Want to see the first letter I got in my new house?

They sent this letter over 2 weeks before I even moved in.

This is my first interaction with the TV licence people and I welcome the battles that lay ahead. Bring them on!

by Distinct-Lion4658

50 comments

  1. If (and its a big if) they turn up at your house, just smile and wave at them through the window and carry on with your day

  3. I don’t watch live tv or bbc stuff, but I refuse to fill in a no licence needed form, just so they waste money on sending these letters out 😂

  5. The fact that it says “legal occupier” means they don’t have anyone to target, just an address. I pretty sure without a name they are pretty much powerless. Just never speak to them or correspond with them and you should be fine.

  6. These are like Harry potters hogwarts letters, they just arrive randomly to create fear in the household 

  7. Don’t even acknowledge it. Don’t even answer the door to them! Don’t give your name or any other information to them. Close the door, job done!! No contact, no contract!!

  8. I’ll probably get downvoted for this, but as long as you aren’t accessing BBC services, or other On Demand services that require a TV licence (I can’t remember if the likes of 4OD and ITV+ require it, I think not) then you can just ignore the letter.

    Edit; you only need a licence for the other channels if watching Live Broadcasts, as someone explained below.

    If you are using BBC, iPlayer, or other things covered by the licence then you should probably get it. I think your ISP can see if you have been using BBC services.

    I’ve not once paid for a TV licence in my life, but also I don’t use BBC services. I’ve never had anyone at my door, or any problems at all.

  10. Keep having panic attacks when I open my letter box and see “Final notice” on the envelope. Than I open it, see the TV licence logo, laugh and throw it in the bin.

  12. It’s not addressed to you. Unless your name is Legal Occupier. Not valid.

  13. If I understand OP correctly (I’m in the same situation) he’s probably told the TV licensing people he’s moving out of this house. They’ve sent this letter to, in their view, the vacant house in order to prompt the next occupier to get a licence. OP is surprised at how fast they’ve sent it.

    Same happened to me just now

  14. If an isp can track your IP to see if you watched the shite that the BBC pumps out, would using a VPN remove this issue? Just curious

  15. I’ve been getting these letters for years. Various forms of threats from “we work on Christmas Day” to “we will be in the area”. No one has ever knocked on my door, I’m almost waiting for them at this point 🤣

  16. They spunk so much money on those fucking letters that could surely be put to better use.

  17. I just go online and say I dont need a license. You don’t even need to give your name and I use a fake email specifically for this.

    I’ve never had any visits or problems

  18. LOL, what you must understand is that the TV license guys have a cycle of letters that just get sent continuously for all addresses that are not registered with a tv license. These cycles last a couple of months and then the process starts again. It just so happens that you moved in at that point of the cycle. You don’t have to ever engage with them if you don’t watch TV.

  20. When I first moved into my flat, there were several stuffed into my post box. It was a new build, and nobody had ever lived there  before me. 

  21. Had a coup;le of these when I was building a hourse a few years back. Had the brick walls up, no windows or plasterboard!

  22. It’s genuibely wild how much this reads like a threat from the mafia. “Oh dear we noticed you don’t have a tv license, we’ll were very sorry but we’re gonna have to send the boys round for a little chat, course none of this has to happen if you just pay up first…”

  23. Your name isn’t Mr Legal Occupier, so you can safely ignore it, it’s not for you.

  24. Bullshit, threatening letters, unless you contact them and tell them that you do not own a T.V or have any way of watching live T.V or don’t watch any BBC content online.

  25. ew their tactics are so disgusting. i hate the licensing people.

  26. I have been getting them as well, torn up thrown into the bin, good luck investigating a building site. House is undergoing a full refurb and barely has a working toilet let alone a tv lol

  27. Fear-mongering bastards. They have no right to enter your home during their “investigation”, so just tell them you don’t watch live TV or use iPlayer, and close the door.

  28. Just ignore it. Don’t engage with anyone if they turn up at your door. They can’t do shit.

  29. No one can peep into your home. No one can come in without your permission. That’s all illegal.

    Also, it’s the BBC. You know, the There’s-no-genocide-BBC. Just something to think about.

  31. Uk really has a lot of “government scams” setup it’s weird from the point of view of a foreigner

  32. I just recently filled in the online declaration that i dont need a licence. They’re fucking scumbags. The threatening language, the repetitive assertion that YES YOU DO NEED A TV LICENCE!!

    The thing that fucked me off the most is the long list of check boxes….do you watch BBC? Do you watch live sports etc and the question changes halfway through from do watch, no, to can you confirm that you don’t watch, yes.

    THEY’RE TRYING TO SCAM PEOPLE.

    Cunts

  33. Room F received a lot of these letters in my 1st year of university. There was no room F.

  35. “HELLO MR TV LICENSE MAN!”

    “Do you have someone who looks after you?”

  36. I had this when I first moved out 7 years ago and went absolutely ballistic with them over the phone. I hated that I had to be bowing to service I don’t even use and giving them the time of day. Like I’m not with British Gas and I don’t have to ring them up every year to tell them I don’t need it.

    They left me alone for years but I just recently had another letter from them saying the same bollocks.

  38. I got the exact same letter when I moved in. I hate the threatening way they talk to you. I don’t watch live TV and rarely watch iPlayer, so I didn’t get a TV licence. Screw them, they’re not getting my money.

  39. I found one of these in a property we are renovating. Nobody lives there.

    It’s a circular, a flyer if you will. Designed to scare you into supporting peadophilla and misinformation.

  41. They sent two letters to my workplace saying “this business is under investigation!”

    It’s a petrol station.

  42. I got this exact same letter yesterday, my house isnt even livable yet, would love to see their faces when I showed them my front room that hasnt even got a carpet or plugs yet!

  43. As an American living in the UK and have gotten several of these (don’t meet any of the requirements for a license), why don’t they just add this into your cable price and/or require a license code to watch the content that they want you to have a license for? This pestering is nonsense.

  44. >I haven’t even moved in yet…

    What’s the opposite of catch-up TV?

  45. Bin it. They’ve never shown up at my door and I haven’t opened one for years though I get them weekly. Even if they do show up, you have a legal right to slam the door in their face.

  46. I moved into my newbuild house to one of these letters already there waiting. The house had only been completed roughly 10 days prior! Absolute insanity.

  47. When I worked as a postie part of my route had a new build on it. So technically they had post codes. I frequently had to deliver these letters to empty lots as the builders jeered at me

  48. Happened to me and I was only in my house 2 days. Haven’t heard anything since.

  49. I got 7 days in Barlinnie prison for not paying the fine. That was when you got imprisoned for not payin fines

  50. Ignore it as long you’re not using live tv or bbc player, they can’t do shit to you and they don’t have powers to enter your premises either unless invited.

    At my old flat I used to have piles of those letters after ignoring them and I chuckled every time I used those letters as kindling to start up my fireplace so cheers for free kindling bbc tarts.

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