TV Licence change of address

Most of what you update when you move is about telling an organisation where you live now. A TV Licence is a different shape of problem: it licenses the property, not you, which means the person moving into your old address needs their own one from the day you leave — and you need to sort out the address you're going to, even if you already hold a valid licence.

How to transfer it

1. 1

   Go to tvlicensing.co.uk

   Use their change-of-address process rather than letting the licence lapse and buying a new one — transferring keeps your existing licence number and is free.

2. 2

   Have your surname, licence number and postcode ready

   For both the old and new address. The licence number is on any renewal letter or on the licence itself if you kept a copy.

3. 3

   Do it up to three months ahead

   You don't need to wait until moving week — TV Licensing lets you transfer up to three months before the move, which is well worth doing early rather than adding it to the pile of things due the week you move.

4. 4

   Keep the confirmation

   Same principle as every other change of address: a reply you can point at is worth more than a phone call you remember making.

If nobody at the new address needs one

A licence is only required if someone at the address watches or records live TV on any channel or service, or downloads or watches anything on BBC iPlayer. If that's genuinely not going to be true at the new address, cancel rather than transfer. If there's at least one complete month left on the licence you can claim a refund, and you can apply up to 14 days before the date you stop needing it. It isn't automatic, so you do have to ask.

TV Licensing
Darlington
DL98 1TL

12 October 2026

Dear Sir/Madam,

Change of address — TV Licence

Please transfer my television licence to my new address with effect from 24 October 2026.

Name: David Okonkwo
Previous address: 22 Fenwick Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5XY
New address: 9 Larkspur Close, Gateshead, NE8 3RJ

Please confirm the transfer in writing.

Yours faithfully,
David Okonkwo

Four situations a move throws up

1. 1

   You're moving in with someone who already has a licence

   If they're your spouse, partner, a family member, or a joint tenant or joint mortgage holder, you'll normally be covered by their licence. TV Licensing lets you cancel yours up to two weeks before you move, and you may be due a refund. On a single tenancy agreement of your own, or as a lodger, you'll need your own licence, so transfer it instead.

2. 2

   You're not moving in straight away

   If the new place will sit empty for a while (works, a gap between completion and the move), TV Licensing's moving page has an option to tell them the new property is empty until you move in.

3. 3

   You want to leave the licence with someone at the old address

   Possible, but by post rather than online: TV Licensing asks for your written permission to transfer the licence to someone at your old address, sent to TV Licensing, Darlington DL98 1TL.

4. 4

   TV Licensing letters keep arriving for the previous occupier

   Don't open them. Give TV Licensing the name and address on the envelope through their Contact us form.

Where this sits in your move

It doesn't carry a legal fine the way the DVLA update does, so it's easy to let it slide — but an unlicensed address is still an unlicensed address from the day you move in. Doing it in the same sitting as council tax and the electoral roll, in the week after you move, means it isn't the thing you remember three months later when a reminder letter turns up at your old house.

MovePlan puts this in a dated plan alongside everything else in the move, and drafts the letter above — filled in with your own name, both addresses and your move date, ready to sign and post if you'd rather not go online. It also drafts the other twelve: bank, insurer, both councils, DVLA twice over, GP, dentist, optician, electoral roll, payroll and your subscriptions. £14.99 once, for six months.