Guide
The only finance check that exists in the UK today. What it covers, what it does not, and how to order one.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency runs the UK Ship Register. Part 1 of that register is the only place a marine mortgage on a pleasure boat can be recorded. A transcript of registry is a copy of one boat's entry. It shows the vessel name, the port, the Official Number, the type and dimensions, the engines, the registered owner's name and any registered mortgage.
It costs £29 for a current transcript and £46 for a historic or closed one. You order it by email to uksr@mcga.gov.uk with the vessel name, the Official Number and your reason, or by post, or by the payment link on the register's own page. A person handles it. There is no online search and no API.
At March 2025 Part 1 held 13,602 pleasure boats. There are several hundred thousand boats in the country. If the boat you are buying is not on Part 1, a transcript cannot tell you anything, and a lender can still hold an interest that was never registered anywhere.
The Small Ships Register, Part 3, held 34,882 boats. It proves nationality only. The Royal Yachting Association says plainly that it is not legal proof of ownership on its own, and no mortgage can be recorded on it.
Canal boats, most sea boats under 24 metres, jet skis and dinghies are almost never on Part 1. For those the transcript route does not exist, and the honest answer to the finance question is a written statement from the seller and a phone call to the main marine lenders.
Ask the seller for the boat's Official Number. If they say the boat is not registered, that is normal and it is not a red flag by itself. If they say it is registered on Part 1 and will not give you the number, walk away.
Order the transcript in your own name before you pay a deposit. Read the owner name against the seller's identity, and read the mortgage line. A registered mortgage stays on the boat when it is sold, even to an innocent buyer.