Rights of Boat Dwellers Bill [HL]

Lord Cashman Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 17th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cashman (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I am pleased to speak in support of the Bill in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell. I congratulate her on her exposition in moving Second Reading and, indeed, in outlining the rights and benefits as well as the problems. I have long taken an interest in this subject, since the decimation of the rights of people with houseboats at the club of the Chelsea Yacht & Boat Company along the Thames on Lots Road, and their subsequent attempts to try to seek justice and security of tenure against rogue developers and landlords. The Bill addresses the rights that we need to protect boat dwellers along the riverways and canals of the United Kingdom.

During the passage of legislation in your Lordships’ House, I have tried to bring forward amendments to address these issues, particularly on the rights of access to public services and security of tenure for boat dwellers with permanent mooring and for those without. Sadly, I have been unsuccessful, and the Government have not been willing to address this in legislation—although they recognise the problem sympathetically.

I was a little alarmed to learn that the Canal & River Trust had heavily lobbied civil servants when we were dealing with the Renters’ Rights Bill and my amendments. I was alarmed because it did not address their concerns to me, and, as far as I know, it did not address its concerns to all Members of your Lordships’ House but directly to civil servants. When we previously discussed this issue during the passage of the Renters’ Rights Bill, I was told that it was too difficult to address, and this was reinforced by the civil servants. I am aware that it is a difficult situation but, as I have said before, we come into politics to address and try to solve such difficult situations, not prolong them. It is about outcomes, and the Bill rightly seeks to address positive outcomes for boat dwellers.

At the moment, the United Kingdom faces a housing crisis, and we need to look at every available opportunity to address that crisis. Houseboats, residences and ownership are ways that we can deal with homelessness and overcrowding, and provide a ladder on to the housing market. Indeed, there are developers currently offering a “luxury life on the water waves”, interestingly accompanied by the offer of flexible moorings—for flexible moorings read non-permanent moorings, where people can be evicted and their licence not be renewed, as they are moved on, while on the canals they are forced, as the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, said, to play a forward game of ping-pong in order to remain in their licensed boat or barge. Developers see potential and are making inroads across London at the marinas—in Limehouse in east London, the Surrey Docks in south-east London, and places where people have lived in boats and barges for decades and, in some instances, centuries. These are now being taken over by companies seeking to make a quick buck, such as those at Lots Road. It is happening in riverways across the country. That is why we need the Bill.

I have gone on for too long. Sadly, I think the Government will reject the Bill. They will repeat that it is too problematic and that it covers too many Whitehall departments. However, this will not be an acceptable excuse. Without such rights people will be moved along, evicted, have their homes taken from them and their licences will not be renewed. They will be denied basic rights, as outlined earlier. We who do nothing must shoulder the responsibility of such inaction. That is why I wholly support this important Bill.