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> I don't have a television, but I keep getting letters from TV licensing. Do they have the right to enter my property?
I don't have a television, but I keep getting letters from TV licensing. Do they have the right to enter my property?
If an Enquiry Officer does visit you at home without a search warrant, you are under no obligation to allow them to enter your home. If the Officer enters your home without your permission, it is likely that this will be unlawful under English law, as it would constitute trespass.
To enter your home without your permission, the Officer would need a search warrant from a Magistrate.. Such a search warrant would only be granted if the Magistrate is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence under that Act is being committed - i.e. you are receiving live television transmissions without a licence. For access to your property to be granted TVL will have had to give you at least 7 days notice that they wished to enter your premises and they must have asked for access at a reasonable hour.
Liberty has contacted TV Licensing to check the practice of TV Licensing. We have been assured that if an Enquiry Officer visits you at home, he or she would ask you whether they could enter your home. If you refuse, the Enquiry Officer will not seek to enter your house without your permission.
To enter your home without your permission, the Officer would need a search warrant from a Magistrate.. Such a search warrant would only be granted if the Magistrate is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence under that Act is being committed - i.e. you are receiving live television transmissions without a licence. For access to your property to be granted TVL will have had to give you at least 7 days notice that they wished to enter your premises and they must have asked for access at a reasonable hour.
Liberty has contacted TV Licensing to check the practice of TV Licensing. We have been assured that if an Enquiry Officer visits you at home, he or she would ask you whether they could enter your home. If you refuse, the Enquiry Officer will not seek to enter your house without your permission.
