Controversial Chelsea businessman Andrew Moffat is preparing an audacious bid to buy back his failed houseboat property empire – despite it sinking only months ago with debts of £102m.

Mr Moffat has created an investment document in an attempt to attract investors to back him with a promised return of nearly SEVEN times over five years. It is thought that he is looking to raise as much as £35m – and wants the investment by 10th June.

The Citizen has gained exclusive access to the new prospectus, which has been drafted under a new company owned by Mr Moffat and his wife Charlotte called River Living London (RLL). The document lays out its grand plans to make a fortune by bringing in 20 new mega “vessels” to rent for more than £180,000 per year. 

 

 

These 20 would be in addition to the seven big boats Mr Moffat had already installed during his tenure as the owner of the Chelsea Yacht & Boat Company (CYBC) – a business that is still trading and controls the historic and much-loved Chelsea Reach marina on Cheyne Walk.

For several years, the existing mega boats have generated a huge backlash from locals and a planning clash with RBKC council. The exuberant new pitch does not explain what would happen to the current houseboat owners to make space for so many new super boats. 

The scheme and its profit projections have been dismissed by experts with knowledge of the Chelsea houseboat business as a “work of pure fiction” and locals are furious that Mr Moffat is determined to remain in control of the houseboats, despite administrators FRP Advisory being dramatically called in on 3rd November last year.

“This new plan is breathtakingly brazen and is in total fantasy land,” one insider told The Citizen. “He is basically trying to shed all the debts he racked up during a nightmare ten years, so he can start all over again. And he is telling investors that he and his team, are the ones who can make it work. The man is not taking any responsibility for what has happened during the past number of years. It is all quite ridiculous.

“This is like a captain who sailed his tanker onto the rocks, asking people to buy him another boat, so he can get straight back on the water. If it wasn’t all so serious, it would be funny. Let’s pray that the administrator and the PLA (Port of London Authority) sees through it.”

 

 

One long-term houseboat residents seethed: “Mr Moffat and some of his team has made life hell for us and yet he thinks it’s all fine for him to do it all over again, as if nothing had ever happened. We are spitting frogs. If he gets the chance, he will cause even more damage to our community. Surely it’s not possible that he can be given another chance?”

Ben Coleman MP, who has supported the houseboats residents in the past, said: “I’m amazed at the cheek. Just as the houseboat owners were beginning to breathe again, their former predatory landlord pops up like a bad penny. I’ll do all I can to ensure this doesn’t lead to further misery for Chelsea’s iconic houseboat community. ”

Mr Moffat’s extraordinary move comes as administrators FRP are still working to untangle the collapse of a number of companies owned by him and Mrs Moffat. 

 

 

Up to 32 investors were left high and dry despite the Chelsea-based couple’s promises to turn Chelsea Reach and Cadogan Pier into high-end residential marinas.

 

 

Now Mr Moffat is hoping to get new backing so he can run the same business all over again. It is clearly – and cynically – stated in the RLL document that one of the drivers for the next strategy is that the administrators FRP are ready to sell off both marinas cheaply – with all the previous debts wiped off the slate.  

In the opening line of his “pitch” for cash, it says that there is an opportunity to “acquire two prime Chelsea marinas at a substantial discount because the administrators are selling them purely as car parks for boats”. 

The “car parks” being referenced are the 57 moorings at Chelsea Reach and 35 at Cadogan Pier. The Citizen understands that Cadogan Pier is not currently permitted to have new houseboats under existing RBKC planning rules, or its PLA licence, which begs the question how future moorings can be part of a new business plan.

The prospectus goes on to boast that RLL has “10+ years of Chelsea marine experience” and that it will spend the first three years “stabilising the business” before “returning it to growth” in Year Four.   

The ten years of “marine experience” the document refers to represent a turbulent and devastating decade for the owners of houseboats at Chelsea Reach. Many accused CYBC and a small number of its on-site staff of creating a “poisonous environment” through sharp-elbowed practices.

Residents saw rents and moorings rates increased at extortionate levels and many long-term residents were evicted, or forced out when their licences were not renewed. Mr and Mrs Moffat also caused widespread dismay when the “mega” boats they brought in for the rental market entirely changed the cosmetic character of one stretch of Chelsea Reach. 

The workings of CYBC also put RBKC planning officers and lead members squarely in the frame for criticism after a new lease for Old Ferry Wharf was granted to Mr and Mrs Moffat in 2022, despite widespread concerns that the rights of houseboats owners were not being respected. This lease came with a special “letter of condition” that has never been released publicly.

Since the administration process began, Mr and Mrs Moffat put their London home – an impressive end of terrace mansion on one of the capital’s most famous streets – up for sale for £15.5m. The Citizen is not aware that a sale has gone through. 

The Citizen is contacting Andrew Moffat, FRP Advisory, RBKC and the PLA for comment.