Boat hire rules in the United Kingdom
What the law asks of a boat, jet ski, kayak and SUP hire business — 38 rules from 17 official sources, each with its source and the date we checked it.
Rules everywhere in the United Kingdom
Briefing and checklist before each hire
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Before each hire you must give hirers enough information about the craft and its equipment to use it safely, and make sure they are competent for what they plan to do.
Show the official wording
“ensure that hirers are provided with sufficient information about the vessel and its equipment to enable it to be used safely, and that hirers are competent for the intended operation;”
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You must have a procedure for contacting the Coastguard (or another emergency service) immediately after an accident or incident.
Show the official wording
“ensure a procedure is in place for immediate contact with the Coastguard, or other relevant emergency service, in the event of an accident or incident.”
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If you charter a boat out without a skipper, you must give the charterers enough information about the boat and its equipment to navigate it safely.
Show the official wording
“The owner/managing agent of a vessel offered for a bare-boat charter for the sport or pleasure of the charterer(s) shall ensure that the charterer(s) of the vessel are provided with sufficient information about the vessel and its equipment to enable it to be safely navigated.”
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As owner you can be criminally liable if you do not take all reasonable steps to make sure your craft is used safely. The MCA gives failing to provide an adequate safety briefing or training as an example.
Show the official wording
“An example might be failing to provide an adequate safety briefing or training for a user, or failing to ensure that a user or operator understands the safety obligations which the Order places on them.”
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You must have a detailed handover procedure and use it for every hire. It must cover the rules of navigation, using locks and bridges, operating the boat and its equipment safely, and a 24-hour emergency call-out service.
Show the official wording
“You must prepare a detailed handover procedure which you must use each time you hire out the boat. It needs to cover the rules of navigation, how to use waterway structures such as locks and bridges, how to operate the boat safely and how to operate any equipment on the boat. It must contain a 24 hour emergency call out service.”
Does the hirer need a licence?
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You, as hire operator, must hold a nationally recognised qualification for the activity (for example a watersports instructor certificate), and a council licence or concession where one applies.
Show the official wording
“hold a nationally recognised qualification for the hiring activity concerned, i.e. water sports instructors certificate; .2 hold a Local Authority licence/concession to operate, where applicable;”
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The Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order 2023 did not bring in any qualification or training requirement for riding a jet ski or other powered watercraft (MCA, March 2023; the page has since been archived). Local byelaws and, for hire at sea, the Sport or Pleasure Vessel Code conditions still apply.
Show the official wording
“Will you now need a qualification to use a jet ski or other powered watercraft? No. This does not introduce qualification or training requirements for powered watercraft.”
Age limits
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Children under 8 should be accompanied by an adult at all times, including on a tow.
Show the official wording
“Children under the age of 8 should be accompanied by an adult at all times, including when on a tow;”
Jet skis (PWC)
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Jet skis and other craft hired out from the beach ("beachcraft") are within the Sport or Pleasure Vessel Code.
Show the official wording
“Activities which are in scope of the Code include: vessels engaged in racing and as race support boats high-speed craft carrying passengers on sightseeing trips; vessels operating as beachcraft in commercial use i.e. personal watercraft”
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Since December 2025 the Watercraft Order applies the 2025 Regulations' duty to comply with the Code to jet skis and other watercraft, and the owner and the operator commit the offence if they do not.
Show the official wording
“(6) Regulation 20 (requirements for small vessels) as if in paragraph (1) the reference to a small vessel was a reference to a watercraft. (7) Regulation 23 (offences), as if in paragraph (1)— (a) the reference to a vessel was a reference to a watercraft; and (b) the reference to the owner and master was a reference to the owner and operator of the watercraft.”
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The Code's beachcraft rules cover self-drive hire craft certificated for area category 6, limited to 1,000 metres from the beach or harbour (1 mile if a qualified master drives), and craft certificated under a council's own licensing scheme.
Show the official wording
“.2 those issued with a Small Commercial Vessel Certificate for area category of operation 6 limited to a maximum of 1000 metres from the beach/harbour for self-drive vessels, and .3 those issued with certificates under Local Authorities’ own licensing schemes.”
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Under the Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order 2023 a hire company that hires out a jet ski or other powered watercraft counts as an "operator". It commits an offence if the way it carries out (or fails to carry out) its duties causes, or is likely to cause, death, serious injury or serious damage.
Show the official wording
““Operators” may include the person actually driving or piloting the powered watercraft; but can also include anyone else with a responsibility for its operation, such as someone (for instance, a hire company) hiring a powered watercraft out to a third party.”
Kayaks, canoes and SUPs
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You need an adventure activities licence only if you give paid instruction or leadership to people under 18 in canoeing, kayaking, rafting or sailing on specified waters. Instructions you give only when supplying the equipment (plain hire) do not count.
Show the official wording
““facilities for adventure activities” means any facilities which consist of, or include, some element of instruction or leadership given to one or more young persons in connection with their engagement in an adventure activity (other than instructions given solely in connection with the supply of equipment for use in such an activity);”
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For watersports, the licence only applies on "specified water": the sea, tidal waters such as estuaries, inland water where any point is more than 50 metres from land, and turbulent inland water (weirs, rapids, fast currents).
Show the official wording
“For any of these activities to be licensable, they need to be done on 'specified water' – this means: the sea, tidal waters (eg estuaries), inland waters at a location where any part of those waters is more than 50 metres from the nearest land, excluding any island, or inland waters where the surface of the water is made turbulent because of weirs, rapids, waterfalls or fast-flowing currents.”
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Canoes, kayaks, dinghies, rowing boats and paddleboards also need a licence on Trust waters. For hire businesses that means a business licence, or a Paddle UK licence with its quality mark accreditation plus an Operating Proposal to the Trust.
Show the official wording
“Alternatively, you can choose to licence your business with Paddle UK (previously British Canoeing), however you will need a quality mark accreditation from them to operate a business or a club. This would cover you to operate on our waterways, in all cases, you are required to submit an Operating Proposal to us so that we are aware of your activities”
Safety equipment on board
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Powered hire craft should have a kill cord, used whenever the engine is running, in gear and the craft is moving.
Show the official wording
“Powered craft should be fitted with a kill cord, to be used at all times when the engine or electric motor is running, in gear and the vessel is making way;”
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Everyone on board should wear a lifejacket or buoyancy aid at all times.
Show the official wording
“Lifejackets/buoyancy aids are to be worn at all times.”
Registering the craft
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On inland waterways you usually need to register or license every boat, including canoes, kayaks and paddleboards, with that waterway's navigation authority, and renew each year. Without a current registration you can be prosecuted and fined or have the boat removed.
Show the official wording
“You usually need to register or licence your boat if you want to keep or use it on inland waterways, such as rivers and canals. Contact the navigation authority of the waterway you want to use to find out.”
Survey and commercial vessel rules
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A boat you hire out for money is not a pleasure vessel in law, so the MCA treats it as being in commercial use. That brings it under the commercial small-vessel rules below.
Show the official wording
“The regulations define what a ‘pleasure vessel’ is but do not specifically define ‘commercial’. “Commercial use” doesn’t solely mean profit-making business operations. A vessel is considered to be operated commercially if it does not meet the definition of a pleasure vessel.”
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At sea (beyond categorised inland waters), each small boat you hire out commercially must be examined and hold a valid Small Sport or Pleasure Code Certificate before it goes out. The owner and the master both commit an offence if it does not. Certificates come from the MCA or an authorised Certifying Authority.
Show the official wording
“A small vessel must not proceed, or attempt to proceed, to sea or on any voyage unless it has been— (a) subjected to the surveys specified in paragraph (2); and (b) issued with a valid Small Sport or Pleasure Code Certificate.”
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The Sport or Pleasure Vessel Code replaced the Yellow, Blue and Red Codes and MGN 280 on 12 December 2025. Boats with older certificates must meet the new Code at their next renewal examination or within three years, whichever is later. You cannot mix old and new standards.
Show the official wording
“Existing vessels that are certificated under The Safety of Small Commercial Sailing Vessels—A Code of Practice (the “Blue Code”), The Safety of Small Commercial Motor Vessels—A Code of Practice (the “Yellow Code”), The Safety of Small Vessels in Commercial Use for Sport or Pleasure Operating from a Nominated Departure Point—A Code of Practice (the “Red Code”), or their equivalent standards published in the technical Annex to MGN 280 (M) shall meet the requirements of the Code by the vessel’s next renewal examination or three years after the date of entry into force of the Code, whichever is later”
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Every hire boat needs a Boat Safety Scheme certificate to the hire boat standard. Not all examiners can do this examination. A boat with no gas or electrical appliances and no inboard motor may instead be covered by an exemption declaration.
Show the official wording
“Please note that we will require a hire boat safety scheme certificate for all hire boats from 1 April 2018, regardless of age.”
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Powered day and weekly hire boats, including bareboat charter and managed shared-use boats, are examined to a separate, stricter set of Boat Safety Scheme Hire Boat Requirements. Your navigation authority decides which set your boat must meet.
Show the official wording
“A specific set of BSS Requirements and Examination Checking Procedures are applied to hire craft. Hire craft in this case are any powered boats such as weekly and day hire vessels: let or hired under an arrangement, whether or not on a pre-contract basis; the subject of a bare boat charter arrangement;”
Permits and licences for the business
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Local councils in England and Wales can license pleasure boats let for hire, and the people in charge of them, on their own terms. Where your council licenses hire boats, letting an unlicensed boat for hire is an offence. Ask the council for each place you hire from whether it licenses pleasure boats.
Show the official wording
“(1) The local authority may grant upon such terms and conditions as they may think fit licences for pleasure boats and pleasure vessels to be let for hire or to be used for carrying passengers for hire … (3) No person shall let for hire any pleasure boat or pleasure vessel not so licensed or at any time during the suspension of the licence for the boat or vessel”
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The council hire-boat licence under s. 94 is not needed on canals and rivers owned or managed by the Canal & River Trust. There the Trust's own business licence applies instead (see below).
Show the official wording
“No licence under this section shall be required in respect of pleasure boats and pleasure vessels on any inland waterway owned or managed by Canal & River Trust.”
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If you use a boat on the Trust's waters for any business, including holiday hire, you need a business licence, not a private one.
Show the official wording
“If you use your boat for any kind of business, such as a floating café or shop, rent it out for people to live on, or use it as a holiday boat, you'll need a business licence .”
Insurance
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Once you employ staff you must hold Employers' Liability insurance of at least £5 million from an authorised insurer. You can be fined for every day you are not properly insured.
Show the official wording
“as soon as you become an employer to cover you for at least £5 million from an authorised insurer … You can be fined £2,500 every day you are not properly insured.”
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You need third-party and public liability insurance from an FCA-authorised insurer covering at least £2 million per claim, and must show evidence when you apply.
Show the official wording
“You will need to obtain third party and public liability insurance cover provided by a company that is authorised and regulated by the financial conduct authority which covers liabilities of at least two million pounds for each claim.”
Reporting accidents
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You must report and record every incident that led, or could have led, to an injury, to the council and/or your Certifying Authority.
Show the official wording
“report and record to the Local or and Certifying Authority, all incidents which have, or could have led to injury;”
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Most accidents to bareboat-hired recreational craft do not have to be reported to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). You must report those involving explosion, fire, death, serious injury, the capsize of a powered craft, or severe environmental damage. Serious injury means being unable to do your full range of activities for more than 72 hours. Skippered or crewed commercial craft must report all accidents.
Show the official wording
“a recreational craft that is hired on a bareboat basis, unless the accident involves explosion, fire, death, serious injury, the capsize of a power-driven craft or boat, or severe damage to the environment”
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When a reportable accident happens, the master and the owner must tell the MAIB Chief Inspector as soon as possible and by the quickest means available. The owner is excused only if satisfied the master has already reported. These 2026 Regulations replaced the 2012 Regulations.
Show the official wording
“When an accident falling within paragraph (1) occurs the following persons must notify the Chief Inspector as soon as possible following the accident and by the quickest means available— (a) the master of the ship or, if the master has not survived, the ship’s senior surviving officer, and (b) the ship’s owner unless they have ascertained to their satisfaction that the master or senior surviving officer has reported the accident in accordance with sub-paragraph (a).”
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If a customer or other member of the public is injured in a work-related accident and taken from the scene to hospital for treatment, you must report it under RIDDOR.
Show the official wording
“Where any person not at work, as a result of a work-related accident, suffers— (a) an injury, and that person is taken from the site of the accident to a hospital for treatment in respect of that injury; or (b) a specified injury on hospital premises, the responsible person must follow the reporting procedure, subject to regulations 14 and 15.”
Other rules
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You must carry out a risk assessment for your hire operation that covers local conditions, your equipment and all known risks.
Show the official wording
“27C.4 The hire operator shall carry out a risk assessment appropriate to the intended operation to ensure that any circumstances, local conditions, equipment and all known risks are mitigated.”
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In general a self-drive hire craft should carry no more than 4 people.
Show the official wording
“In general, hired self-drive craft should not carry more than 4 persons;”
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You must keep the hired craft in sight at all times and have a way to rescue hirers immediately if something goes wrong.
Show the official wording
“maintain visual contact with the hired vessels at all times, and provide a means of immediate rescue in the event of an accident;”
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You must run a Safety Management System proportionate to your fleet and operation (this also applies to bareboat hire), in place within 3 years of the Code coming into force, and show it to your Certifying Authority at examinations.
Show the official wording
“30.1.1 All vessels and beach craft within the scope of this Code shall comply with the requirements of Section 30.2 within 3 years of the Code coming into force. … 30.2.2.1 The owner/operator of a vessel operating on bareboat charter, or hire as a pleasure vessel, shall meet the requirements of 30.2.1.1.”
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As an employer you must run your hire business so that, as far as reasonably practicable, customers and other people who are not your employees are not exposed to risks to their health or safety.
Show the official wording
“It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.”
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The Trust requires all hire boat operators to meet the conditions of the Hire Boat Code (British Marine and the Association of Inland Navigation Authorities). It is written into the business licence terms for day hire, holiday hire and static letting.
Show the official wording
“Please be aware of the Trust's now-mandatory requirement for all hire boat operators to meet with the conditions of the hire boat code.”
Rules by nation
Nations and navigations add their own rules on top. Pick yours:
In an emergency
999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard, or VHF channel 16. VesselSOS is not a rescue service — teach your hirers to call for help the official way.
VHF channel 16
HM Coastguard (Maritime and Coastguard Agency): call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard
Not confirmed yet
What we looked for and could not confirm from an official source. Ask the authority before you assume anything here.
We found no official statement that a person needs no licence to drive a hired motorboat (only the MCA's statement for jet skis and other powered watercraft).
We found no national minimum age for hirers. Some councils, harbour byelaws and navigation authorities set their own (see the Broads and Windermere files).
We have not confirmed when a boatmaster's licence is needed on inland waters. GOV.UK says one is needed to use a boat commercially, but does not say whether that covers self-drive hire, and we did not check the Boatmasters' Licence regulations.
Harbour authority byelaws and Harbour Directions on jet skis and hire craft differ from harbour to harbour and are not listed here. The MCA (MGN 684) tells jet ski users, owners and operators to follow them.
There is no national list of which councils license pleasure boats under s. 94 of the 1907 Act, or of their conditions. Check with each council.
Permission to trade from a beach or foreshore (council beach concessions, Crown Estate foreshore consent, harbour master permission, jet ski launch zones) was not researched.
We have not confirmed how RIDDOR and MAIB reporting overlap when someone is injured on board a hire craft. Check with HSE or MAIB which applies.
Public liability insurance is not a national legal requirement that we found. It is required by the Canal & River Trust, the Broads Authority and Scottish boat hire licences.
We have not reviewed the text of the Hire Boat Code (British Marine / Association of Inland Navigation Authorities) itself. It is an industry code that navigation authorities write into licence conditions.
Rules on other lakes and navigations (for example Ullswater, Coniston Water and Derwentwater byelaws, Scottish Canals, Natural Resources Wales waters, and the Environment Agency's Anglian waterways and River Medway) were not checked.
Port of London Authority rules for hire craft and jet skis on the tidal Thames are not included yet.
We have not confirmed whether MAIB accident reporting covers jet skis and other watercraft, which in law are not ships. The MCA says MAIB may investigate watercraft accidents.
Official bodies
Who makes and enforces these rules.
- Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) / HM Coastguardcommercial small vessel codes and certificates at sea, Watercraft Order enforcement, search and rescuegov.uk ↗
- Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB)marine accident reporting and investigationgov.uk ↗
- Local councils (licensing teams)pleasure boat / hire boat licences (England and Wales: s. 94 Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1907; Scotland: boat hire licences)legislation.gov.uk ↗
- Health and Safety Executive (HSE) – Adventure Activities Licensing Schemehealth and safety at work, RIDDOR reporting, adventure activities licenceshse.gov.uk ↗
- Canal & River Trustnavigation authority for most canals and some rivers in England and Wales: boat and business licencescanalrivertrust.org.uk ↗
- Environment Agencynavigation authority for the non-tidal River Thames, River Medway and Anglian waterways: boat registrationgov.uk ↗
- Boat Safety Schemeboat safety examinations and certificates used by inland navigation authorities (private and hire boat standards)boatsafetyscheme.org ↗
- Harbour authoritiesbyelaws and Harbour Directions within harbour limits, including for jet skisgov.uk ↗
Questions operators ask
Does a hirer need a boat licence in the United Kingdom?
You, as hire operator, must hold a nationally recognised qualification for the activity (for example a watersports instructor certificate), and a council licence or concession where one applies. Source: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, checked 18 October 2026.
Do I have to brief hirers before a hire in the United Kingdom?
Before each hire you must give hirers enough information about the craft and its equipment to use it safely, and make sure they are competent for what they plan to do. Source: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, checked 18 October 2026.
What are the rules for jet ski hire in the United Kingdom?
Jet skis and other craft hired out from the beach ("beachcraft") are within the Sport or Pleasure Vessel Code. Source: gov.uk, checked 18 October 2026.
Is a hire boat a commercial vessel in the United Kingdom?
A boat you hire out for money is not a pleasure vessel in law, so the MCA treats it as being in commercial use. That brings it under the commercial small-vessel rules below. Source: gov.uk, checked 18 October 2026.
Do I need a permit to hire out boats in the United Kingdom?
Local councils in England and Wales can license pleasure boats let for hire, and the people in charge of them, on their own terms. Where your council licenses hire boats, letting an unlicensed boat for hire is an offence. Ask the council for each place you hire from whether it licenses pleasure boats. Source: legislation.gov.uk, checked 18 October 2026.
For your hirers
Free safety pages on VesselSOS for the people who take your craft out — link them from your booking confirmation.
Boating safety rules in the UKHow to call the CoastguardPassage planJet ski safetySUP safetyFree tools for hire operators
Print a safety briefing card, a hire agreement template or a dock poster. Free, in your browser.
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