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Hannah Cash headshot
Hannah Cash headshot

Hannah Cash

Partner

England & Wales

020 3319 3700

hannah.cash@keystonelaw.co.uk

Hannah is a leading marine law and superyacht specialist with over 20 years’ experience advising on non‑contentious transactional matters within the luxury marine sector. She acts across a wide range of high‑value marine assets and has a distinctive specialist focus on the luxury London houseboat market.

Hannah advises on the sale and purchase of new‑build and pre‑owned vessels, vessel registration, marine finance and mortgage arrangements, yacht charters, and mooring and berthing agreements. She also has extensive experience structuring complex vessel ownership arrangements, including fractional and syndicate ownership.

Hannah advises a UK and international client base comprising high‑net‑worth and ultra‑high‑net‑worth individuals, business founders, family offices, celebrities, and owner‑managed companies, and has particular experience advising female entrepreneurs within the marine and luxury sectors on personal asset ownership.

Expertise

Hannah advises UK and international private and commercial clients on high‑value sale and purchase transactions. Her work includes cross‑border contract negotiations, asset acquisitions and disposals, title review, registration, crew and regulatory matters. She specialises in multi‑jurisdictional yacht transactions, VAT, offshore ownership structures, and works closely with international brokers and advisers.

Experience

  • Acted on the purchase of a 60m+ superyacht for a UHNW business owner including complex contract negotiations, due diligence considerations, crew arrangements, security lending, flagging, company structure set up, title review, VAT considerations, and delivery arrangements.
  • Negotiated the sale of a 50m+ superyacht for the HNW owner of a chain of cinemas involving a complicated discharge of mortgage arrangement, contract negotiations, company disposal advice, and commercial agreements.
  • Acted for a high-profile female tech entrepreneur purchasing 3 new-build 30m+ superyachts to operate commercially involving negotiating and advising on new-build contracts, a complex marine lending security arrangement, risk allocation, setting up an offshore company structure, asset protection, succession planning, and hand-holding advisory support.

Hannah advises on UK and international vessel registrations for both pleasure and commercial use across multiple jurisdictions, typically within the Red Ensign Group. Hannah manages complex flag and mortgage registrations and acts as UK Ship Representative for foreign clients, working with the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA).

Experience

  • Negotiated and registered complex marine mortgages for a high-value acquisition of vessels involving an associated security arrangement for a family office.
  • Coordinated cross-border finance documentation and lender security packages for a boat distributor.
  • Advised on the refinancing and restructuring of existing marine debt arrangements for a large brokerage.
  • Acted for numerous private individuals and owner-managed companies to attend to vessel registration, de-registration, and marine mortgages finance arrangements either as a stand-alone service or as part of a wider vessel sale/purchase transaction, including private and commercial use.

Hannah advises on vessel ownership structures, including company formations, charter agreements, syndicate arrangements, and trust/offshore structures through her collaborations with international trust and corporate service providers. She advises marine sector businesses, brokers, operators, private individuals, and owner-managed companies on commercial structuring and operational matters.

Experience

  • Advised on the restructure of a fleet of privately owned 24m yachts involving complex ownership restructuring arrangements from private ownership to an Isle of Man company trust structure.
  • Acted for a yacht syndicate composed of private individuals purchasing a 50m+ superyacht including setting up of yacht syndicate arrangement, structuring the purchase through the formation of a Marshall Islands Company, and coordination with international advisers to facilitate the acquisition.
  • Acted for private owners in the setting up of a commercial charter business in Palma, Mallorca, including drafting charter agreements, attending to flagging arrangements, and advising on operational control.

Hannah has acted for numerous mooring operators and owners, sellers, and purchasers acquiring or disposing of various berth and vessel mooring arrangements across a spectrum of UK marinas including leasehold and licence arrangements.

Experience

  • Represented the company seller in the first successful sale of central London moorings acquired by a collective group of berth holders including a complex restructure and loan arrangement, negotiating lengthy commercial terms, and advising on new mooring licence arrangements to facilitate the sale.
  • Acted for a bespoke berth brokerage to assist their clients in the selling of their leasehold mooring arrangements with a large UK marina operator.
  • Advised on complex mooring terms and conditions to create bespoke mooring licences (for residential and leisure use) and company terms of business for a large-scale UK marina operator.
  • Acted for numerous private individuals, selling or acquiring moorings or berths under a leasehold or licence arrangement in the UK.

Hannah has acted on numerous high-end luxury houseboat transactions in the central London market, acting for private high-net-worth individuals, marina owners and operators, family offices, other professional services companies, and celebrities. Her expertise in this field often includes mooring berths for both leasehold and licence arrangements.

Experience

  • Represented a high-profile celebrity in the sale of their high-value houseboat and mooring arrangement in central London involving contract negotiations, asset disposal of leasehold carpark space, sale of company share in the mooring ownership, and assignment of berthing arrangement.
  • Acted for an established family business acquiring a collection of houseboats to operate commercially to serve the residential market in various locations on the Thames including advising on Canal & River Trust (CRT) mooring licences and working with Port of London Authority (PLA).
  • Advised and acted for an established boat builder and its sole distributor on the sale of various new-build houseboats in and around London’s inland waterways to combine the vessel offering with a residential mooring as a combined package. This involved advising on complex mooring terms and conditions and drafting bespoke sale contracts.
  • Acted for a UK TV production company to assist with the purchase of a 38m houseboat and combine the acquisition with the rare granting of a change of vessel use from residential to commercial to enable the company to run their business from a central London location on the water, involving complex negotiations with local planning and mooring operator, advising on business licences, and operating a vessel commercially.
  • Acted for numerous buyers and sellers of luxury houseboats in various central London mooring locations involving contract negotiations, advising on mooring arrangements, preparing reports on title, liaising with marine surveyors, attending to marine finance arrangements, coordinating with marine insurers, facilitating river licence applications, registrations, and preparing specialist documents to facilitate transfer ownership.

Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.

Recognition

  • British Superyacht Ambassador
  • Superyacht UK – former committee member (SYUK)
  • British Marine (BM) – former Chairman of BMSW
  • Member of the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) – SW committee member
  • Member of the Association of Yacht Brokers Designers Surveyors Association (YBDSA)

Hannah qualified as a solicitor in 2005. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2026, she worked at the following firms:

  • Yachting Lawyers – a division of Truelegal (South West/London)
  • Rooks Rider (London)
  • Haynes & Co (Gibraltar)