Amount of property guardianship in your borough

The request was successful.

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, please could you
provide me with the below.

I am interested in the changes over time and would like to have information if possible from 2000-present.

Ideally, please could I have the amounts and costings for the years 2000/2001, 2009/2010 and 2017/2018.

1) The number of residential buildings owned, let or managed by
your council that are currently managed under property guardianship
schemes and the number of guardians living in the properties
2) The number of non-residential buildings owned, let or managed by
your council that are currently managed under property guardianship
schemes and the number of guardians living in the properties
3) The number of residential buildings currently managed by
property guardianship schemes in your area of which you are aware and the number of guardians living in the properties
4) The number of non-residential buildings currently managed by
property guardianship schemes in your area of which you are aware and the number of guardians living in the properties
5) The addresses of these properties and the company names of the
respective property guardianship schemes.
6) How much money has been paid by the council to property guardianship companies (or how much property guardianship companies have paid to the council if it is the other way around)
7) Why the council decided to use property guardianship companies.

Thank you very much for your help.

Yours faithfully,

Isabelle Ward

Haringey Borough Council

Dear Ms Ward

 

Freedom of Information / Environmental Information Regulations Request:
LBH/7383918

 

I acknowledge your request for information received on 15 May 2018.

 

This information request will be dealt with in accordance with the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations and we
will send the response by 13 June 2018

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Feedback and Information Governance

 

Shared Service Centre | Central Team

Haringey Council 

10th Floor, Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, Wood Green, London N22 7TR

 

www.haringey.gov.uk

twitter@haringeycouncil

facebook.com/haringeycouncil

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be
subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or
organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use,
retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this email in error, please notify the system
administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from
your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be
free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or
system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility
of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is
accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All
communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

Is there an update on this request? It is overdue.

Thank you!
Yours faithfully,

Isabelle Ward

FOI, Haringey Borough Council

Dear Ms Ward

I am sorry you have not received a reply to your FOI request. I will chase this up with the service. I will let you know when to expect our response following their reply.

Kind regards

Richard Baker
Feedback Officer
Shared Service Centre | Central Team

Haringey Council
5th Floor Alexandra House Road 10 Station Road N22 7TR

www.haringey.gov.uk
twitter@haringeycouncil
facebook.com/haringeycouncil
 Please consider the environment before printing.

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Dear Haringey Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Haringey Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Amount of property guardianship in your borough' or that my response is answered in the next week.

Please could I have the data as soon as possible, or a note saying if it is not possible to source the data?
I am happy for it to just be from 2018- I just need something back quite urgently.
Thank you, and I am sorry to chase you on it.

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

Yours faithfully,

Isabelle Ward

Pietikainen Sirkku, Haringey Borough Council

Dear Ms Ward,

 

Internal Review regarding Freedom of Information request reference
Lbh/7383918

 

Thank you for email received on 23 July 2018.

 

Your request for an Internal Review has been logged with the reference
LBH/7681218. Please quote this reference number on any further
correspondence.

 

We will now review the response you have been sent to the above request
and I aim to let you know the outcome of our investigation by 20 August
2018. If I need longer, I will write to let you know the reason and when
you can expect a full reply.

 

If you have any questions, please let me know. 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Sirkku Pietikäinen

Information Governance Officer

Shared Service Centre | Central Team

 

Haringey Council

4th Floor River Park House, 225 High Road, London N22 8HQ

 

T. 020 8489 2552

[1][email address]

 

[2]www.haringey.gov.uk

[3]twitter@haringeycouncil

[4]facebook.com/haringeycouncil

 

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

 

 

 

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Butterfield Darren, Haringey Borough Council

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  • Attachment

    Freedom of Information request Amount of property guardianship in your borough.html

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Dear Ms Ward,

 

Re: Freedom of Information Act Request ref: LBH/7383918

 

Thank you for your request for information received on 15 May 2018, in
which you asked for the following information:

 

I am interested in the changes over time and would like to have
information if possible from 2000-present.

 

Ideally, please could I have the amounts and costings for the years
2000/2001, 2009/2010 and 2017/2018.

 

1)The number of residential buildings owned, let or managed by your
council that are currently managed under property guardianship schemes and
the number of guardians living in the properties.

2)The number of non-residential buildings owned, let or managed by your
council that are currently managed under property guardianship schemes and
the number of guardians living in the properties.

3) The number of residential buildings currently managed by property
guardianship schemes in your area of which you are aware and the number of
guardians living in the properties. 

4)The number of non-residential buildings currently managed by property
guardianship schemes in your area of which you are aware and the number of
guardians living in the properties.

5) The addresses of these properties and the company names of the
respective property guardianship schemes.

6) How much money has been paid by the council to property guardianship
companies (or how much property guardianship companies have paid to the
council if it is the other way around.

7) Why the council decided to use property guardianship companies.

 

 

My response is as follows:

 

1)    None

 

2)    8 non-residential buildings are currently occupied by guardians.

 

3)    Information not held.

 

4)    Information not held.

 

5)    The company who provide guardianship for our buildings is Global
Guardians. Regarding your request for the addresses of empty properties at
which we are employing the use of property guardians, we consider this
information is exempt from release under section 31(1)(a)

             Section 31(1) states that:

“Information … is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act
would or would be likely to prejudice

(a)   the prevention or detection of crime…”

 

We consider that if a list of the addresses were to be disclosed, it is
possible that these properties would become more vulnerable to potential
squatters and associated crime resulting from this, such as fires,
criminal damage and anti-social behaviour.  Empty properties are also
associated with criminal activity such as organised “stripping” of empty
properties, whereby any items of value (such as pipes and floor boards,
electric wiring, copper water tanks) are removed, leaving an empty and
uninhabitable shell property.

 

As the exemption under section 31(1)(a) is a qualified exemption, it is
subject to the public interest test whereby we need to consider both the
arguments for and against the release of this information.

 

We can see there is some public interest in disclosure of this
information.  Releasing the information would assist the public debate
concerning the number of empty within the borough of Haringey, and is in
the general spirit of the FOI Act.

 

The argument against the release of the information is that there is an
inherently strong public interest in avoiding crime.  This information
would make it possible for crimes to be committed, as entry would need to
be forced to gain access to the property.   

 

If a property were to be stripped or otherwise vandalised as a result of
squatting, for example, then that would cost additional council funds to
rectify so that the property could be made ready for let. There may also
be court costs associated with the eviction of squatters.  These issues
would have an adverse impact on the Council’s funds. 

 

The balance of the Public Interest test is in favour or withholding the
information.

 

6)    Property Guardianship Company paid Haringey Council £71,524 for
finance year 2017/2018.

 

 

7)    The Councils estate requires protection once it has become empty as
they could be targeted by squatters. Using the guardianship scheme provide
a flexible solution as the properties are protected and maintained and
provides affordable living. Short notice periods are in place should the
property be required back at short notice.

 

 

 

We consider this information for question 5 is exempt from the Freedom of
Information Act under Section 31(1)(a) of that Act  as detailed under
answer no 5.

 

This letter is a refusal notice as required by the Freedom of Information
Act.

 

If you are unhappy with how we have responded to your request you can ask
us to conduct an Internal Review. If so, please contact the Feedback and
Information Team as below. . (Please note you should do this within two
months of receiving this response.)   

 

Feedback and Information Governance Team

Alexandra House

10 Station Road

London

N22 7TR

E [1][email address]

 

 

You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s office, who may be
able to help you.  However they would normally expect the local authority
to have undertaken a complaint investigation or Internal Review of the
request before they will accept the referral. 

 

 

You can contact the Commissioner at:

 

Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

E [2][email address]

W [3]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Darren Butterfield

 

Interim Commissioning Manager for Corporate Contracts

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be
subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or
organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use,
retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this email in error, please notify the system
administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from
your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be
free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or
system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility
of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is
accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All
communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

References

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Pietikainen Sirkku, Haringey Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Ward,

 

Please see attached our response to your FOI complaint/request for an
Internal Review.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sirkku Pietikäinen

Information Governance Officer

Shared Service Centre | Central Team

 

Haringey Council

4th Floor River Park House, 225 High Road, London N22 8HQ

 

T. 020 8489 2552

[1][email address]

 

[2]www.haringey.gov.uk

[3]twitter@haringeycouncil

[4]facebook.com/haringeycouncil

 

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

 

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be
subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or
organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use,
retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this email in error, please notify the system
administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from
your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be
free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or
system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility
of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is
accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All
communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.haringey.gov.uk/
3. https://twitter.com/haringeycouncil
4. https://www.facebook.com/haringeycouncil