Costly reprieve comes for embattled boat dwellers with three-month berth extension

Members who opt for the option must shell out $150,000 in advance.

The boat-dwelling residents at Discovery Bay Marina Club who are facing eviction have been given an option to temporarily extend their berthing permit for an additional three months which would give them time to look for new docking locations until March 2019, reports South China Morning Post.

Although Discovery Bay Marina Club will be closing for a major renovation, members can choose to sign up for a temporary contract but will need to shell out $150,000 in advance which would be refundable when members’ boats departed or before the extension ended.

Members will also need to pay three months of berthing fees in advance at a 20% discount on members’ current monthly berthing fees.

“This offer will enable members’ boats to be safely secured in the marina while they are continuing to arrange for their removal to new berthing locations,” the statement read.

However, the club will push through with its plan to withdraw existing clubhouse and marina services including water and power, as planned on December 31, The houseboat families who therefore opt for the temporary contract would have to live without water or power.

Security would remain at the club and the marina, a company spokesperson told SCMP. 

Tenants of the marina have been informed by the club on August 31 about termination of their berthing months which gives them roughly four months to find new locations to dock their boats.

Around 180 families, usually expats, as well as boat builders with unsold vessels and financing firms like Hitachi Capital Corp. and Orix Corp. reside in the decades-old marina.