Bedford Housing Update 2018
Dear Bedford Borough Council,
Under the Freedom of Information Act (2000), can I please request the following information from you:-
1. The list of HMO's in the county. Please could you detail the HMO address, the landlords name and their address in excel or word format please.
2. A list of the long term empty properties within the council area.
3. A list of any property owners who have fallen behind on mortgage problems and may have had court hearings on this issue.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely
Mr. Shahid Lal
Thank you for your e-mail requesting information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
We will proceed with the request which we received today. It is our
intention to have the information delivered to you as soon as possible
otherwise within the statutory 20 working days.
In consideration of the request, which may be subject to any exemptions/
exceptions the Council may rely on to refuse the request, some of which
are absolute and some of which only apply where the public interest in
maintaining the exemption/exception outweighs that in disclosing the
information.
Please note that should you be requesting information under the
Environmental Information Regulations although we provide free access to a
wide range of information through our website, access to any public
registers which we hold and for inspecting information at our offices, we
are allowed to charge you a reasonable fee for providing certain
information. If applicable, we will issue you with a fee notice. This
will detail the tasks involved in responding to the request, and
associated costs. Further information is available on the EIR page of
Bedford Borough Council’s website at the following link:
[1]http://www.bedford.gov.uk/council_and_de...
Please note that once a response has been forwarded to you an anonymised
summary of all requests appear on the Bedford Borough website at the
following link:
[2]http://www.bedford.gov.uk/council_and_de...
Our current practise is that the information will be available to view on
the web for 2 years.
Any future correspondence you may have with the Council in relation to
this matter should be emailed to [3][Bedford Borough Council request email] .
Any emails containing personal or sensitive data will be sent as ‘secure
e-mails’. In order for you to access a secure email you will be asked to
create an account and log into the Council’s secure e-mail reply service.
If you do receive a secure email there will be instructions explaining how
to do this.
“Confidentiality: The information contained in this e-mail and any
attachment may be confidential and may contain legally privileged
information. It is intended only for the use of the named recipient. If
you are not the named recipient, please notify us immediately and delete
it from your system. In such an event, you should not disclose the
contents of this e-mail to any other person, or print it.”
References
Visible links
1. http://www.bedford.gov.uk/council_and_de...
2. http://www.bedford.gov.uk/council_and_de...
3. mailto:[Bedford Borough Council request email]
Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure
Dear Mr. Shahid Lal
Request pursuant to Environmental Information Regulations Act 2004 –
Request No.12935
I refer to your enquiry for information held by the Council submitted on
the 17^th August 2018 requesting information about licensed Houses in
Multiple Occupation within Bedford Borough. Under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the
information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you
requested.
1. The list of HMO's in the county. Please could you detail the HMO
address, the landlords name and their address in excel or word format
please.
A copy of the Council’s current public register for its Mandatory HMO
Licensing scheme is included with this response. Please be advised that
the Council’s Additional Licensing scheme ended in May 2018 and a second
scheme began in May 2018. No new licenses have as yet been issued under
that scheme.
2. A list of the long term empty properties within the council area.
Please see our response below in respect of question 2;
Pursuant to Section 17 (1) of the Act the Council
1. States that the information requested is exempt information.
2. Specifies, that the exemption in question is contained
within Sections 40 (Personal Information) and 31 (Law enforcement) of the
FOI Act (FOIA).
An explanation follows below;
On receiving your FOI request, legal advice has been taken and the Council
has concluded that the information relating to properties where the
Council Tax payer is an individual is confidential personal information
that is exempt on the basis of Section 40 of the Freedom of Information
Act.
The Council also considers that the information in relation to all the
properties is exempt under Section 31 which is concerned with increased
crime. The Council is particularly concerned about the high level of
thefts of valuable metals and that publishing a list of empty properties
will encourage thefts of this type.
3. A list of any property owners who have fallen behind on mortgage
problems and may have had court hearings on this issue.
The Council do not hold the information to answer question 3.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. For
further information regarding Re-use of Public Sector Information please
see the following link
http://www.bedford.gov.uk/council_and_de...
If you are unhappy with the way the authority has handled your request,
you may ask for an internal review. Please contact Barbara Morris,
Assistant Chief Executive, (Law & Governance), email:
[email address] who will arrange an internal review of your
case. Under Regulation 11(2) this needs to be done no later than 40
working days after the date of this letter. If you are not content with
the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly
to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Andrea Bechtle
FOI & EIR Officer - Environment
Bedford Borough Council
Room 336, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK429AP
(01234) 718243 (ext 47243)
‘Bedford Borough Council - Working with our partners to make the borough a
better place to live, work and visit.’
Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure
Dear Mr. Shahid Lal
Following my previous email I am writing further to let you know your
request was considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and not
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Please see below updated response to replace my previous response sent to
you today at 14:37.
I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Kind regards,
Andrea Bechtle.
Request pursuant to Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request No.12935
I refer to your enquiry for information held by the Council submitted on
the 17^th August 2018 requesting information about licensed Houses in
Multiple Occupation within Bedford Borough. Under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the
information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you
requested.
1. The list of HMO's in the county. Please could you detail the HMO
address, the landlords name and their address in excel or word format
please.
A copy of the Council’s current public register for its Mandatory HMO
Licensing scheme is included with this response. Please be advised that
the Council’s Additional Licensing scheme ended in May 2018 and a second
scheme began in May 2018. No new licenses have as yet been issued under
that scheme.
2. A list of the long term empty properties within the council area.
Please see our response below in respect of question 2;
Pursuant to Section 17 (1) of the Act the Council
1. States that the information requested is exempt information.
2. Specifies, that the exemption in question is contained
within Sections 40 (Personal Information) and 31 (Law enforcement) of the
FOI Act (FOIA).
An explanation follows below;
On receiving your FOI request, legal advice has been taken and the Council
has concluded that the information relating to properties where the
Council Tax payer is an individual is confidential personal information
that is exempt on the basis of Section 40 of the Freedom of Information
Act.
The Council also considers that the information in relation to all the
properties is exempt under Section 31 which is concerned with increased
crime. The Council is particularly concerned about the high level of
thefts of valuable metals and that publishing a list of empty properties
will encourage thefts of this type.
3. A list of any property owners who have fallen behind on mortgage
problems and may have had court hearings on this issue.
The Council do not hold the information to answer question 3.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. For
further information regarding Re-use of Public Sector information please
see link below. If for whatever reason you are unhappy with our response
to your application you are entitled to pursue any dissatisfaction through
the Council's Internal Review Procedure. Pursuant to Section 17 (7) of
the Act the procedure provided by the Council for dealing with complaints
about the determination of this request for information is the Council’s
FOI Complaints Procedure, a copy of which can be obtained on request or is
set out at:
[1]http://www.bedford.gov.uk/council_and_de...
Yours sincerely
Andrea Bechtle
FOI & EIR Officer - Environment
Bedford Borough Council
Room 336, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK429AP
(01234) 718243 (ext 47243)
‘Bedford Borough Council - Working with our partners to make the borough a
better place to live, work and visit.’
From: Andrea Bechtle
Sent: 17 September 2018 14:37
To: '[FOI #510958 email]'
Cc: Freedom of Information
Subject: EIR 12935
Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure
Dear Mr. Shahid Lal
Request pursuant to Environmental Information Regulations Act 2004 –
Request No.12935
I refer to your enquiry for information held by the Council submitted on
the 17^th August 2018 requesting information about licensed Houses in
Multiple Occupation within Bedford Borough. Under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the
information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you
requested.
1. The list of HMO's in the county. Please could you detail the HMO
address, the landlords name and their address in excel or word format
please.
A copy of the Council’s current public register for its Mandatory HMO
Licensing scheme is included with this response. Please be advised that
the Council’s Additional Licensing scheme ended in May 2018 and a second
scheme began in May 2018. No new licenses have as yet been issued under
that scheme.
2. A list of the long term empty properties within the council area.
Please see our response below in respect of question 2;
Pursuant to Section 17 (1) of the Act the Council
1. States that the information requested is exempt information.
2. Specifies, that the exemption in question is contained
within Sections 40 (Personal Information) and 31 (Law enforcement) of the
FOI Act (FOIA).
An explanation follows below;
On receiving your FOI request, legal advice has been taken and the Council
has concluded that the information relating to properties where the
Council Tax payer is an individual is confidential personal information
that is exempt on the basis of Section 40 of the Freedom of Information
Act.
The Council also considers that the information in relation to all the
properties is exempt under Section 31 which is concerned with increased
crime. The Council is particularly concerned about the high level of
thefts of valuable metals and that publishing a list of empty properties
will encourage thefts of this type.
3. A list of any property owners who have fallen behind on mortgage
problems and may have had court hearings on this issue.
The Council do not hold the information to answer question 3.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. For
further information regarding Re-use of Public Sector Information please
see the following link
http://www.bedford.gov.uk/council_and_de...
If you are unhappy with the way the authority has handled your request,
you may ask for an internal review. Please contact Barbara Morris,
Assistant Chief Executive, (Law & Governance), email:
[email address] who will arrange an internal review of your
case. Under Regulation 11(2) this needs to be done no later than 40
working days after the date of this letter. If you are not content with
the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly
to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Andrea Bechtle
FOI & EIR Officer - Environment
Bedford Borough Council
Room 336, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK429AP
(01234) 718243 (ext 47243)
‘Bedford Borough Council - Working with our partners to make the borough a
better place to live, work and visit.’
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