TV licence cheats make up a TENTH of all magistrate court cases

[VectraMan]

Technically I think the £10m is not for Sky to broadcast the content but to put it at the top of the tv guide. Its years since I cared about this though so things may have changed. Also the regional variations are a pain which results in spending a fortune broadcasting multiple variations of the same programs.

Yep. Sky doesn't broadcast the BBC at all; the BBC has made its own arrangements to broadcast over satellite (that's also true for lots of the other channels on Sky). They pay for the place on the EPG. Sky are forced by Ofcom to carry the BBC and provide a mechanism for doing the regional programmes, and equally, the BBC have an obligation to try to reach everybody, and there are about 7 million Sky (and I think about 3 million cable) subscribers.

[Lockhouse]

Now my 85 year old father in law lives with us I no longer have to buy one as we get a freebee. There have to be some advantages.

[Zoiderman]

It may sound suprising, but according to a 2007 report by Harry Snook, a barrister for the Centre for Policy Studies, there are 266 powers allowing officials to enter your home, and not all require a warrant. Those who can break in include firefighters, in an emergency, and police arresting a suspect. The Environment Agency can gain access without a warrant where there is danger of pollution or damage to public health.

Electricity and gas companies can come in to inspect equipment or change a meter but have to give at least two days' notice (though they can enter in an emergency).

Landlords are allowed to enter their property and seize goods in lieu of unpaid rent, and local authorities can enter your home for a number of reasons, including to turn off a continuous burglar alarm or pest extermination.

Police need warrants to enter if they suspect you have been making biological weapons, fertilising human eggs or running a tattoo parlour at home. Bailiffs are not allowed to break in; however, once they have gained "peaceful entry" (this can be through an open window), they are allowed to come back at any time and force entry.

Then there are the more unusual Acts. Under the Bees Act, officers can enter to search for foreign bees. Under the Hypnotism Act, the police can enter a property where they suspect offences related to stage hypnotism are taking place. Stage hypnotism, strangely, is not an offence in itself.

link

[GillsMan]

Landlords are allowed to enter their property and seize goods in lieu of unpaid rent,

link

That landlords one is wrong. Or at least its superseded by other requirements/interpretations in the Housing Act, such as the right of the tenant to quiet enjoyment, which pretty much prevents us from entering their home while they have exclusive occupation. It might be true for landlords of lodgers, but certainly not landlords of tenants in the normal sense.

We are allowed in during an emergency but, unless invited to enter by the tenant, that is it.

[Zoiderman]

That landlords one is wrong. Or at least its superseded by other requirements/interpretations in the Housing Act, such as the right of the tenant to quiet enjoyment, which pretty much prevents us from entering their home while they have exclusive occupation. It might be true for landlords of lodgers, but certainly not landlords of tenants in the normal sense.

We are allowed in during an emergency but, unless invited to enter by the tenant, that is it.

I have access at anytime if I believe something is wrong with the house, damage, etc. I checked this. We can also have reasonable access to perform condition checks, subject to, last time I looked, 24 hours notice. If I believe something is broken, which could damage the property, I can gain entry too.


I did just that when one was on holiday and there was a leak in the bath waste pipe.


Effectively, you can cobble a way to get in at any stage, just as the Police don't really need a warrant if they want to come into the house.

[hyperD]

I stopped paying my telly tax a few years ago. You only need one if you are watching or recording live broadcast. You do not need one for your computer (unless you have a TV tuner in it and are watching live broadcast, or you watch live broadcast using iPlayer, although they can't detect that) or for your TV. Playing games using your TV as a monitor does not require a licence.

The company responsible for collecting the licence is TV Licensing, a subsidiary of Capita Business Services.

Every time you buy a TV or Recorder, you give your address to the retailer who sends it, by law, to Capita who lookup the address with the database (LAZZY) of licensed premises - if you are not one of them, the automated faux threatening letters start. I say "faux" because they are written in very clever way by looking quite threaty legally, but in actual fact, full of hot air and nonsense.

Bin them.

The best way to stop the Capita salesmen from even walking on your drive is to put an "implied right of access denied" notice outside your door. If they walk up your drive they can be threatened with civil trespass, repeatedly harassment. Letters can be stopped for two years it seems by informing Capita of a threat of harassment.

You are not legally obliged to open the door to the Capita salesman.

You do not have to talk to them. In actual fact, don't. Ever.

They have no right of entry, like any private company and person, unless accompanied by a search warrant (not the police one) but they must have accumulated evidence and sent it to the judge, which is normally you signing one of their forms, hence don't speak to them and certainly NEVER sign anything even through the post.

TV detectors don't exists, none have been used in court. Snooping salesmen and a database are all there is.

The implied right of access denied notice is your most powerful weapon.

Loads of stuff on the net. Look it up if you're interested. The TV licence is an anachronism. It will go eventually as it is a 20th century construct that does not fit in a digital age.

Plus the BBC is full of obnoxious progressive liberals with their Marxists ideals so would be nice for them to crawl back under their stones from whence they came.

You don't have to pay £146/year - spend it on you and the kids instead until the licence is finally removed.

[Paddy]

In the last ten years I have had three forced entries into my property whist I have been away working.

Gas Co, forced entry changed locks to read the meter, they had the wrong post code. I have no gas and no meter but they still keep making a mistake and send me bills. They got my name from the Landregistry. The gas people stole the washing machine and 12 bottles of wine. The police said can you prove they stole the washing machine. Umm, it was there on Monday, it is not there on Friday, the efing gas people broke in...

The City Council broke in to get access to the back garden (they could have used the rear gate). The neighbour had reported a dangerous overhanging branch. It was not considered dangerous and they gave a six page report on three of my trees, none of which need to be cut back.

During 9/11 I was working in Moscow, I got a call from home in the UK saying that the police want to search my home because the neighbour had reported people talking foreign languages and taking suitcases out in the middle of the night. The police ended up not searching but after they had a quick look around to verify there was nothing suspicious, they went away with no apology.

[Zoiderman]

The best way to stop the Capita salesmen from even walking on your drive is to put an "implied right of access denied" notice outside your door. If they walk up your drive they can be threatened with civil trespass, repeatedly harassment. Letters can be stopped for two years it seems by informing Capita of a threat of harassment.

I was also going to quote this, and it is a really useful tool. You can actualy write to anyone and remove their implied access. It is based on postmen being allowed on your property to deliver mail, and means there's an implied right of access. Easily removed from anyone you may wish you.

Good post. I think it can still be overridden by some of the others, e.g. EA, Gas supplier etc. BUt good to get rid of undesirables.

I know of a debt collector/debtor finder, was always thwarted by these letters, as if he did knock, he was breaking the law, and thus anything he delivered would be voided.

As said, plenty of info on the web

[Zoiderman]

implied right of access

[Pete Marsh]

Bailiffs are not allowed to break in; however, once they have gained "peaceful entry" (this can be through an open window), they are allowed to come back at any time and force entry.

I thought that was vampires?