When do you need a TV licence?

Accommodation

• If you live in halls of residence and use a TV in your own room, you need your own separate TV licence.
• 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).
• If you have a separate tenancy agreement but a television is only being used in a communal area, then only one licence is required.
• 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).

When are you covered by your parents’ TV licence?

• Please see here for more information.

Refunds

• If you are not staying at university over the summer, and do not need your TV licence again before it expires, you are entitled to a refund of any unused quarters (three full calendar months).  So long as you purchased your TV licence in October 2007, and don’t need it for July, August and September, you could be eligible for a refund.

Most students would need to buy a TV licence at the beginning of term in October in order to allow enough time at the end of the year to qualify for a refund. Assuming that a TV licence is purchased in the month it is needed, it will expire 12 months from the first of that month.  You can only claim a refund if you will not need the TV licence again before it expires.  Refunds are only available on unused quarters (three calendar months). So, for example, if you bought your licence in November, it would not normally expire until the end of October the following year. A student would typically need the licence to cover October, November and December even if they were away from their term time address in July, August and September for the summer holidays. A refund would, therefore, not be possible because the licence would be needed again before it expired. 

Our database lists addresses that don’t have a TV licence, including university accommodation, and we do visit unlicensed properties.  However, we always prefer people to buy a licence rather than be prosecuted. 

If you use television-receiving equipment without a valid TV licence, you risk prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000, plus court costs, and you still need to buy a TV licence if you continue to need one.  A colour licence costs £135.50.

Students requiring further information should contact TV Licensing on 0870 242 1417. To find out about the many ways you can pay for your TV licence, including Direct Debit, visit www.tvlicensing.co.uk.