Complete Non-Residential / Business Property Rates Data (Q1-2019)

The request was successful.

Dear Dacorum Borough Council,

In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, and subject to section 40(2) on personal data, could you please provide me with a complete and up-to-date list of all business (non-residential) property rates data for your local authority, and including the following fields:

- Billing Authority Property Reference Code (linking the property to the VOA database reference)
- Firm's Trading Name (i.e. property occupant)
- Full Property Address (Number, Street, Postal Code, Town)
- Occupied / Vacant
- Date of Occupation / Vacancy
- Actual annual rates charged (in Pounds)

If you are unable to provide an absolute “Occupation / Vacancy” status, please provide the Exemptions and / or Reliefs that a particular property may be receiving.

Please provide these data as machine-readable as either a CSV or Microsoft Excel file, capable of re-use, and under terms of the Open Government Licence (meaning reuse for any and all purposes, including commercial).

I last requested this data three months ago, and this is a request for an updated and current dataset.

I'm sure you get many requests for business rates and responding and managing these FOIs must be costly for you. Could I request that - as 71% of local authorities now do - you update and release this dataset via a dedicated page on your local authority website or on an open data service. I can recommend approaches for you to consider, and you should find that this reduces the time and cost of this request process.

Yours faithfully,

Gavin Chait

Freedom Of Information Mailbox, Dacorum Borough Council

Dear Gavin,
Thank you for your request.
Please note the Ref No/Target Date above - your request has been routed to the relevant department for consideration.
'Automatically Generated e-mail.'

The information in this message should be regarded as confidential and is intended for the addressee only unless explicitly stated. If you have received this message in error it must be deleted and the sender notified. The views expressed in this message are personal and not necessarily those of Dacorum Borough Council unless explicitly stated. Please be aware that emails sent to or received from Dacorum Borough Council may be intercepted and read by the council. Interception will only occur to ensure compliance with council policies or procedures or regulatory obligations, to prevent or deter crime, or for the purposes of essential maintenance or support of the email system.

Jake Seabourne, Dacorum Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Gavin Chait,

Thank you for your request dated 3rd April 19 for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

You have requested the information set out in your email below. The Council’s response is:

Please find the data request attached.
This is with the exception of the actual annual rates charged, as this is unavailable to extract.
You can work this out on a manual basis by multiplying the RV against the appropriate multiplier, then take into account any relief/exemption being received.

Please note that where the ratepayer is an individual (sole trader or partnership) business rates account information will not be disclosed as it is considered to be personal information and therefore protected by the Data Protection Act 2018. Personal information is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, unless one of the conditions set out in Article 6 of the General Data Protection Regulation is met. We are satisfied that none of these conditions are met in this case, and we are unable to release this information.

Further information explaining the Council’s process for responding to information requests is available on our website at www.dacorum.gov.uk/foi.

If you have any further queries or information needs or if you are unhappy about the way your request has been handled, please contact the Council’s information service at: [Dacorum Borough Council request email], quoting our FOI reference shown in the subject line of this email.

In accordance with Section 50 of the FOIA, you may apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision whether, in any specified respect, your request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of Part 1 of the FOIA. The Commissioner would make a decision on any application unless certain circumstances apply, one of which is that the relevant public authority’s complaints procedure has not been exhausted. The Information Commissioner’s contact details are as follows:-

The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF

Helpline: 0303 123 1113

Website, with online form: www.ico.gov.uk and email for online complaint: [email address]

If you need further assistance please contact the information service as indicated above.

Yours sincerely

Jake Seabourne | Systems Development and Finance Lead Officer | Dacorum Borough Council | The Forum | Marlowes | Hemel Hempstead | HP1 1DN

Telephone: 01442 228260 | Website: www.dacorum.gov.uk

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