Do Students Need A TV Licence? Your Questions Answered

The rules around whether or not you need a TV licence seem to have become increasingly confusing in recent years. It used to be the case that if you owned a TV, you needed a licence for it, but with the rise of streaming services and on-demand TV, the rules have got a little more complicated. 

That’s why we’ve put together this helpful guide with all the answers to your questions. We’ll cover: 

• What a TV licence is
• If you need one if you’re living in halls or a shared student house/flat
• If you need one to watch streaming services, YouTube, or TV on-demand

What is a TV licence? 

A TV licence allows you to legally watch live television as it’s broadcast (as opposed to on-demand). They also allow you to watch live or on-demand BBC shows on iPlayer, as TV licences fund the BBC.  

As a general rule, if you’re watching a TV show live, you’ll need a licence. This is the case whether you’re watching it on a TV, phone, laptop, tablet, or games console.  

Do students need a TV licence in halls of residence? 

If you’re living in student halls, you’ll need a TV licence if you want to watch or record live TV or BBC programmes in your own room. If your accommodation has a TV in a communal area, your hall should have a licence, but this won’t cover individual rooms.  

However, if your out-of-term address is covered by a TV licence (for example, your parent's or guardian’s home), this will cover you watching live TV in your bedroom, provided you meet the following conditions: 

• You’re watching on a device powered solely by internal batteries (like a mobile phone or laptop).
• It’s not connected to an aerial or plugged into the mains.

Do students need a TV licence in a shared student house or flat? 

You’ll need to pay for a TV licence if you live in privately rented student accommodation and plan to watch live TV or BBC iPlayer. Whether you need to pay for one TV licence for the whole house or flat or one licence per room will depend on your tenancy agreement.  

If you’ve got a separate tenancy agreement, you’ll need to be covered by your licence if you want to watch TV in your room or communal areas. However, if you’ve got a joint tenancy agreement, you’ll only need one licence to cover the entire property. This means you can split the licence cost among your housemates (provided they also want to watch live TV or BBC shows).  

The only exception to this is if there’s a TV in the property that’s supplied by your landlord. If this is the case, your landlord should pay for the TV licence unless it specifies that it’s the tenants' responsibility in the tenancy agreement.  

Do students need a TV licence to watch Netflix, Prime or Disney Plus? 

If you exclusively watch streaming services, you don’t need a TV licence, even if you’re watching the on-demand shows on a TV. However, be careful as some streaming platforms show live TV; for example, you can watch Sky Sports live on Now TV. If you watch any live programmes, you’ll need a licence. 

Do students need a TV licence to watch YouTube? 

You don’t need a TV licence to watch the vast majority of content on YouTube - you can watch user-generated content, videos and clips, including live-streamed content, provided it’s not part of a television broadcast. However, you'll need a TV licence if you watch a live TV programme.  

Do students need a TV licence to watch BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, ITVX etc? 

You don’t need a TV licence to watch on-demand shows on most platforms, except for BBC iPlayer. You’ll need a licence to watch anything on iPlayer, whether live, on-demand or downloaded.  

Is there a student TV licence or a student discount? 

Unfortunately, there’s no specific student TV licence or discount available to students. However, you can claim a refund on the TV licensing website for any months you didn’t use your TV licence in the 12 months. For example, you can claim a refund for the summer months if you’re not living in student accommodation and don’t need the licence.  

How UniHomes can help 

Whether your house wants to watch sports matches or can’t bear the thought of missing out on Love Island, you might decide that a TV licence is an essential household bill. But then you’re faced with the challenge of figuring out how to pay for your TV licence fee and splitting the cost with your housemates… 

That’s where our all-inclusive student utilities package comes in. UniHomes can set up all your household bills (including gas, electricity, water and internet) - each housemate will just have to pay one neat bill each month. 

We offer uncapped energy usage and the option to include a TV licence to your bills package, so you can watch all the live TV you want and rest easy knowing that it’s all sorted! 

Get started with a price estimate for your student house and take the stress out of household bills. 

All-inclusive student accommodation by UniHomes 

We also advertise thousands of student properties across the UK (from trusted landlords and letting agents), and they’re all offered with all bills included to keep things as simple as possible. 

Get in touch if you have any questions, and our team will be happy to assist!