If you watch TV in your own room / studio / flat, as a tenant you will need to buy a TV license as it’s not included in your rent. Although we rent with “all bills included” this covers gas, electric, water, council tax (for non-students) and broadband, it doesn’t include a TV licence for your room. This isn’t just the case for Pay4Property but for most landlords with HMO properties. The only exception would be where the landlord supplies a TV for your personal use in your private room but at Pay4Property we don’t do that.
In some of our largest houses we do provide a TV in the shared living room and if that’s the case then the license for this TV is paid for by Pay4Property. But, if you watch TV in your own room you will STILL need to pay for your own separate license.
This is because a multi-tenanted HMO property it’s not a family house and each room / studio / flat is rented on a separate tenancy agreement and have individually lockable doors to which the other tenants don’t have access so the TV licensing authority treats each tenancy as a separate dwelling.
You may receive letters from TV Licensing saying that they will be visiting the property. In 99% of cases they will not visit. If the event that they do attend they will make out that they have the right to check inside the house. You need to be aware that they have no legal right of entry and we advise that you do not allow them into the house. If you do allow them inside the house and they find that you or another tenant doesn’t have a required license then this could lead to prosecution and potentially a large fine.
You’ll need a TV license no matter how you watch TV in your room; it doesn’t just apply to having a television set. If you watch live or catch-up TV on your PC / laptop / phone / tablet or other device then you still need your own license.
Example 1 – You NEVER watch UK TV programmes or streaming services on any device. You probably don’t need a TV license.
Example 2 – You sometimes watch or record UK TV programmes in your room (on any device not just a TV) including live, streamed or catch-up TV. You WILL need a TV licence.
Example 3 – You ONLY ever watch NON-UK TV streaming services. You probably don’t need a TV license.
This blog post is merely for general advice and cannot cover your individual circumstances; it’s simply not possible for a Landlord to know whether each tenant watches applicable TV and requires a license. As a tenant it’s your responsibility find out whether the TV you watch means that you need a license and to pay for a TV license for your room if you need one.
You can find more information at http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk