TV License Coverage Problem

[Scared09]

So my problem is as thus.

 

I own a flat and do not watch TV but my tenant does. Since we had just moved in, I did not have a TV and certainly not a TV license. My tenant however bought a TV and said she would deal with the TV licensing issue and pay for it and I took her word for it.

 

A few days ago, I received a letter from TV licensing stating that it has not been paid and I would need to take action by the 17th of June, if not they would submit my address for investigation. So I asked my flatmate to send me the email confirming that the TV license has indeed been paid. She said she had definitely dealt with it but has not sent the email, with some cockamamie reasons. I contacted TV license and inquired if my address is covered and they said 'We cannot divulge information whether you are covered by TV licensing because of the data protection act'.

 

I was wondering what my next course of action should be?

[renegadeimp]

Personally i would ignore tv licencing and if they come to your house, ignore them and not open the door.

 

Regarding the DPA, that excuse is BS. It is YOUR flat so you have a full right to know if theres a licence held at that address or not.

[Bazooka Boo]

Certainly ignore them, don't give them any details whatsoever, don't call them at all, if they turn up at your address you are under absolutely no legal obligation to talk to them or divulge any personal information whatsoever, shut the door.

 

No contact, no personal details, ignore all their petty threat letters.

[Scared09]

Unfortunately I already have contacted them. Whilst I did not give any personal details, I did however provide my address. Would that be a problem?

 

In regards to providing me with the information, is there a way I can force them to divulge information on my flat beyond taking them to court?

[Bazooka Boo]

I seriously wouldn't worry about them, what letters are they sending to your address, how are they addressed? to you personally or 'the legal occupier'?

[rebel11]

Hi Scared09

 

Aren't you chasing the wrong party for information? Write a letter to your flatmate stating that if she has not purchased a TV license, then she will pay the license fee, all fines, all court costs etc. Get her to sign it. Hold her accountable for her actions.

[Scared09]

Hi Bazooka Boo

They are addressed to the occupier. What would that mean?

 

Hi Rebel11

The point is not flatmate. The point is I want to know if the TV licensing has in their records, that the TV license for my flat has been paid for. Regardless of whether or not my flatmate has paid for it, if they do not have an account for it, I personally do not fancy going to court to fight it out seeing as she's moving out soon. Seeing as it is my flat, I believe I have a right to know what is being covered for my flat.

[Bazooka Boo]

Addressed to the Occupier means that they have no idea who lives there and never will unless you tell them.

 

There will be no court unless you decide to give TVL the information they need and allow them into your property whereby they get you to sign a document

where you say your guilty of the civil offence of not purchasing the TV tax.

 

Then when you go to court and the judge hands down a fine, of circa 2-300 quid, if you fail to pay that then it is a criminal offence.

The TV tax is dead in the water tbh, another couple of years and it will either be scrapped completely or it will go to subscription based for anyone wanting to watch their drivel.

 

Yes you get lots of scary looking letters claiming legal and lawful in the same sentence, and ''what to expect in court'' but these are about as much use

as indicators on a submarine, if you don't need a TVL to watch live broadcasts, then you can ignore them, no contact, if one of their commission based (£20 per victim)

knock your door, either ignore them, or tell them to go away as you don't purchase stuff on the doorstep.

 

Any notion of search warrants to search your property for a TV, are fake, the warrant does not give them the right of entry, tell the police who will be in tow (purely to prevent a breach of the peace, unless they have ideas above their pay grade) that they should leave and return with the correct documentation and shut the door.

[renegadeimp]

Fully agree with BB. It's a threat letter thats very carefully worded to get you to contact them so they can get a name on the address and start chasing you.

[brassnecked]

If you don't respond they will send an ever increasingly threatening set of threatOgrams, and may even knock, but you don't have to speak or deal with them, just slam the door in their face and say nowt. They need people to stitch themselves up on the doorstep.

[The GodMother]

There is a fb page that is also advising the same as others.

 

1 record them when they come to your door.

2 DONT TELL THEM OR COMFIRM ANYTHING.

3 Tell them to leave and dont come back. In writing tell them you dont have a tv dont need a license and remove there rights to access.

4 sit back and enjoy the peace.

[griffzilla]

The TV licence doesn't belong to the flat, it belongs to a person - so TVL are quite right in not being able to disclose if a licence is there or not. One licence will normally cover everyone living as a family unit within the flat, but it is feasible for some properties to require more than one licence (eg if you are not living as a family unit, in student halls for example, each bedroom will require a licence if they have a TV in there, and a tv in the lounge will be covered by any one licence in a bedroom).

 

The point is not flatmate. The point is I want to know if the TV licensing has in their records, that the TV license for my flat has been paid for.

[The GodMother]

Good point but it does depend on what they have been told

[Bazooka Boo]

Ignore them, they have nothing except a computer which sends out reams of deforestation on a monthly basis, there are four letters which are on a rotation,

one claiming to tell you ''what you need to know before court'' another that ''an investigation has been opened'' blah blah blah.

 

File them away under ignore, and if anyone does turn up at random, you can either laugh and shut the door, wave at them through the window, stand there with your arms folded not saying anything, just staring at them, ask them if they have mae an appointment? Any number of things really, they are as much use as indicators on a submarine.

[brassnecked]

Bazooka Boo is correct, but if you say nowt and hold your phone up as if to film them trough the window, they usually scarper quickly

[Scared09]

Thanks for your help!