We've just been made aware of a new TV Licensing letter doing the rounds, which targets non-viewers who have previously told TV Licensing about their TV-free status.
The letter is written in a slightly more conciliatory tone than TV Licensing's standard threatograms and adopts the neutral green colour palette. Included at the foot of the letter, for added psychological impact, is an official looking declaration form that the recipient is invited to sign and return, thereby confirming the honesty of the information they have already provided to TV Licensing.
As we have mentioned numerous times on the TV Licensing Blog, anyone who does not require a TV licence is under no obligation to communicate or co-operate with TV Licensing. They do not need to confirm anything to TV Licensing, let alone sign a declaration confirming that they don't receive TV programmes in their unlicensed property.
Our advice to anyone receiving this letter is to treat it with the same contempt as any other TV Licensing letter: put it straight in the bin and completely ignore it. Anyone making the mistake of completing the declaration form is providing TV Licensing with information it is not legally entitled to, which it will not hesitate to use to its advantage later on.
The letter reads as follows:
____________________
____________________
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for getting in touch to tell us that you don't need a TV Licence.
Please complete the No Licence Needed Declaration below and send it back to us in the enclosed prepaid envelope. This will confirm that you don't watch or receive programmes as they're being shown on TV, on any device.
What happens next.
Your No Licence Needed Declaration will last until [date]. We will not write to you until just before this date, unless we believe that your circumstances have changed.
We may visit [address] to make sure that you don't need a licence. This is because almost one in five addresses that declare No Licence Needed are found to need a TV Licence when we visit, which is why these visits are necessary.
Please let us know if your situation changes.
If you do start watching or recording programmes as they're being shown on TV, you'll need to be covered by a TV Licence. To buy one just go to tvlicensing.co.uk/pay or call 0300 303 9687.
If you move home, please make sure you tell us so we can transfer your declaration to your new address.
Yours faithfully,
[Imaginary Signature]Imaginary Person
Customer Services
_______________
You'll notice that even though TV Licensing ask the recipient to declare that they don't receive TV programmes, they still threaten that a goon could visit to check anyway.
That pretty much sums up why TV Licensing is so despised.
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Yet another really shabby trick from TV Licensing™. What else could people expect from that bunch of scam enfarcers.
ReplyDeleteAs you correctly point out, TV Licensing Blog nobody is under any obligation to make any such "declaration".
People who complete and sign this do so at their legal peril. Once they have a name and a signature, TV Licensing™ will still make their "unannounced" visits and it'll be wide open to their well-known '"found evidence that TV equipment is being used in contravention of " follow-up letter' abuse.
They really do take people for complete mugs!
It would be nice to include a gift in the pre-paid envelope; preferably more than an inch thick thus making it chargable at 'packet' rate.
ReplyDeleteFrom my own experience I know very well that TV Licensing do not, even when they have signed papers in their hands, take any real notice and carry on regardless. So I agree: don't sign anything at all - but perhaps keep all correspondence from TV Licensing and, in the event you end up in court (you may wish to do so and take a stand, for us all, for example!), you can dramatically produce the huge volume of paper to emphasise point.
ReplyDeleteDo you have the text of the declaration TV Licensing are 'requiring' the licenceless to sign? Just wondering if they've the cheek to slip the householders consent to an inspection in there.
ReplyDeleteYes, the declaration portion says the following:
ReplyDelete"I confirm that I don't watch or record programmes as they're being shown on TV, on any device. I understand that if I do watch or record programmes without being covered by a TV Licence, I will be breaking the law."
That could be wheeled out in court at sentencing time to show knowledge of the offence and intent, I suppose. It might be something the prosecution would play on if any prosecution were to take place.
ReplyDelete(if I've inadvertently posted the above with a google account please anonymise - thanks).
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteCould you please advise me?, I already submit the declaration form on the internet (I put my name on there, and I choose not having TV receiver as the reason) before reading your forum here "not to reply to them", what should I do after this?
Many thanks.
We suggest you ignore it, but it's entirely your choice.
ReplyDeleteBy responding you are providing TV Licensing with more information about yourself - information they are not legally entitled to and cannot be trusted with.
Even if you respond, they will probably still harass you anyway.
I have a no licence needed status and have recently received communication from TV Licensing first saying they wrote to me recently which is not true then they go on to say we want to make sure your details are up to date and if they do not hear they may have open an investigation and schedule a visit to my address and they will also continue to write to me and they don want that to happen and say its important I contact them, also that my No Licence needed claim expires in September and I have to make a new declaration and there about five or six options of which do not totally fall in my reason for not needing a TV licence, my reason for not needing a TV Licence is that I am in a flat and the aerial to my flat is the old analogue type and the council will not put up a new aerial and I am not going to install one either so not sure what to do on the back of the letter you can phone them but on the front of the letter the same number is to tell them you need a licence
ReplyDeleteYou don't need a TV licence, so you have no legal business with TV Licensing. Do not feel bullied into doing TV Licensing's work for it. Just ignore them. They are not entitled to know anything about your circumstances. Sure, the letters will keep coming - you just keep putting them straight in the bin.
ReplyDeleteI got an email yesterday, inviting me to claim no licence required online. I discovered a list of three statements I was required to affirm. Two of them I couldn't. Conclusion? "If you cannot confirm all the statements above, you'll need to buy a TV Licence."
ReplyDeleteThe statements were:
1. I don't watch or record programmes as they're being shown on TV or live on an online TV service, on any channel, using any device. This includes TVs, desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, games consoles, digital boxes or DVD/VHS recorders.
Problem: I do watch TV sometimes. I just don't do it at home, on a TV that I own myself.
2. I don't watch or record programmes from abroad as they're being shown on TV or live on an online TV service.
Problem: I do watch TV abroad. I don't believe that I need a TV licence to watch TV when I am out of the UK.
3. I don't download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer. This applies to any device and provider you use, including Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, Freeview, Freesat, YouView, Apple, Roku or Amazon.
No problem with this.
The statements are poorly worded.
ReplyDeleteThey only apply if you are carrying out that action in your unlicensed property.
I do not have a tv in my house their is nothing worth watching to justify a tv licence if their was no tv licences I STILL WOULD NOT BUY A TV.
ReplyDeleteI moved to Germany in January 2018. Informed TV licensing of this and received a rebate from them. I've since had two reminders (in Germany) that they are going to send someone to my address to confirm I do not need a licence. If this helps, the easiest way to get here is by U-Bahn from Dammtorstraße (U3). Get off at Hoheluftbruke. My house is second on the left from Hohelufchaussee, at the corner of Martinistraße. Kind regards
ReplyDelete2 years ago we put our 2nd home up for sale we did not require a licence at that address we got the threatogrammes and just ignored them when we sold the house the first couple to view seemed more interested in our tv licence position than the property we also aquired a window cleaner we never had they will stop at nothing finding ways to enter your property always be aware of this I cannot think of any other company that would be able to support its self through harasment intimidation and a lack of respect for privacy.
ReplyDelete