The Lake Union Livaboard Association (LULA) will be holding its Social & Membership Event on Sunday, April 29th, at the Puget Sound Yacht Club, and everyone who lives on Lake Union is welcome to reserve a place at the free gathering.
LULA helps those living on houseboats and other vessels on Lake Union, with advocacy and advice. Recently, LULA sent out vital information about the Washington State Department of Licensing, and the need for self-propulsion on vessels in order to qualify them as ‘houseboats.’
For decades, the Department of Licensing (DOL) has registered houseboats as vessels. Recently, obtaining registration has been difficult, with some applications sitting in limbo for nearly a year. It has now been discovered that the DOL has decided not to issue vessel registrations to houseboats, at the time of sale, that do not have a system of propulsion, based on WAC-308-93-010 (14).
“(14) ‘Houseboat’ means any vessel as defined in RCW 88.02.010(1). For registration and certificate of ownership purposes, a houseboat does not include any building on a float used in whole or in part for human habitation as a single-family dwelling which is not powered by self-propulsion by mechanical means or wind.”
This means that at the time of sale, houseboats lacking self-propulsion will need to be treated as personal property and will need to be registered with the King County Assessor as such. The County will consider these houseboats to be ‘floating homes’ for registration purposes. The general understanding is that those homes currently registered as a vessel will incur no change, until a transfer of title occurs – it will remain a vessel until sold.
To understand this issue better, and to get information on what owners and buyers can do, attend the upcoming LULA Social & Membership Event on April 29th at the Puget Sound Yacht Club. Register to attend (click here,) and learn more about this volunteer organization, working hard on behalf of those living on Lake Union, to provide advocacy and relevant information.