TV licence question for student housing

James J · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:01

I move into a student house with 3 other people on the 1st september and got in touch with the TV licensing people via email asking about when we need to start paying for the move in date and what we actually need to buy as the student information is slightly confusing us. Basically only 2 out of 4 of us are going to watch tv, me being one of them and I'll be only watching it in the living room whilst my housemate will watch it there and in her room also. TV license people say that we need 2 licenses due to her having a tv in her room :S

Is this actually right and we'll need to pay £145.50 each for the priveledge of watching TV under the same roof or not? It's a small 4 bedroom house so I really can't see why they are saying we need 2 licenses due to a TV being in a room.

To clarify:

-I'll only be watching TV in the living room (as my 40inch tv is going in there), with no TV in my actual room.
-Two other guys won't be watching TV at all and also won't have TV's in their rooms.
-Girl will be watching TV in her room using the TV provided to us by our landlord and also watching it in the living room.

Would buying 1 single license in her name get round this issue due to me only watching it in the living room or are we stuck with getting 2 separate TV licenses?

Basher · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:03

Do you have separate rental agreements?

James J · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:04

Basher said:
Do you have separate rental agreements?

Nope we have a joint contract.

J.B · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:04

Technically I think if there are locks on the doors then the bedroom is classed as a separate dwelling or something like that.

You would probably get away with one though to be honest as realistically it is all one house.

Remember if the other 2 watch live TV streams such as the iPlayers watch live function that would also technically require a TV license which your address will have but I'm just saying in case they try and skirt paying their share.

Basher · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:05

I can't see any reason why you would need more than one license.

Ahleckz · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:05

1 license for the house. If the bedrooms were locked and each person had a separate license then you would need a license each. I'd expect each person in the house to pay equally.

Mr Jack · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:08

Assuming it's (a) a joint tenancy and (b) your rooms are separate only by agreement not by contract then your house constitutes a single dwelling and you only need one TV license

James J · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:08

J.B said:
Technically I think if there are locks on the doors then the bedroom is classed as a separate dwelling or something like that.

You would probably get away with one though to be honest as realistically it is all one house.

Remember if the other 2 watch live TV streams such as the iPlayers watch live function that would also technically require a TV license which your address will have but I'm just saying in case they try and skirt paying their share.

Both of the people who refuse to contribute have already been told that if anything like that goes on, including walking into the living room with the TV on with neither me or the girl we are living with in the room, I'll go mental and probably start digging graves in our back garden lol. It's a hard convo to have with your friends especially but neither me or the girl are fools when it comes to getting walked over.

The doors do have locks on them, which is probably why the TV license guy told me that we need separate licenses. Spoken to my landlord though and he says that historically, all of his previous tenants only had the 1 contract so we'll see.

clv101 · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:11

One contract, one TV license.

However, all four of you should be paying. No way are the other two never going to watch when the TV is in the living room! What are you going to do ban them from the living room when you're watching? Lock up the remotes? Maybe they'll stream iPlayer? It just sounds a bit petty and likely to cause conflict down the line.

Ahleckz · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:13

James J said:
Both of the people who refuse to contribute have already been told that if anything like that goes on, including walking into the living room with the TV on with neither me or the girl we are living with in the room, I'll go mental and probably start digging graves in our back garden lol. It's a hard convo to have with your friends especially but neither me or the girl are fools when it comes to getting walked over.

That's madness, on your part. Why not just go quarters on the license? You're banning them from watching TV in their own home? What if they are in the room whilst you are, do they have to stare at the wall? If their pals come round they aren't allowed to watch?

James J · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:16

clv101 said:
One contract, one TV license.

However, all four of you should be paying. No way are the other two never going to watch when the TV is in the living room! What are you going to do ban them from the living room when you're watching? Lock up the remotes? Maybe they'll stream iPlayer? It just sounds a bit petty and likely to cause conflict down the line.

Don't worry about that as I'm not shy of conflict lol. Me and the other person paying have told both of them twice now that if they do indeed watch TV, they will be paying for it. Its not an issue and we all know each other really well and the respect is there to avoid ******* someone off over something like this, especially when it's been brought up twice now with the list of consequences also to their faces.

Sunbed · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:17

Why don't the other two guys want to pay?

Sounds daft. Thankfully all the guys I used to live with when I was a student were decent and we all chipped in for everything.

James J · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:18

Ahleckz said:
That's madness, on your part. Why not just go quarters on the license? You're banning them from watching TV in their own home? What if they are in the room whilst you are, do they have to stare at the wall? If their pals come round they aren't allowed to watch?

Nah if either of the bill payers are watching tv, the others and friends are welcome to join in, doesn't mean they get a say in what we watch though

I'll have a serious problem if I walk into the room and one of them is watching TV on their own or with the other non-license payer only and they'd probably need a surgeon to find where I'd put the remote if that happened. They know this already though so I don't think it'll be an issue, although from the outside it does appear I'm being naive.

Vulcan · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:20

J.B said:
Technically I think if there are locks on the doors then the bedroom is classed as a separate dwelling or something like that.

I'm calling rubbish on this.

Having locks on the bedroom doors in a house doesn't make it a separate dwelling any more so than just having standard lock-less handles.

Unless anyone can prove otherwise?

James J · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:21

Sundance said:
Why don't the other two guys want to pay?

Sounds daft. Thankfully all the guys I used to live with when I was a student were decent and we all chipped in for everything.

Because neither of them supposedly watch live TV. I know one of them (my best mate) hasn't watched TV in years and even when hes at home he doesn't bother with it. The other guy though I'm not 100% sure but we'll see.

Zhokel · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:21

The genereal rule are as they say and as other people have said in this thread, if the bedroom door can be locked and they watch TV in there, technically they need another license for themselves, or something like that. But... don't bother.

They'll just see the house as having a license and move onto the ones that don't. Going by experience anyway. It's much easier for them to see what houses don't have a license than ones that do and ones that need more than one.

James J · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:24

Zhokel said:
The genereal rule are as they say and as other people have said in this thread, if the bedroom door can be locked and they watch TV in there, technically they need another license for themselves, or something like that. But... don't bother.

They'll just see the house as having a license and move onto the ones that don't. Going by experience anyway. It's much easier for them to see what houses don't have a license than ones that do and ones that need more than one.

Thats pretty much what my landlord just text to me so I'll go with the 1 license and just pay it in 1 go to get that out of the way.

weringo · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:26

From the TV licencing website:

You need a TV Licence if...

You live in a shared house

If there’s a joint tenancy agreement for the whole house, you may only need one licence. However, you may need your own licence if your accommodation is self-contained – i.e. you have exclusive access to washing facilities or you have your own entrance to the property. If you’re not sure whether or not you need one, please contact us.

If you have a separate tenancy agreement for your room, you’ll need to be covered by a separate licence.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/for-your-home/students-aud1/?WT.mc_id=r107#Box1

sbi5ar · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:28

You only need one licence...

If you have the same address then it doesn't matter... They will just look on the data base and see that the residence has a licence.

If you and the girl live in the same place and have a different address i.e. Mr X, Front Room, Random House, Random Street, Random City and Miss Y, Cupboard under the stairs, Random House, Random Street, Random City the I assume you would need separate licences.

Sunbed · 8 Aug 2011 at 16:31

Longbow said:
I'm calling rubbish on this.

Having locks on the bedroom doors in a house doesn't make it a separate dwelling any more so than just having standard lock-less handles.

Unless anyone can prove otherwise?

Well that was what every landlord I've ever had has said. I'm sure people meant "lock on the door that you can open with a key from outside", not just your standard catch like in bathrooms.

James J said:
Because neither of them supposedly watch live TV. I know one of them (my best mate) hasn't watched TV in years and even when hes at home he doesn't bother with it. The other guy though I'm not 100% sure but we'll see.

OK fair enough. I suppose if you catch him watching it and he doesn't offer to pay up, he's not a good mate