(A) The owner of a vessel shall notify the Secretary of State within 15 days: if the vessel is destroyed, abandoned or sold; if an interest in the vessel is transferred, either wholly or in part, to another person; or if the owner’s address no longer conforms to the address appearing on the certificate of number. The notice shall consist of a surrender of the certificate of number, on which the proper information shall be noted on a place to be provided on the certificate. When the surrender of the certificate is due to the vessel being destroyed or abandoned, the Secretary of State shall cancel the certificate and enter that fact in the Secretary of State’s records, and the number may be reassigned.
(B) If the surrender of the certificate of number is due to a change of the owner’s address, the new address shall be recorded by the Secretary of State and a certificate of number bearing that information shall be returned to the owner.
(C) The transferee of a vessel register under the state, within 15 days after acquisition of a vessel, shall make application to the Secretary of State for transfer to the transferee of the certificate of number issued to the vessel. The transferee shall provide his or her name, address and the number of the vessel and pay to the Secretary of State a transfer fee. Unless the application is made and the fee paid within 15 days after acquisition of the vessel, the vessel shall be considered to be without certificate of number and a person shall not operate the vessel until a certificate is issued. Upon receipt of the application and appropriate fees, the Secretary of State shall transfer the certificate of number issued for the vessel to the new owner. The certificate of number shall be valid for a three-year period.
(D) If a certificate of number is lost, mutilated or illegible, the owner of the vessel shall obtain a duplicate of the certificate upon application and payment of a fee.
(Prior Code, § 21.5-24) (Ord. 1048, passed 5-18-1998)