Mr B Trading
E:
By Email Only / This matter is being dealt with by: T HoldenC PrestonF ZohraKnowledge & Information Management Team
Email:
Tel No: 0207 641 6451333285783921
Fax No: 0207 641 2872
Date: 24th April 2012
DearMr Tarding
Re: Request for Internal Review – Request 8248
Thank you for your dated 3rd February 2012regarding the response to your recent request to the Council (our ref: 8248).
In your you asked for an internal review of the handling of your Request. I have summarised the details of your appeal below:
- That the council has failed to provide the requested information
- That the council has incorrectly applied the exemption under Section 21
Internal Review Procedure
I am sorry that you are dissatisfied with our handling of your requests and I have investigated your complaint in accordance with the Section 45 Code of Practice.
Should you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you are entitled to contact the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. The contact details are provided at the end of this letter.
Response
Background
On 10th January 2012, the council received a request for information. The request asked for the owners of properties at a specified address where these were not individuals or companies registered within the UK. The request was logged and acknowledged on the same day. On 19th January the council responded to the request setting out the details held by the council. On 3rd February 2010 you contacted the council to request an Internal Review into the handling of your request.
Internal Review
In the course of this review I will refer to relevant provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which are provided in full under the Advice & Assistance section of this letter.
The original request was for details of companies who own properties at One Hyde Park, or are liable taxpayers and are not registered in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland [the UK]. The response gave a breakdown of the types of ownership of One Hyde Park.
However the response did not identify the companies involved or the specific properties owned by them, or confirm if their registration was information held by the council. The response also applied an exemption under Section 21 as the information regarding ownership of these properties was believed to be reasonably accessible by other means. (from the Land Registry).
The Finance department has confirmed that it does not hold details of the Owners of properties, only those liable to pay council tax and that, where the liable taxpayer is a company, does not hold whether they are registered in the UK. The response should have stated that this information was not held by the council for the purposes of Section 1(4) of the Act and therefore this aspect of your complaint is upheld.
The council is unable to identify which specific properties are owned by companies as to do so would conversely identify which are owned by individuals in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. The finding of this review is that this exemption was correctly applied and the information cannot be disclosed i.e. which specific properties are owned by companies. This aspect of your complaint is therefore not upheld.
With regard to the application of Section 21: Information reasonably accessible by other means, the information relating to ownership is held by and available for research from the Land Registry. The finding of this review is that the information, even if a payment is required, is reasonably accessible by other means and the exemption was correctly applied. This aspect of your complaint is therefore not upheld.
To assist you in searching the Land Registry, please visit the Land Registry’s website ( ) and then click on Order Title Plans and Title Registers online). You then need to complete the search fields with the following details:
A.0 in the Flat field, then 100 in the House field, then sw1x 7lj in the postcode field. Then press Next to list all the sold flats within Tier A.
Use the same system to enquire for Tier B, C and D obviously substituting B.0 for A.0 etc
You can also apply for this information by post from the Land Registry. Details of this are shown on their website:
In sum, your complaint is partially upheld in that the council did not confirm or deny whether it holds details of where a property’s owner is registered for the purposes of a company.
Other Matters Arising during course of Internal Review
This review notes that the response provided cited and exemption under the Data Protection Act 1998 in respect of the properties owned by individuals. This should instead have stated that it was exempt information under Section 40(2): Personal Information and that the response was a Refusal Notice issued under Section 17 of the Act.
Advice & Assistance
In the course of this Internal Review I have made reference to the following provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
1. - (1) Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled-
(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and
(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.
(5) A public authority is to be taken to have complied with subsection (1)(a) in relation to any information if it has communicated the information to the applicant in accordance with subsection (1)(b).
This completes the internal review into the handling of your Request under the Council's complaints procedure. Should you be dissatisfied with our response, you are entitled to contact the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. For your reference, I have provided his contact details below:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel:0303 123 1113 or 01625 54 57 45
Fax: 01625 524510
Web:
Should you have any queries, please contact me at the address above.
Yours sincerely,
Knowledge & Information Management Team
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