TV Licence weirdness

[OllieBirmingham]

Have moved temporarily into a property my father is renting as a staff house, while me and the missus wait for our new flat to be ready. The house is occupied by restaurant staff who use it as a place to crash and not much else. There is no TV licence at the property, but I believe there is no ariel, as there is certainly no reception for tv. None of the people living there watch TV, but do watch DVD's etc. Have recieved a very threatening letter which is a warning against unlawful action. They want to come round and see if we are using equipment illegally, and they have listed amongst others Mobile phones and laptops as items that could be used illegally without a TV licence. How does that work then? We don't need a TV licence as we dont watch TV, any thoughts on what they could do? They appear to either a) Not believe we aren't watching TV or b) Want to try and strongarm us into getting a licence anyway. Anybody got any thoughts?

[Sciroccology]

Ignore them.

[Parrot of Doom]

If you're not watching television broadcasts, ignore the letter, and feel free not to grant them entry to the property without a court issued warrant.

[OllieBirmingham]

Really? Makes me a bit nervous, don't want them digging out some sub-clause and stuffing me with it. What if I watch a box set from blockbuster of a TV show? What if I listen to Radio 1 in the car? What is the crack with the mobile? I'm presuming the laptop issue is if I was looking at the BBC website or using that I-player thing, but I don't have an internet connection so thats ok.

[69elan+2]

OllieBirmingham said:

...Have recieved a very threatening letter which is a warning...

All wind and piss - dont worry about it. The TV licence dept havent got an acurate idea who has a telly / who doesnt watch the telly, they think it is thier god given right to send these letters out to every address that hasnt got a licence.

Even if you tell them your situation the letters will continue, they have got quite a variety of letters - some will even need to be signed for

The logic they use: A: you are a human B: you live in a building = C: you WILL be watching the telly. If building does not have licence registered on system - send gobsite letters.

However when you buy a new TV the store does send you details to them also.

... remember all that hype about detector vans back in the 70's and 80's? that was bull too! Yes the vans existed in some form but they were just a visual aid to scare people into buying a licence.

Edited by 69elan+2 on Sunday 10th August 14:52

[OllieBirmingham]

I'm more than happy to inform them and then ignore, just don't want to be the cause of my dad getting another court summons.....

[tbops]

there was someone on another forum who cought one of there bods looking thru one of his windows and gave him some beatings as his 4 year old daughter was in that room. they never bothered him again.

[OllieBirmingham]

Beatings eh? Hmmm

It says on the letter they caught 34853 offenders last month....

Truth or arbitary number?

[powerandtorque]

As said, just ignore them - I've had 1 or 2 letters a month from the TV licensing people since I moved into my current house in 2006, and nothing has ever come from ignoring them - other than yet more threatening letters to round file, naturally.

Never had one of their inspectors visit me either, which is a bit odd given that they've been threatening to send them for the best part of 2 years. Indeed, that makes me question how accurate their claims of prosecuting many thousands of people each month in my area actually are?

[jessica]

when my mother died i inherited her house. I used to get these letters regularly. in the end they send them recorded delivery so you have to go to the post office to collect them if you dont live in the property.
despite me calling them each time and telling them the house was empty and unoccupied they didnt give up.4
I guess the guy that bought the house three years later started to receive them and having a TV he paid up.
If they need access they will have to have a warrent.
Dont let them in.
no idea about the mobile laptop though.
would imagine it would have to be in a contract somewhere stating you need a licence to access their services on this type of equipment.

[mgtony]

OllieBirmingham said:

Really? Makes me a bit nervous, don't want them digging out some sub-clause and stuffing me with it. What if I watch a box set from blockbuster of a TV show? What if I listen to Radio 1 in the car? What is the crack with the mobile? I'm presuming the laptop issue is if I was looking at the BBC website or using that I-player thing, but I don't have an internet connection so thats ok.

How are you on this website then?

[Pigeon]

The laptop thing is in case it has a TV card in it. Dunno about mobiles. Has the crawling heap of pointless gadgets the bloody things have these days now grown to include a TV receiver? If not, no problem.

[BonzoGuinness]

OllieBirmingham said:

Really? Makes me a bit nervous, don't want them digging out some sub-clause and stuffing me with it. What if I watch a box set from blockbuster of a TV show? What if I listen to Radio 1 in the car? What is the crack with the mobile? I'm presuming the laptop issue is if I was looking at the BBC website or using that I-player thing, but I don't have an internet connection so thats ok.

You don't need a licence to watch iPlayer, as it isn't live. You also don't need a licence to watch recordings/box sets/DVD's of television programmes, nor do you need one to listen to the radio.

You do need one if you watch anything live - whether it be broadcast, streamed over the BBC website, or streamed to your mobile phone.

Ignore the threatening letters, and make sure any TVs in the house are not connected to aerials, just in case the sods eventually do get a warrant. I doubt it though, they used to send about 50 letters at one time to my old student residences, and they only turned up once. Security wouldn't even let them in!

[burriana]

69elan+2 said:

The TV licence dept havent got an acurate idea who has a telly

Might not be 100% but it's more accurate than you would think.

I can only advise you as someone who used to work for TV Licencing (hey it was over 20 years ago and the pay was good ok!)

If you have a TV set in your house that is "capable of receiving a signal" (ie you can stick a portable aerial into it even) then you need a licence. No ifs, no buts. The old "we only use it for videos/DVDs ruse is as old as the hills and is given fairly short shrift".

If you do not want to buy a licence, don't have a TV in the house that has reception capability.

For the sake of £20 per quarter DD or whatever it is it's not worth the aggro.

[aw51 121565]

Check this site about tv licensing letters for a bit of inspiration.

To summarise, it's all bluff and bluster.

Don't get me going on 'them' sending me threatening letters when I moved in with my missus (I notified them of this, and they gave me a refund for the remains of the license at my old place) - they couldn't/wouldn't recognise that my new address was already licensed under my missus' name... 'All-singing, all-dancing database'? I would suggest not.

[trooperiziz]

burriana said:

If you have a TV set in your house that is "capable of receiving a signal" (ie you can stick a portable aerial into it even) then you need a licence. No ifs, no buts. The old "we only use it for videos/DVDs ruse is as old as the hills and is given fairly short shrift".

If you do not want to buy a licence, don't have a TV in the house that has reception capability.

For the sake of £20 per quarter DD or whatever it is it's not worth the aggro.

This is exactly the problem, the people who work for the TV licensing authority don't know the law regarding TV licence.

You absolutley do not need a licence if you have a tv set that is capable of receiving a signal, you only need one if you use that TV to watch live broadcasts.

[Simpo Two]

trooperiziz said:

You absolutley do not need a licence if you have a tv set that is capable of receiving a signal, you only need one if you use that TV to watch live broadcasts.

Yes, only using it would be an offence (like radar detectors). So how would you prove that you never used it?

I hate those threatening TV Licence adverts - 'We know where you live so pay up or we'll come and get you, fine you £1,000 etc.' If that was true, why don't they simply go and do it and rake in loads of cash for Gordy?

[trooperiziz]

Simpo Two said:

trooperiziz said:

You absolutley do not need a licence if you have a tv set that is capable of receiving a signal, you only need one if you use that TV to watch live broadcasts.

Yes, only using it would be an offence (like radar detectors). So how would you prove that you never used it?

I don't to prove that I never used it, the licensing authority need to prove that I did.

I do actually have a licence, but all the misinformation and lies put out annoy me

[eldar]

It is a nightmare.

You need a licence if you have equipment capable of receiving a live TV signal - terrestial via an ariel or satellite. Even if you have a TV, you only need a licence if have a digibox or ariel that could be connected - remove any connector to be sure. You will get these threatening letters from TV licencing (aka Capita). Bin them if you really can't can't recieve TV as described above, no prob. Unlikely they'll call, but possible.

Now it gets complicated. If you have a mobile phone capable of recieving TV, you need a licence (because, they say, it is 'live'). Not having a contract that includes the ability to recieve TV, or living in a bad coverage area means you don't.

You don't need a licence to watch TV on your PC - if it isn't live, like a TV card. Iplayer or downloads aren't live, no licence.

All good fun

[Simpo Two]

Sooo... could every household in the UK simply cancel their licence and claim they don't watch TV?



(Of course if we all did it, Brown would just crank up tax somewhere else to compensate)