Page 1 of TV licences for students

My daughter has just started her 2nd year at Uni and has moved into a house with other students. They all have separate bedrooms with a communal dining room, kitchen and living room. There will be a TV in the communal living room, but my daughter and some of the other students will also have a portable in their bedrooms.

Question: Does one licence cover them all, or does she/they need separate licences ?

I`ve copied the guidelines from the TV Licensing Website, but I`m confused, as paras 2 and 4 seem to be contradictory. Any interpretations please ?

Quote
Get caught without a TV Licence and you could face prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000

The great thing about being at college is that you`re always meeting lots of new people from all sorts of interesting backgrounds.

Unless, of course the visitor is a TV Licensing officer.

If you`re using a television set at university or college, or anything else to receive or record television programme services (such as video recorders, set-top boxes or PCs with broadcast cards) without a valid TV Licence then you could be prosecuted and fined - which could make your days at college a lot less fun than they should be.

To avoid this happening you need to be aware of the following facts of TV Licensing:

A colour TV Licence currently costs £116, a black and white licence is £38.50.

1 If you live in halls of residence and use a TV in your own room, you need your own separate TV Licence.

2 You also need your own licence if you are sharing a house with other students and use a TV in your room, and your room is a separately occupied place (a separate tenancy agreement would normally indicate that this is the case).

3 However, if you have a separate tenancy agreement but a television is only being used in a communal area, then only one licence is required.

4 Equally, if you are sharing a house with other students and you use a TV in your own room but the house can be treated as one place shared by all, then only one TV Licence is required (a joint tenancy agreement would usually be evidence that the house is a single licensable place for this purpose).

5 Your parents` licence will not cover you away from home*

Unquote

Thanks


JohnF

GW6UFO is QRT at the moment

Hello,

I am a student and also a landlord.... :)

If your daughter and her housemates have a joint tenancy agreement (all names on one contract, signed by all, all jointly responsible etc) then you will only need 1 licence for the house.

If each person has undertaken a separate contract with the landlord then you`ll need a licence each. Most likely it will be a joint one though.

She`s not at Loughborough is she? :)

The way that I understood this when I was at uni was that if she is renting the house with friends who have a contract with all four names on it then she only needs one for the house. If however they have separate indivdual agreements and are living in a sort of bedsit arrangement with other students possibly strangers, they will require their own idividual licences.

I also know that when I was there the tv licence men used to come round a couple of times a year and a fair few of my mates got caught short.

Yeah, what he said!

This item was edited on Tuesday, 30th September 2003, 17:44

Like the guidelines say it will depend on what type of tenancy your daughter has. If her tenancy is specific to her room then a separate tv licence is needed (it is then classed the same as a room in halls of residence) but if her tenancy is just a joint tenancy with the other occupiers for the house as a whole, and does not specify so-and-so rents such a room, then the the licence will cover the house as a whole. This was the case a few years ago when i was a student.

There does seem to be an area of dispute here though. If a property is let out room by room, on individual tenancies, then who is responsible for the licence if the tv is kept in a communal room? I have no idea.

Quote:
She`s not at Loughborough is she?No, Liverpool, but thanks one & all. Things are never straightforward are they ? I think we`ll get her a licence just to be on the safe side.

JohnF

GW6UFO is QRT at the moment

If she`s smart she`ll tell her house mates that she bought one for the house and charge them for it! lol

Funny you should say that :D

JohnF

GW6UFO is QRT at the moment

Well I never bought one at all in four years in Uni, sod them. I`ll buy one where i can actually get a full years use and when I`m not living with my parents.

The sods have a policy of giving students a refund on unused quarters, but they know that the way a University year is split up, you are very unlikely to be able to gain a refund even though if in halls you would only be in Uni for 6 months of the year.

I know of 3 people who were caught and given a court date to have a slap on the wrist, the court summons were sent to the University hall during the christmas holidays and consequently they missed the court appearance which got the legal bodies into a bad mood, somehow they got away with it because it wasn`t a permanent residence and technically the court couldn`t be sure of whether a TV was still in use.....still they were scared of opening their doors for the rest of the year as being caught a second time would really have landed them in the poo so ended up buying a licence anyway!

They are DISGUSTING, bought new licence the other day around 22nd of September, noticed that it expires on the 31st of August so I`m twenty odd days out.



Oscar.

Am I right in saying its DISGUSTING to give a blind person a £1.25 tv licence discount, they should really have it for nowt!

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The Shi*house poet needs a good thrashing, Grafitti ISNT cool.... kiddies!