Accredited Privately-Rented Properties

Dear Durham University,

With regards to privately-rented accommodation properties that have
signed the Code of Standards and are accredited by the university.
The accredited status was previously referred to as "DSU Approved
Accommodation" but the service is now run by the university.

Please can you provide me with the following details.
1) When(month and year) the University took over from the DSU with
regards to private accommodation standards.

2) For each accredited property...
a) The address of the property. Including house number and/or house
name and street name.
b) The name of the landlord and/or letting agent.
c) The date at which the property was first accredited.
d) The latest date the university saw relevant safety certificates
for the property.

3) For any properties that have been denied or revoked
accreditation (not including those that have decided not to seek
accreditation) in the last 5 years...
a) The address of the property, including house number and/or house
name and street name.
b) The name of the landlord and/or letting agent.
c) Whether the property had previously been accredited or not.
d) The date at which accreditation was denied/revoked.
e) A brief reason/keyword for the accreditation to be denied.

Thank you very much. I would appreciate the answers to question 2
and 3 in a machine readable format, such as csv or sql.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Marler

Dear Chris Gray, Durham University,

Thank you for your acknowledgement.

If any property reference numbers are attached to the data, such as
the durhamstudentpad reference number, please do not include these
as part of your answer to question 2 and 3.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Marler

Dear Chris Gray, Durham University,

Thank you for your acknowledgement.

If any property reference numbers are attached to the data, such as
the durhamstudentpad reference number, please do include these as
part of your answer to question 2 and 3.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Marler

Dear Chris Gray, Durham University,

Thank you for the information you have provided and I accept that
some of this could not be provided due to the amount handed over
from the DSU. However, there is still some information I requested
that I would like to receive.

For 2a, I asked for the full address to specifically include house
number and/or house name. This is not displayed at
www.studentpad.co.uk/durham. The website only displays street names
at best, and so you cannot always clarify which property it is
referring to.

For the whole of question 2, I asked for the information in a
machine readable format, preferably csv(exportable from most
spreadsheet programs) or sql files. A machine readable format would
allow me to sort and print/display the information in a way I
choose. I do not accept the website www.studentpad.co.uk/durham as
a machine readable format. This can be identified that I have to
use the website search to find any properties, I cannot list them
all at once on one page and I can not order them by any attribute.
Please note that section 11 of the Freedom of Information Act
states that information should be provided in my preferred format.
If this is not 'reasonably practical' (i.e. the university only has
the information through the website www.studentpad.co.uk/durham or
it would be too costly for the university to produce) then please
let me know and why it is not reasonably practical.

Thank you once again, and for the relatively speedy reply so far.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Marler

Dear Chris Gray,

I believe the information should be in the public domain for
students and recent graduates to easily and quickly lookup whether
a property they are renting, or about to rent, is university
accredited. The ability to do this supports the DSU Code of
Standards (for student housing) by enabling students to care more
about the standards. At the end of the DSU Code of Standards it
states that the information provided may need to be shared, so
landlords should be prepared for that.

I not believe placing the information in the public domain places
students at higher risk of burglary as properties on the list
should be secure as supported by items 1.1e and 2.7a-d in the DSU
Code of Standards to which the list is a reference to. Criminals
could use the photos on the durhamstudentpad.co.uk website to
target specific university accredited housing, or they could use
other websites such as studenthomezone.com and jwwood-student.co.uk
to look up the full address of houses that, although not university
accredited, are just as much at risk during holidays and exam
periods. Additionally, it is a commonly accepted thought, supported
by studies, that student burglaries are not usually researched
online but by monitoring or passing streets and then seizing
opportunities where it is visually obvious that beneficial
conditions are met.

If your final stance is not to provide me with the full information
requested, including house number/name, then I would like to
request an internal review of my FOI request. If that is the case,
please forward on this e-mail to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ac...

Yours faithfully,

Mr Marler

Dear Chris Gray,

Please can you confirm the details of my request has been passed on
to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews, and that
an internal review is underway.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence, including
why I think my request should be fully answered, is available on
the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ac...

Yours faithfully,

Mr Marler