The first French berthing contract I signed was four pages of dense legal French, handed to me across the capitainerie desk in Port-la-Foret with a biro and the expectation that I would sign on the spot. I did not. I took it back to the boat, ran it through a translation app, and found three clauses I would never have agreed to had I understood them. That afternoon cost me nothing. The version I nearly signed would have cost me a chunk of my deposit when I left.
If you are taking a berth for more than a few nights in France, the contract matters more than the price. Here is what I have learned to read before signing.
Annual contracts are not what UK sailors expect
In the UK a marina berth is usually a rolling licence you can give up with a month or two of notice. In France an annual berth (contrat d'amodiation or simple contrat annuel) is closer to a fixed-term lease. The standard term runs the calendar year or the season, and the headline figure is what you pay whether you use the berth for 300 nights or 30.
Rates climb fast with size because the marina is selling water surface, not a slot. A small berth might cost around 1,300 euros a year including VAT at a quiet Atlantic port, while a larger berth in a sought-after marina can run past 16,000 euros a year. Those figures are 2025-2026 quotes and they include the 20 per cent VAT that applies to berthing as a service. Always confirm whether the number you are quoted is TTC (toutes taxes comprises, VAT included) or HT (hors taxes, before VAT). A 20 per cent surprise on a five-figure berth is a bad way to start a season.
The deposit clause is where money quietly disappears
Most contracts require a caution, a security deposit, often one to two months of berthing or a flat figure. That is fair enough. The problem is the conditions for getting it back.
Read the clause that says when the deposit is returned and what it can be deducted against. I have seen contracts that hold the caution until an inventory of the berth (cleat condition, finger pontoon, electrical bollard) has been signed off, and others that allow the marina to deduct for the cost of removing a boat left beyond the contract end date. If you plan to leave the boat over winter or cruise away for months, check that nothing in the deposit clause penalises an empty berth or a late return.
Ask for the deposit terms in writing before you pay. A capitainerie that will not put the refund conditions on paper is telling you something.
Notice, renewal and the tacit reconduction trap
French contracts love tacite reconduction, automatic renewal unless you cancel in time. Your berthing contract may roll into another full year if you do not give notice by a stated date, often two or three months before the term ends, and usually by registered letter (lettre recommandee avec accuse de reception). Miss it and you can be liable for another year.
If you are a visiting cruiser who might move on, this clause alone is worth a careful read. Note the exact deadline and the exact method. An email is frequently not accepted as valid notice. The registered letter with proof of receipt is the format French administration trusts, and the same habit serves you well across other paperwork too, from your DAFN francisation tax obligations to insurance renewals.
Sub-letting and the empty-berth question
Many foreign owners assume they can let a friend use the berth, or sub-let it when they sail off for a month. Most French contracts forbid this outright, or reserve sub-letting rights to the marina itself. When your berth is empty, the capitainerie will often re-let it to visitors for the nights you are away, and in some ports a share of that revenue can be credited back to you. That is a genuine benefit, but only if the contract spells it out. If it does not, your empty berth simply earns the marina money.
This is also where the difference between a long stay and a true permanent base shows up. If you are weighing a year-round arrangement, read my notes on a long-stay berth in France as a foreigner alongside the contract, because the commercial logic differs from a short visit.
VAT, residency and the paperwork the marina will ask for
To open an annual contract the capitainerie will want your boat papers and proof of insurance. For a foreign-flagged boat that means the registration document, third-party liability cover (the minimum most French ports require), and often evidence of the boat's tax status. Keep your proof of VAT for the boat in the same folder, because some marinas now ask to see it when you sign a long contract, and a non-EU boat sitting on an annual berth raises customs questions you would rather answer with a document than a shrug.
A practical point on payment: many French marinas still prefer SEPA direct debit or a French bank transfer for annual contracts, and a non-resident account can complicate the first payment. Sort the payment method before you commit, not on signing day.
The clauses I now check every time
After a few seasons I run the same checklist before signing anything longer than a stopover:
- Is the price TTC or HT, and does it include the DAFN, water, electricity and any access-card deposit, or are those extra?
- What exactly triggers a deduction from the caution, and how soon is the balance returned?
- What is the cancellation deadline, the renewal mechanism, and the required method of notice?
- Can the berth be sub-let, and do I get any credit when the marina re-lets it in my absence?
- What happens if I leave the boat beyond the contract term, and who pays to move it?
None of this is hidden maliciously. French boating contracts are simply written for French owners who know the conventions, and the conventions are not the British ones. The capitainerie staff I have dealt with have all been happy to explain a clause when asked. The mistake is signing without asking.
What the price actually buys, and what it does not
A French berthing fee is rarely all-inclusive, and the contract is where you find out. Electricity and water can be bundled into the rate, metered separately, or charged as a flat daily supplement, and on a year-long contract metered power for a liveaboard runs into real money over a winter. Showers, wifi, the access card, even the use of the slipway can each carry a small charge or a refundable deposit of their own. A contract that quotes a clean annual figure and then layers extras on the first monthly invoice is not unusual, so ask for a worked example of a typical month before you sign.
Then there is the DAFN question. If the boat flies the French flag it owes the annual francisation and navigation duty regardless of the berth, and that is a separate demand from the public finances directorate, not something the marina collects. Foreign-flagged boats do not pay it. Owners new to France sometimes assume the berth fee covers everything the state wants, and it does not. The way that levy is calculated is set out in the DAFN francisation tax explained, and it sits outside whatever you agree with the capitainerie.
How the headline rate itself is built, per metre or per square metre, high season or low, is worth understanding before you judge whether a contract is fair value. I have pulled that apart in how French marinas calculate mooring fees, and reading it alongside a contract tells you quickly whether the annual figure is a bargain or a premium for the postcode.
Insurance and the documents that gate the contract
No French marina will hand you an annual berth without proof of insurance, and the minimum almost everywhere is third-party liability cover (responsabilite civile). For a foreign-flagged boat, make sure your policy is written in terms a French capitainerie will accept, ideally with a certificate that states the third-party limit clearly. A policy document in English with no obvious liability figure can stall the paperwork while someone hunts for the relevant clause.
Beyond insurance, expect the marina to want the boat's registration document and, increasingly on longer contracts, evidence of the boat's tax status. A non-EU boat parked on an annual berth is exactly the kind of situation that prompts a customs question down the line, and answering it with a document beats answering it with a story. Keep the file together and the contract signing is a formality rather than an obstacle.
Walk the pontoon before you sign
One last habit worth keeping. Before committing to an annual berth, walk down and look at the actual finger you are being offered, at low water if the port dries or has a big range. A berth that looks fine in the brochure can sit you bow-to a fixed quay with no finger pontoon, or leave you bumping a neighbour in a cross-wind. The contract binds you to that berth, not to a category, so see it first.
The small print in France is not a trap so much as a different ruleset. Read it slowly, ask the questions, get the deposit terms in writing, and the annual berth becomes what it should be: a quiet base for a good season, not a paperwork headache you discover the day you try to leave.
