Moving a TV Licence is free, takes about five minutes, and can be done up to three months before you move. You need three things: the licence number, the licence holder’s surname, and the postcode you are currently licensed at. That is the entire task.
Two mistakes cost people money here. The first is paying a third-party site to do it, when the update is free. The second is cancelling the licence rather than moving it, which is almost never right and can leave you unlicensed at the new address while a refund grinds through.
Summary: The licence covers an address, not a person, so it does not follow you automatically. Update it free on the official TV Licensing site using the licence number, surname and current postcode. A standard colour licence costs £180 for 2026/27, confirmed by TV Licensing. Do not cancel when moving, and if the new property will sit empty for a while, tell them that separately.
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What a licence costs in 2026 and who pays less
A colour licence costs £180 and a black and white licence £60.50 from 1 April 2026. Registered blind viewers pay half, bringing a colour licence to £90. Over-75s on Pension Credit pay nothing. Rates published by TV Licensing.
| Category | Annual cost 2026/27 | Who qualifies |
|---|---|---|
| Standard colour licence | £180 | Most households |
| Black and white licence | £60.50 | Anyone with a black and white set only |
| Blind or severely sight impaired | £90 | With appropriate evidence |
| Over 75 on Pension Credit | Free | Can apply from age 74 |
| Accommodation for Residential Care | From £7.50 | Eligible care and sheltered housing residents |
| Simple Payment Plan | £180 spread further | Households in financial hardship |
The fee rose from £174.50 on 1 April 2026, a 3.15% increase linked to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and announced by the Secretary of State in February. It is fixed for the whole 2026/27 financial year. Moving house changes neither what you pay nor when the licence period ends.
One detail worth knowing if you pay in instalments: you keep paying toward your existing licence at the old rate until it comes up for renewal. The £180 only bites at your next renewal on or after 1 April 2026.
Updating the address, step by step
Sign in on the official TV Licensing site with the licence number, the holder’s last name and the postcode you are licensed at now. Enter the new address and your moving date. The licence transfers with the same expiry date and no fee. Start at tvlicensing.co.uk.
Cannot find the licence number? The site will locate it using the bank details the Direct Debit comes from, or the email address on the account. Worth knowing before you start emptying drawers, though the number does appear on the licence itself and on any payment correspondence.
That three-month window ahead of a move is unusually generous, and it exists for a specific reason: nothing gets posted to the new address, so there is no risk in going early. Compare that with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) updates, which both put a legal document through a letterbox and therefore have to wait for occupancy. Doing this one early also heads off the enforcement letters sent to addresses recorded as unlicensed.
Pay attention to the moving date you enter. The licence covers the old address up to that date and the new one afterwards, so a wrong date creates a gap. If completion slips, go back and amend it rather than hoping.
Why cancelling is usually the wrong move
Updating the address keeps continuous cover at no cost. Cancelling ends the cover and starts a refund process instead. Cancel only if you genuinely will not need a licence at all: moving abroad, moving in with someone already licensed, or stopping live television and BBC iPlayer entirely.
In each of those cases you may be entitled to a refund of unused full months. In every other case, transferring is simply better.
If you genuinely do not need one, submit a No Licence Needed declaration rather than cancelling and going quiet. Addresses with no licence and no declaration attract escalating letters and, eventually, officer visits. Silence is read as evasion rather than absence.
Be honest with yourself about what actually needs a licence, because the rule is broader than people assume. It covers watching or recording live television on any channel and any device, including live streams inside apps like YouTube or Prime Video. It also covers using BBC iPlayer at all, live or on demand. Pure on-demand viewing elsewhere, Netflix and catch-up on other broadcasters’ players, does not require one on its own.
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Shared houses, lodgers and moving in together
The deciding factor is the tenancy structure, not the building. One joint tenancy over a whole house means one licence covers the household. Separate agreements for individual rooms usually mean each person watching live television in their own room needs their own.
A spouse, partner, family member or anyone on the same joint tenancy or joint mortgage is normally covered by the existing licence. A tenant or lodger with their own separate agreement usually is not, even in the same building.
- Joint tenancy on a whole property: one licence covers everyone living there.
- Separate room-by-room tenancies: individual licences usually required for each room where live TV is watched.
- Communal areas only: a landlord’s licence may cover a shared lounge while individual rooms are not covered.
- Moving in with a licensed partner: you are normally covered, and your own licence may be refundable.
- Halls of residence: the same room-by-room logic applies, which our student removals guide covers alongside the rest of the halls admin.
If you are the one leaving and somebody stays behind, you can give written permission to transfer the licence to them rather than cancelling it. Far cleaner than one person cancelling and the other buying a fresh one a week later.
Empty properties, second homes and gaps between moves
If the new property will stand empty before you move in, tell TV Licensing it is unoccupied. That stops the automatic letters sent to unlicensed addresses, which otherwise arrive addressed to The Legal Occupier.
Those letters are generated from address records rather than from any evidence about you, so finding one on the mat is not an accusation. Plenty of people arrive at a new home to a small stack addressed to the previous occupier. You can report those without opening them, giving the name and address printed on the envelope.
Second homes need their own licence if live television is watched there, unless the property is only ever used while the main home sits empty and specific conditions apply. Holiday lets and tenanted properties shift responsibility depending on the arrangement, so check rather than assuming one licence stretches across both.
A gap between tenancies where you are staying with family is simpler. You are covered by the licence at the address where you are actually living, if there is one, and your own licence moves on when you settle somewhere permanent.
Refunds: what comes back and when
Refunds are calculated on complete months left on the licence, not on days. Five whole months remaining refunds five. Four months and three weeks refunds four. Applying a few days either side of a month boundary genuinely changes what you get back.
The common triggers around a move are emigrating, moving in with an existing licence holder, moving into accommodation already covered, or genuinely stopping live television and BBC iPlayer.
Direct Debit complicates the arithmetic. Paying monthly usually means you are running roughly one month ahead rather than holding a year of credit, so the refundable sum is far smaller than annual payers expect. Check which arrangement you are on before assuming there is money waiting.
Two practical points. Cancel the Direct Debit only after the refund is agreed, never before, because cancelling first can register the licence as unpaid rather than refunded. And keep the confirmation, since it is your evidence that the address is no longer your responsibility if enforcement letters turn up there later.
If the timing sits close to a renewal date, deal with it before the licence renews. A licence that has just auto-renewed still refunds on the same complete-months basis, but stopping a renewal is considerably simpler than unwinding one.
Landlords, HMOs and who is responsible
Responsibility sits with whoever watches live television, not with whoever owns the building. A landlord letting a furnished property with a television does not thereby license the tenant, and the tenant assuming otherwise is the one who receives the enforcement letter.
In a house in multiple occupation, the position follows the tenancy documents. Where each room is let on its own agreement, each occupant watching live television in their room needs a licence. A landlord may hold one covering communal areas, and that does not reach into individual rooms.
Landlords letting to tenants should not hold a licence in their own name for a property they do not live in, because the licence covers the address and the occupier carries the obligation. Where a property is let furnished with a television, saying so plainly in the inventory and reminding the tenant of the requirement heads off an argument later.
For voids between tenancies, a landlord can notify TV Licensing that the property is unoccupied, which stops letters arriving for a tenant who has not moved in yet. Worth doing on any gap longer than a couple of weeks.
Student lets follow the same logic. A group on one joint tenancy is covered by a single licence. Individually let rooms are not. Halls are almost always individual agreements, which is why students are told to sort their own.
Where this sits against the other address changes
We compared the notification windows for the main address changes a UK household makes when moving, because they do not all work the same way and the differences decide what can be cleared early.
| Notification | Can it be done in advance? | Why the timing differs |
|---|---|---|
| TV Licence | Yes, up to 3 months | Nothing is posted to the new address |
| Driving licence | No, wait for occupancy | A new photocard is posted to the address you enter |
| Vehicle logbook | No, wait for occupancy | A new log book (V5C) is posted out |
| Council tax | Shortly before or on the day | Billing runs pro rata from the move date |
| Royal Mail redirection | Yes, with lead time | Needs setting up before post starts arriving |
| Electoral register | After moving | Registration is tied to actual residence |
The useful conclusion: TV Licensing and Royal Mail are the two you can clear weeks ahead, and both are routinely left until last. Doing them early strips two items out of the week when everything else is competing for your attention.
The DVLA pair work the opposite way round, because each posts a legal document to whatever address you type. Our guides to the driving licence change of address and the V5C logbook update explain why occupancy matters for those, and council tax when moving home covers the pro rata billing.
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When you should not just transfer it
Transferring is the default advice everywhere, and for most people it is right. Three cases are worth pausing on, because a licence you no longer need is money you can reclaim.
Moving in with an existing licence holder, moving abroad, or moving into accommodation where a licence is already held. In each, a refund of unused full months beats carrying the licence forward.
Timing decides how much that is worth. Someone moving in with a partner in month two of a twelve-month licence has considerably more to reclaim than someone doing exactly the same thing in month eleven. Check before the licence renews rather than after.
The other case is whether you need a licence at all in the new home. A household that has drifted entirely to on-demand viewing may not, and a move is the natural moment to work that out honestly. Just remember that BBC iPlayer alone requires one, whatever else you do or do not watch.
How EcoGreen Movers fits into the admin week
Five-minute jobs are easy to clear when the move itself is planned rather than improvised. EcoGreen Movers is a nationwide UK removals company working from fixed quotes and confirmed arrival windows, which is what lets you schedule the admin around the day instead of firefighting it afterwards.
We run residential moves across the UK, including London, Manchester and Edinburgh. The full sequence is in our moving house checklist, or get in touch for a quote.
Frequently asked questions
Does it cost anything to move a licence?
No. Updating the address is free on the official TV Licensing website. Any site charging a fee is a commercial address-change service, not the licensing authority.
How far in advance can the address be changed?
Up to three months before you move. Far more generous than most address changes, and possible precisely because nothing is posted to the new property. Enter the correct moving date so cover switches on the right day.
Should the licence be cancelled when moving?
No, in almost all cases. Updating the address keeps continuous cover for nothing. Cancel only if you are moving abroad, moving in with someone whose licence covers you, or stopping live television and BBC iPlayer altogether.
Is one licence enough for a shared house?
It depends on the tenancy. A single joint tenancy over the whole property is normally covered by one licence. Separate agreements for individual rooms usually mean each person watching live television in their own room needs their own.
What if letters arrive for the previous occupier?
Report them to TV Licensing with the name and address printed on the envelope, without opening it. These letters come from address records rather than from anything about you, and reporting them stops the sequence.
In summary: free, early, and not a cancellation
Update it on the official site with the licence number, surname and current postcode. Do it up to three months ahead, and pay nobody for the privilege. Enter the real moving date, and amend it if that date slips.
If the new place will sit empty first, say so. And if you are moving in with someone already licensed, check whether you are owed a refund rather than dutifully carrying forward a licence you no longer need.
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