Housing Enforcement

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Dear Ashford Borough Council,

For each calendar year from 2016, and for 2021 to date :

1) The number of complaints relating to conditions of properties in the Private Rented Sector the Council received,

2) The number of each of the following notice that were issued by the Council in relation to private rented homes:
a) an Improvement Notice,
b) an Emergency Remedial Action Notice
c) a Prohibition Order

3) The number of prosecutions brought by the Council in relation to conditions in private rented properties.

4) The number of (a) Notices of Intent and (b) Final Notices for civil penalties issued by the Council relating to housing matters.

5) The number of occasions on which the Council has assisted a tenant to obtain a Rent Repayment Order.

Yours faithfully,

Jon Patience

FOI Requests, Ashford Borough Council

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Ashford Borough Council

 

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show quoted sections

Julian Watts, Ashford Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Jon

 

Please find in red the information you have requested under the FOI:

 

For each calendar year from 2016, and for 2021 to date :

 

1)    The number of complaints relating to conditions of properties in the
Private Rented Sector the Council received,

2016-2017= 265

2017-2018= 284

2018-2019= 263

2019-2020=275

2020-2021=296

 

2) The number of each of the following notice that were issued by the
Council in relation to private rented homes:

a) an Improvement Notice, 25

b) an Emergency Remedial Action Notice 0

c) a Prohibition Order 0

 

3) The number of prosecutions brought by the Council in relation to
conditions in private rented properties. Two

 

4) The number of (a) Notices of Intent and (b) Final Notices for civil
penalties issued by the Council relating to housing matters. None

 

5) The number of occasions on which the Council has assisted a tenant to
obtain a Rent Repayment Order. None

 

 

 

Regards

 

 

 

Julian Watts MCIEH CEnvH | Senior EHO | Private Sector Housing
Tel: 01233 330339 | E-mail: [1][email address]

 

[2]cid:image001.png@01D4DFE0.7ED9AC50

 

 

---------------------------- This e-mail , including any attachments, is
intended for the named addressee(s) only and may contain marked material
up to RESTRICTED and should be handled accordingly. Unless you are the
named addressee (or authorised to receive it for the addressee) you may
not read, copy or use it, or disclose it to anyone else. Unauthorised use,
copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
Precautions have been taken to ensure that this is a virus free message
but recipients are responsible for carrying out their own checks. This
Council accepts no responsibility for loss or damage to any hardware,
software or data resulting from this e-mail If you have received this
transmission in error please contact the sender, and delete the message.
Privacy Notice: Whilst fulfilling our obligations as a local authority, we
may have interactions with you which results in us receiving and
processing your personal data. Our privacy notice, which details how we
handle and treat your personal data can be found here:
[3]https://www.ashford.gov.uk/transparency/...

show quoted sections

Dear Ashford Borough Council,

Thank you for your help so far, but please may I have the information for Questions 2 onwards broken down by calendar year, as requested?

Yours faithfully,

Jon Patience

FOI Requests, Ashford Borough Council

Dear Jon,

Thank you for your email, please find below answers to your second question split by years.

Kind regards

Freedom of Information Team

q.2)-

2016-17 is 5
2017-18- 6
2018-19- 7
2020-21 7

show quoted sections

Dear Ashford Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Ashford Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Housing Enforcement'.

I asked for:

"For each calendar year from 2016, and for 2021 to date :

1) The number of complaints relating to conditions of properties in the Private Rented Sector the Council received,

2) The number of each of the following notice that were issued by the Council in relation to private rented homes:
a) an Improvement Notice,
b) an Emergency Remedial Action Notice
c) a Prohibition Order

3) The number of prosecutions brought by the Council in relation to conditions in private rented properties.

4) The number of (a) Notices of Intent and (b) Final Notices for civil penalties issued by the Council relating to housing matters.

5) The number of occasions on which the Council has assisted a tenant to obtain a Rent Repayment Order."

The only objective reading of my request is that I asked for 1, 2(a), 2(b), 2(c), 3, 4(a), 4(b) and 5 all to be broken down by calendar year. For reference I have made identical requests to other authorities who have provided the information in the format required.

In your response of 6th July you broke down the response to Question 1 by year but the figures to the other questions have not been broken down. It is unclear whether the information is for an individual year (and if so which one) or whether this is a total for the whole period. This is not the information requested.

On 25th July I clarified that I still required a breakdown of Question 2 onwards, and today a partial breakdown of Question 2 by year has been provided, but it is unclear whether this is a response to 2(a), (b) or (c) or whether it is a total of all of these. No breakdown by year has been provided for Questions 3, 4(a), 4(b) or 5 has been provided.

The Council has declined to provide the information requested but has not issued a refusal notice stating any that any exemption applies. The statutory deadline having now expired I take this as a refusal to provide the information and request an Internal Review of this decision.

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

Yours faithfully,

Jon Patience

Ashford Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Jon Patience, Thank you for your recent information request, please
find attached our response. Kind regards Freedom of Information Team