Bill of sale not received

[Kaienana]

I live in the Marquesas (Survivor) And have bought a sailboat from a Frenchman who sailed it here and worked for a while. His wife, (who had left him some time previously) arrived and worked as a nurse in the hospital. they returned together and then flew to Yorkshire, (the wife's home)
She had a baby and were not going to return.
I made an offer for the boat, it was accepted, I paid the money in two installments, by bank transfer. I have all the email correspondance including an unsigned bill of sale.
The seller was supposed to send me the signed original by snail mail but I am still waiting.
The boat is registered in the UK (SSR)
How do I go about forcing them to send the bill of sale?

[buildersmate]

Presumably you need the bill of sale to re-register the boat from the Small Ships' Register? Since you have the boat and they have the money.
Sounds like forgetnessful rather than deliberate, since they have nothing to lose.
I can't see there being a legal process for this.
Maybe best if you can trace them to be able to phone them?
Maybe if that fails, can you swear a statutory declaration locally that you own the boat - don't know anything about the legal system in Polynesia, which is presumably based on a French system?

[Kaienana]

Yes, the legal system is that of the French Etat.
Bits of paper rule !
As I have to register the boat here in French Polynesia I need this bit of paper to get the next bit of paper to get the next...... All those civil servants invent new bits of paper all the time..... Gives them something to do !
The first offer I made was almost a year ago, by the way, So forgetfulness is rather a habit, it seems !
And, as yet, no reply to my last email.
If the deal was made totally in France, I could contact the Brigade de la consommation et repression des fraudes and they would send the heavies round. (It works well for a change !) But as they are in the UK, and I haven't lived there in yonks, I don't know who to contact.

[buildersmate]

Extreme and costly solution would be to hire a private investigator. But there's an awful lot you could do over the web to try and trace these people - by searching various lines of enquiry based on names / address.

Maybe someone else has ideas? I don't think there's a legal process you can use to force it.

[Kaienana]

I know where they are, I have their email and postal address.
Surely it's fraud to take the money then leave me to prove ownership?

I realise the law's an ass, but even so there must be a safety net somewhere !

[buildersmate]

I don't believe so and this link (from E Sussex council - about trading at car boot sales) tends to back that up - scroll much further down).
http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/business/tradings tandards/detail.aspx?ref=122625&class=Eng%3BBu si%3BAdv%3BOther&date=31/10/2007%2010:15:22
And anyway, this transaction would probably not have occurred under English law?

[Kaienana]

Well, yes, I'm British, the seller lives in the UK and the boat is registered there.

I didn't buy it from the boot of a car, it's a documented vessel and there is a set form for such transactions.

They are required to give me the bill of sale and to send the existing SSR document to the SSR office.

I suppose I could get in tough with the SSR and see what they can do, they must have a lot of similar cases.

[buildersmate]

Yes, I appreciate that. I was merely trying to show you the statutory situation under English contract law.
If the SSR have a defined process for how this type of transaction is supposed to occur, and you both decided to use this process, then I think your only recourse is back to the SSR. Don't know what teeth they have, but since they are the 'registering authority' surely they can help you. I appreciate it is difficult to deal with this at a distance of 12000 miles.
If I was you, I would either try and get a local friend in the UK to try and manage this for you (cheap) or engage a solicitor (expensive).