TV Licence article Discussion

[Deleted User]

Cornucopia wrote: »

TV Licensing is not a statutory authority and there is no legal reason why people should not ignore them (except in the very rare situation where they have a warrant).

Indeed, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport confirmed, that you are entitled to ignore them.

Hansard wrote:

Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether those who do not have a television set are required to inform Television Licensing that they do not require a TV licence.

Mr. Woodward: A television licence is required to install or use a television receiver, as defined in regulations made by the Secretary of State, rather than a television set. Members of the public who do not require a television licence are under no obligation to inform TV Licensing of the fact.

jbondo

Good evening all,


We completed on our property on 9th January.


I've been the property today to check for post etc to find a lovely letter from TV licensing stating

Official notice: investigation opened

they go on to state

We have asked you to contact us several times, but you have not responded

Funnily enough, the property has been empty for atleast a year and the letter box has been nailed shut .

We're not planning on moving in for atleast a week yet, what do you recommend?


The letter: https://ibb.co/tHdbJS7

Cornucopia

That's one of their standard letters, complete with misleading weasel words.

"Investigation opened" - they may have set your file to "under investigation", but otherwise pretty meaningless.

"We have asked you to contact us several times, but you have not responded" - as Bedsit Bob has shown above, there's no obligation for you to contact them and they shouldn't be implying otherwise.

The advice is generally the same unless there are special circumstances like vulnerable members of the household: you are free to ignore them (both the letters and any routine visits) and that's probably the best option. If you want to permanently see them off and you are prepared to invest some time and effort now to do that, then there are various legal options you can use.

Disclaimer: IANAL and any suggestions are made in good faith, but can only be general observations based on comments made previously by the BBC and other relevant authorities. Any suggestions or discussion is for the benefit of people who do not need a TV Licence.

cw18

jkility wrote: »

Funnily enough, the property has been empty for atleast a year and the letter box has been nailed shut .

But they've probably written out. The delivery staff who've been unable to deliver them have hopefully done as I do, and marked them undeliverable due to no access before returning them to sender.

However, I have NO idea what the goons do with them once they get them back. They clearly don't take the address off the database for generating these letters (even for a short time), as there's normally another one turns up in a month or so for the same 'no access' property.

jbondo

cw18 wrote: »

But they've probably written out. The delivery staff who've been unable to deliver them have hopefully done as I do, and marked them undeliverable due to no access before returning them to sender.

However, I have NO idea what the goons do with them once they get them back. They clearly don't take the address off the database for generating these letters (even for a short time), as there's normally another one turns up in a month or so for the same 'no access' property.

There's still a 'For Sale' banner outside the property so kind of gives it away too!

ShirleyO

You can pay for a TV licence by debit or credit card, but only by making a one-off payment. You can't pay monthly automatically with your debit/credit card.

staffsuk

FreeBear wrote: »

If you do open the door, refuse to answer any/all questions including confirming your name - Without a name, the can't take you to court. And never, ever allow them in regardless of what reason they give.

If people cancel an existing license, then surely they know their name anyway?

Cornucopia

staffsuk wrote: »

If people cancel an listing license, then surely they know their name anyway?

Two aspects to that.

1) TVL are obliged to remove the "old" name from their records after a reasonable period of time (something like 6 months). This is because they can no longer assume that the same person lives there.

2) Although we talk about "a name", what we actually mean is "the name", i.e. the actual name of the actual person they are dealing with. Anything less is not what they need for Court proceedings.

shahnina

What if i only watch netflix on my ipad - do i need a tv licence?

wymondham

shahnina said:

What if i only watch netflix on my ipad - do i need a tv licence?

nope!