My question involves vehicle registration or title in the state of: Oregon
I was given a boat by my boss it has been on his property for over 10 years but is not his how do I get a title
My question involves vehicle registration or title in the state of: Oregon
I was given a boat by my boss it has been on his property for over 10 years but is not his how do I get a title
Whether it was on his property for 10 minutes or 100 years, the boat isn't your boss's boat to give - to you or to anyone else. He is not the OWNER of the boat, only the property the boat was sitting ON. As in most states, Oregon does NOT have a "finders keepers" rule for boats that may have been abandoned. You are now in the possession of someone ELSE's boat. What your boss SHOULD have done was contact the Oregon State Marine Board. They would have given him the information on who the last registered owner was and he would have to go through finding the legal owner of the boat and getting the title signed over by either that owner or the legal representative of that owner's estate if the person was deceased.
I cannot speak for Oregon's process in particular, but in SOME states, there MIGHT be a process where the State Marine Board will come out an inspect the vessel, research the hull number and title history, attempt to contact the owner or the owner's estate, and if that fails, give you a process whereby you MIGHT be able to claim the vessel. As you might imagine, this process should be expected to cost several hundred dollars (they are probably required to publish notice about the vessel in newspapers for a period of time as part of their obligation to try to notify the owner of the vessel) and, will probably take several months. Until that process is completed, you will be unable to register this vessel and are technically in possession of what amounts to stolen property, even though the owner hasn't yet reported it as such - yet. Bottom line? Contact your State Marine Board. Their website is:
http://www.oregon.gov/OSMB/BoatLaws/salvageboats.shtml