and starring James Mason.
Now 80 years on, the marina houses boats and barges, some of which are worth well over £1 million, with the riverside enclave still housing a cluster of wealthy figures.
During a pre-trial hearing at Central London County Court, Judge Alan Johns heard how Mr Howard had fallen ill following a serious heart operation during the option window to buy a new licence.
The former couple's barrister said: 'Their licence expired in April 2022. Although the licence included an option to buy a new licence, the couple had separated and Mr Howard was very ill following a serious heart operation during the option window and so they did not exercise the option within that window.
'When Mr Howard did so, he was told by CYBC that he was too late. Several short-term extensions to September 2022 were granted by CYBC, but CYBC now seeks an injunction requiring them to move Joseph Conrad off the moorings.
'Mr Howard and Ms King say that their dealings with CYBC were such that there arose a collateral contract, the effect of which is that they should be permitted to remain on the moorings, upon paying market rate for doing so.
'By not offering them a new licence at market rate, CYBC is doing to them precisely what it promised it would not do and that constitutes a breach of the contract.'
Laying out the company's case, Toby Watkins KC denied the former couple have the right to keep the Joseph Conrad at Chelsea Reach and accused them of trying to get a valuable right they are not entitled to.
'They are seeking to find a way to achieve the security of tenure they have never had, but would clearly like to have,' he told the judge.
'CYBC seeks an injunction requiring Mr Howard and Ms King to remove their houseboat, the Joseph Conrad, from Berth 1 of the claimant's moorings at Cheyne Pier, together with damages, following the expiry of their mooring licence.
'The 2012 licence originally expired on April 2 2022, but was retrospectively twice extended by agreement to Sept 28 2022, when it finally expired.'
As well as resisting CYBC's claim, citing the alleged past assurances that they would never be forced out, the couple claim that refusing them a licence would deflate the value of their boat, which was put up for sale in 2016 for £1.5 million, but not sold.
'As their name suggests, static permanent houseboats are not designed to be moved,' their barrister explained.
'Save for occasional trips to a dry-dock for maintenance, they remain – and are intended to remain – in one place.
'For that reason, a berth is essential and a permanent static houseboat without a berth is an onerous asset.'
Judge Johns will give his decision on the range of the evidence and the costs issues at a later date.
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