TV license about to run out. 23 January 2020 at 2:01PM in TV MoneySaving 41 replies 1.6K views

Cornucopia

pphillips said:

It's interesting to think about if someone had already paid for their TV licence in advance were then to submit a no licence needed form, whether or not would they be legally entitled to a refund. TV Licensing's policy to issue a refund is found in policy, not in law, so would the courts enforce it? Its open to debate but I think that the courts probably would find TV Licensing acted unreasonably in disregarding their own policy and it was therefore unlawful to refuse the refund.

The principle of a refund is established in legislation, though.   There's a provision for the BBC to retain cash to provide refunds, and there is a more general provision for the BBC to set the Ts & Cs of a Licence.  

Although the Public tend to believe in a very open-ended ability to take things to Court, in reality there are a whole range of different types of proceedings that relate to different issues.   In the case of TVL, where the legal position is very fragmented, any of these could apply, or indeed none of them to a particular concern.   There's also the question of whether the costs of legal proceedings bare any relation to the amounts in jeopardy, especially since in some forms of action an award of costs if TVL were to be found to have acted inappropriately is not automatic.