TV Licence.

Eroticplants · 31-01-2012 1:24pm #1

So got a letter today saying that I need to get a tv licence if I have a tv.

BUT the thing is I don't get channels in the house, not even the RTE's, I just use the tv to watch dvds.

I heard that a tv licence inspector can get a warrant or whatever to search the house, am I just being gullible?

Can I just not answer the door whenever he arrives next and get on with life?

I can't afford a tv licence but I don't think I should have to get one if I'm not watching tv on it.

Any advice?

*Sorry if this is in the wrong section MODS I just didn't know where to put it.
Feel free to relocate as you see fit.

shockwave · 31-01-2012 1:38pm

As far as I know if you have a tv,even if you dont have any channels on it you still have to pay the licence as its able to receive tv signals.

Dump the telly and watch dvds on a laptop or pc is the only way around this.....for now.

old gregg · 31-01-2012 1:40pm

If you have equipment capable of receiving a television signal then you must have a television licence as far as I can see:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer_affairs/media/tv_licences.html

Watching your DVD on a laptop/desktop/mobile computer is currently excluded as long as it does not contain a tv receiver card.

Not loking good for you sorry to say.

Eroticplants · 31-01-2012 1:52pm

Grrr.

Can he come in and inspect the house, like bedrooms and that?

My laptop has terrible sound so that would just depress me.

I may just relocate the tv until the next time he calls and then be all "TV whaaaat?"

Cheers.

yellowlabrador · 31-01-2012 2:02pm

Sell the tv and buy a monitor and speakers? You can then connect the laptop to the monitor.

nkay1985 · 31-01-2012 2:22pm

Eroticplants wrote: »

Grrr.

Can he come in and inspect the house, like bedrooms and that?

My laptop has terrible sound so that would just depress me.

I may just relocate the tv until the next time he calls and then be all "TV whaaaat?"

Cheers.

Is your tv in plain sight? He can't enter your house without permission and I think only Gardaí can serve a warrant. As far as I know, he can make a declaration that he has observed a tv in your house if he has seen it through the front window or whatever but if your tv is out of sight, I'm fairly sure you could just say you don't have one. Not sure how they deal with this as there are very few people who don't have a tv even if they don't use it at all. Once you have a device capable of receiving a tv signal, you have to pay the license.

yellowlabrador wrote: »

Sell the tv and buy a monitor and speakers? You can then connect the laptop to the monitor.

Not sure how much longer that will exempt you! They've been talking about introducing a "media" tax or whatever they want to call it so that they can charge people who don't use tvs also. I'd say this won't be too far down the tracks.

It's a joke of a tax anyway but the government have had it for so long that I suppose they can't do without it.

Minstrel27 · 31-01-2012 3:21pm

Eroticplants wrote: »

Can he come in and inspect the house, like bedrooms and that?

Not unless he has a Garda with him.

snuggles09 · 31-01-2012 3:25pm

You can pay it monthly if you don't have it all in one go..i pay ours 13 euro a month..might work out a bit more over the course of the year but we can never afford it when we get the renewal so i always do the direct direct option

Finnbar01 · 31-01-2012 6:33pm

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Not unless he has a Garda with him.

And even then I doubt if you would still have to let them in.

I've never heard of Gardaí breaking down someone's door to search for a TV.

Also may I add, TV detection vans are a myth.

User Friendly · 31-01-2012 6:37pm

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Not unless he has a Garda with him.

you dont have to allow anybody,including cops onto your property.

jayboi · 31-01-2012 6:55pm

Eroticplants wrote: »

Can he come in and inspect the house, like bedrooms and that?

Not unless he wants a swift puck in the nose.
Let no one in your house.
I wouldnt even let a guard in. A guard should have a warrent and valid id.

puppetmaster · 31-01-2012 7:10pm

I can't even recieve an RTE signal, Still need to pay a TV licence if ya got a reciever. :rolleyes:

But yeh as mentioned above they're gona close any loop holes with the new 'Broadcast licence'. Even though RTE is as a commercial entity as the non subsidised Outfits.

jonevin · 31-01-2012 7:15pm

snuggles09 wrote: »

You can pay it monthly if you don't have it all in one go..i pay ours 13 euro a month..might work out a bit more over the course of the year but we can never afford it when we get the renewal so i always do the direct direct option

How do you set this up to pay monthly?

Finnbar01 · 31-01-2012 8:06pm

jonevin wrote: »

How do you set this up to pay monthly?

AFAIK, you can buy TV license stamps from the post office.

I don't know how you go about paying the license fee off on a monthly basis once the inspector comes calling though.

sillysocks · 31-01-2012 8:25pm

You can set it up as a direct debit monthly too, that's how we do it.

snuggles09 · 31-01-2012 9:26pm

jonevin wrote: »

How do you set this up to pay monthly?

http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/GeneralTemplates/ProductsAndServices.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7b8CD7F501-3BC8-4F85-8607-C5F20F9F459F%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fAnPost%2fMainContent%2fPersonal%2bCustomers%2fMore%2bfrom%2bAn%2bPost%2fTV%2bLicence%2ftvlicence250108%2ehtm&NRCACHEHINT=Guest#PM

Go to the above link and click on Payment methods, fill out the DD mandate and post it back..they will send you the TV licence by return post:)

S28382 · 31-01-2012 9:41pm

They definitely can go into your house but only with the cops and they have to have a warrant they will leave you a notice to say your property is to be searched for a tv and then whenever they see fit they will come along with the cops and warrant and search your house and there is nothing you can do if you don't wanna pay it make sure you get rid of the tv but you never know when they will call with the cops.

nkay1985 · 31-01-2012 9:47pm

S28382 wrote: »

They definitely can go into your house but only with the cops and they have to have a warrant they will leave you a notice to say your property is to be searched for a tv and then whenever they see fit they will come along with the cops and warrant and search your house and there is nothing you can do if you don't wanna pay it make sure you get rid of the tv but you never know when they will call with the cops.

Have you ever seen this happen though? I think the cops have a lot of things that would be higher priority than searching a house for a tv. I wonder who goes to the court to get the search warrant too because that can't be an easy process.

snuggles09 · 31-01-2012 10:22pm

i might be being a bit of a thicko here but do you need a licence for every TV in the house? most houses nowadays have more than one TV..is it a licence for each one or does the licence cover the household if you get me?

Finnbar01 · 31-01-2012 10:26pm

S28382 wrote: »

They definitely can go into your house but only with the cops and they have to have a warrant they will leave you a notice to say your property is to be searched for a tv and then whenever they see fit they will come along with the cops and warrant and search your house and there is nothing you can do if you don't wanna pay it make sure you get rid of the tv but you never know when they will call with the cops.

Not according to our constitution.

Article 40 5.

The dwelling of every citizen is inviolable and shall not be forcibly entered save in accordance with law.

S28382 · 31-01-2012 10:30pm

Yeah I seen it at first hand I didn't pay it and I told them I didn't have any connection to tv I only used the tv for playing the Xbox and I refused to pay and they went down the road of cops and warrants

nkay1985 · 31-01-2012 10:41pm

S28382 wrote: »

Yeah I seen it at first hand I didn't pay it and I told them I didn't have any connection to tv I only used the tv for playing the Xbox and I refused to pay and they went down the road of cops and warrants

How long did it take from the first incident to them arriving with the cops? Your situation is also different in that you told him you had a tv so you were definitely breaking he law, no matter how ridiculous it is.

Finnbar01 · 31-01-2012 11:03pm

S28382 wrote: »

Yeah I seen it at first hand I didn't pay it and I told them I didn't have any connection to tv I only used the tv for playing the Xbox and I refused to pay and they went down the road of cops and warrants

Did the cops actually turn up with a warrant or did they 'trick' their way into your house?

S28382 · 31-01-2012 11:06pm

nkay1985 wrote: »

S28382 wrote: »

Yeah I seen it at first hand I didn't pay it and I told them I didn't have any connection to tv I only used the tv for playing the Xbox and I refused to pay and they went down the road of cops and warrants

How long did it take from the first incident to them arriving with the cops? Your situation is also different in that you told him you had a tv so you were definitely breaking he law, no matter how ridiculous it is.

Ah it was nearly a year they sent an inspector out twice and a load of letters and then finally a notice that a warrant was to be served with the involvement of the gardai, I had a disconnected sky satellite on the front of my house and they just took it that I had a connection I told them I didn't it was clear as day that the cable wasn't in the dish but the still went ahead and took the action that they did, the tv inspector was actually dead on but I was against paying because I didn't have it connected to anything but my Xbox, nothing ever came of it because I moved house and emailed the tv licence office and told them I wasn't living there anymore so the whole thing was cancelled obviously with me proving I didn't live there no more

S28382 · 31-01-2012 11:16pm

Oh and they did call out with the cops I wasn't there that day I was in work one of my neighbors told me they were knocking on my door and looking in over the back wall

Finnbar01 · 31-01-2012 11:51pm

S28382 wrote: »

Oh and they did call out with the cops I wasn't there that day I was in work one of my neighbors told me they were knocking on my door and looking in over the back wall

I take it they didn't kick down your door?

S28382 · 01-02-2012 12:29am

Finnbar01 wrote: »

S28382 wrote: »

Oh and they did call out with the cops I wasn't there that day I was in work one of my neighbors told me they were knocking on my door and looking in over the back wall

I take it they didn't kick down your door?

Haha nope

Finnbar01 · 01-02-2012 12:31am

S28382 wrote: »

Haha nope

Thought so. Wouldn't be surprise that they didn't even had a warrant and would probably try and trick or bully their way into your house.

Minstrel27 · 01-02-2012 1:07am

Finnbar01 wrote: »

And even then I doubt if you would still have to let them in.

I've never heard of Gardaí breaking down someone's door to search for a TV.

Also may I add, TV detection vans are a myth.

Who said anything about breaking down doors?

Finnbar01 · 01-02-2012 1:28am

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Who said anything about breaking down doors?

If you refuse to let them in and they have a search warrant, then legally speaking they can break down your door.

Sully · 01-02-2012 3:01am

User Friendly wrote: »

you dont have to allow anybody,including cops onto your property.

Lol with a warrant you do.

TV Licence.

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