TV licensing totalling ignoring me! help!!

sirlizzie

Interesting reading! thanks for that

mcjordi

do as i do and ignore them..

if they send out the "enforcment officers" then show them theres no TV and they will go away..

jue

Hi, had this problem when FIL died last year, house was empty for a long time. We just rang the tv licensing up, spoke to a supervisor and explained this issue was causing great distress and were thinking about lodging a complaint because how it had been handled....all of which was perfectly true. When you have lost a loved one you have enough to cope with! The threatening letters stopped immediately.

Hope this helps.

pmduk

It's the BBC tax, whenever have we been able to stop taxes being wasted?

moonrakerz

mcjordi wrote: »

do as i do and ignore them..

if they send out the "enforcment officers" then show them theres no TV and they will go away..

The thing is - even if there is a TV in the house you still do not need a licence - you just tell them to "go away!"

vikingaero

If I were in your shoes I'd send a letter stating that the occupier refuses point blank to buy a TV Licence and let them get their knickers in a twist with visits and more letters.

davidlizard

sirlizzie wrote: »

Thank you i know you are all talking perfect sense
There is no occupier, empty house all of which they have already been informed.
I know that no offence has been or is being committed but when letters say such things as 'We have therefore authorised Enforcement Officers to visit your home' and the latest according to my brother refers to 'entering property', I worry.

As, the threatened Enforcement Officers have yet to call, no way of knowing if anyone has, could they/would they actually force an entry on an obviously empty/unoccupied/for sale house?

Sorry, just curious now, calming down........honest :rotfl:

Please remember in any dealings with TVL, that their "Enforcement Officers" are simply employees of Capita plc, a private company who are contracted to the TVL (which is to all intents and purpose the BBC) for selling television licences.

These "Enforcement Officers" are nothing other than salesmen. Moreover, they have no more rights or powers than door-to-door salesmen, the paperboy, me or you - they cannot enter your property let alone force entry, they cannot interview you under caution, and you are under no obligation whatsoever to discuss anything with them - i.e. you are perfectly entitled to tell them to go away in whatever words you deem fit. All they can do is collect evidence that they could put in front of a judge - the vast amount of which is obtained by people self-incriminating themselves.

They like to try to trick people into thinking they do have special legal powers akin to the police by calling themselves "officers" or "agents", and wearing of uniforms with peaked caps and anti-stab vests and the like.

And as others point out, you only need a licence for receiving TV as it is broadcast. Simply having a television in the house does not require a licence.

sirlizzie

jue wrote: »

Hi, had this problem when FIL died last year, house was empty for a long time. We just rang the tv licensing up, spoke to a supervisor and explained this issue was causing great distress and were thinking about lodging a complaint because how it had been handled....all of which was perfectly true. When you have lost a loved one you have enough to cope with! The threatening letters stopped immediately.

Hope this helps.

I did everything just as you did, stepdad was 82 when he passed away and so had a 'free' licence with 5 months still to go.
TV's were the first items to be removed, well before the licence expired. Since the house remains empty of property and no occupier and is for sale I would more than welcome them taking a look, though this appears to be just a threat

When i originally informed them the 'advisor', was more interested in when there would be a new occupier and pressed me for more details as to when i expected that would be, and couldn't seem to grasp that I could not possibly say when.....so despite informing them over & over the letters still come

If only they went after the real dodgers, but even then it seems to be just threatening letters!

adindas

Ignore them instead of they are ignoring you.

The burden to prove that someone is watching TV without license is in their side.

If they are coming do not let them transpass your property.

sirlizzie

adindas wrote: »

Ignore them instead of they are ignoring you.

The burden to prove that someone is watching TV without license is in their side.

If they are coming do not let them transpass your property.

Thank you, that's just what i intend to do

I have wasted enough time using their lousy phone lines, repeating the same 'there are no tv's etc - no licence needed etc etc'

Thanks again