TV licence expired and no money for new one

[Emma90009]

I had email reminder a couple of days before it expired last week but don't get paid for another couple of weeks. I just can't afford to renew it yet.
How many chances or how much time do they give you to renew it before they start visiting or threatening further action? I fully intend to renew but can't do immediately.

Can you set up the DD and pay monthly instead?

You should be all right for a few weeks at least. When you do renew it, it'll just be backdated to the date your last one expired.

It's £13 or so a month. You don't need to pay an annual charge.

I just wouldn’t watch bbc and any live tv until I could afford it. Plenty to watch without it.

If you can't afford to renew it straight away then just avoid watching live TV or iplayer for the time being. To be honest we don't watch much other then streaming now and would be easy not to watch live TV for a short while.

Do you actually need it. I selected the option of not having one and only watch things that aren’t live and app channels, just not bbc

My experience is they send threatening letters for several months (DH had somehow registered it to the wrong address!) Before they actually do anything.

I could easily manage without the TV but my DC have their favourite programmes they love to watch.

Just watch YouTube for a bit. Explain to the children that you don’t have that channel for a while.

I think you will be fine for a few weeks.

I once ignored my renewal for about two months- paid when they sent the reminder letter. They just backdated the date as if I'd paid on time. No follow ups. You'll be fine.

And even if they do come a knocking, they have no right of entry so unless you invite them to come in, they cant check what you are watching

We dont pay, haven't paid for years, we dont watch live tv - usually Netflix, prime, YouTube and I add one of the others at a time when they are on offer . They send out a letter or two every year, I throw them away, no one has ever turned up

Only news we get is from the radio - way too depressing to watch it day in day out

A lot of the BBC old content is on other channels so we get to see everything we would have tuned into see - eventually

You’ll be absolutely fine not to have one - google all the info about the legalities of it.

Use your TV for other channels and ignore the ridiculous letters. They don’t have a right of entry to your house so don’t worry about that. Also VERY unlikely anyone will turn up. Seriously, have a look on google and also the videos on you tube where people tell you the facts.

The letters are scaremongering.

I dont have a tv not had one in years but when i did i never had a licence.

I didn't renew mine in January.
I started getting letters in March.
They told me that someone would visit on or after the 24th April (ish).
Someone finally turned up last Tuesday.

So it took 7 months.

You can pay it monthly.

Pay it monthly is the obvious answer.

I last had a licence in 2019. They have turned up once in six years and as they have no power of entry (which the guy who came round told me) I didn’t let them in. I generally don’t watch BBC anyway. The people who get caught and fined tend sadly to be elderly or people from lower socioeconomic groups (likely to be at home and more susceptible to bullying by the enforcement officers). If you tell them to go away and that you don’t need to give them entry without a warrant they will have to leave.

I used to pay mine weekly-just call them and ask whether you can do that.

I had them knock my door a few weeks ago so they do turn up. Luckily i missed them. I NEVER watch BBC, won't pay for it out of principle but had forgot to opt out online. Even if I had answered the door they have no legal right of entry without a warrant so not much they can do.

I once forgot to renew ours, I got a letter about 3 months later, and renewed it then. They just back dated it to when the old one ran out. They won't be round with debt collectors the minute yours runs out, you have a couple of months grace at least.