Empty Homes
Dear Hull City Council,
Please can you provide me with the following information under the
Freedom Of Information Act 2000:-
(a) addresses of "empty and derelict” properties that are
within Hull Borough Council area; and
(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in
(c) The period of time they have been unoccupied for
The above questions relates to both residential and commercial
properties
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Smith
Dear Mr Smith
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Information Request - 001401/12
We acknowledge receipt of your information request received on 16 October
2012 which is being processed according to the Freedom of Information Act
(2000).
The legislation allows us 20 working days to respond which takes us to 13
November 2012. There are some circumstances under which this deadline may
be extended legally but we will inform you as soon as we know if these
apply.
Questions
Please can you provide me with the following information under the Freedom
Of Information Act 2000:-
(a) addresses of "empty and derelict" properties that are within Hull
Borough Council area; and
(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in
(c) The period of time they have been unoccupied for
The above questions relates to both residential and commercial properties.
Should you wish to complain about our response in any way, then this must
initially be done through the Council’s internal review procedure. Please
contact the Corporate Feedback Team: Freepost RSJC-KKBE-ABXZ, Customer
Feedback Team, Hull City Council. P.O. Box 15, Hull, HU1 2AB. Telephone
(01482) 300300, Textphone (01482) 300349. E-Mail
[1][email address].
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review then you
may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the
government body established to enforce the legislation. Their details are
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625
545700, Email: [2][email address], web site
[3]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
The Council’s Freedom of Information Policy, which includes the charging
policy, is available on request and from the web site
[4]www.hullcc.gov.uk. Also available is a booklet on ‘Accessing
Information from Hull City Council’ which explains how to request
information and your rights (according to the Data Protection Act 1998 and
The Freedom of Information Act 2000).
Yours sincerely,
Information Governance Team
Communications and Marketing
Business Support Directorate
Hull City Council
Tel: 01482 300300
Dear Mr Smith
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Information Request - 001401/12
In order for us to provide a response to your request please can you
clarify the following?
Questions
Please can you provide me with the following information under the Freedom
Of Information Act 2000:-
(a) addresses of "empty and derelict" properties that are within Hull
Borough Council area; and
(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in
(c) The period of time they have been unoccupied for
The above questions relates to both residential and commercial properties.
In respect of empty properties do you mean that for both residential and
commercial separate lists of empty properties and of derelict properties?
Or do you mean a list of empty properties that are derelict? If is the
latter then we can confirm that this information is not recorded by our
systems.
In accordance with the act the 20 working day clock will stop and re-start
once this clarification has been received.
Information Governance Team
Communications and Marketing
Business Support Directorate
Hull City Council
Tel: 01482 300300
Dear Herring Nigel,
"In respect of empty properties do you mean that for both residential and
commercial separate lists of empty properties and of derelict properties"
Yes !!
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
I am on a course from 5 to 9 November, back on 12 November. If your
e-mail is urgent please fwd it to [email address]. E-mails I
have sent you in connection with FOI requests are being forwarded to our
general inbox
Dear Mr Smith
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Information Request - 001401/12
With regard to your Freedom of Information request received on 16 October
2012, please find our response attached and below.
Please can you provide me with the following information under the Freedom
Of Information Act 2000:-
(a) addresses of "empty and derelict" properties that are within Hull
Borough Council area; and
(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in
(c) The period of time they have been unoccupied for
The above questions relates to both residential and commercial properties
In accordance with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act, the
Council is required to inform you that some of the information you have
requested has not been provided and has been withheld due to the following
exemptions under the Act.
Section 40 – Personal Information
It is considered that this exemption under Section 40(2) of the Act
applies, namely that some of the information is personal information and
all personal details are protected under the Data Protection Act 1998
legislation. The Council cannot disclose personal information where to do
so would breach any of the data protection principles and we believe
consent to disclose would not be given. In this case the Council believes
there is not sufficient justification to release the information. Where
this exemption has been used on the attached spreadsheet the personal
information has been removed and replaced with ‘S40’ accordingly.
In addition we consider that the addresses and contact details of empty
commercial and residential properties owned by individuals to be personal
information. Personal data may only be released to satisfy Freedom of
Information requests where to do so would not breach any of the data
protection principles. In this case we do not believe that any of the
conditions for processing this personal data, detailed in Schedule 2 of
the Data Protection Act, are met.
For details of commercial and residential premises owned by companies
please refer to the attached spreadsheet.
Hull City Council holds no records of any properties that would be classed
as derelict. Once our systems have been updated with the details of any
property identified as derelict then that property no longer exists as a
record until such time as we are informed that it has been rebuilt. Some
of the properties on the attached spreadsheet may be currently
uninhabitable but that does not mean derelict it just means that they are
currently under refurbishment.
Key
NDMTProps = Commercial Premises
CXMTProps = Residential Premises
Although information supplied in response to your request may be in an
Excel Spreadsheet format please feel free to contact us should you wish
the information to be supplied in an alternative more readable/reusable
format
We hope that you will be satisfied with our response and should you
require any further information then please do not hesitate to contact
us.
Should you wish to complain about our response in any way, then this must
initially be done through the Council’s internal review procedure. Please
contact the Corporate Feedback Team: Freepost RSJC-KKBE-ABXZ, Customer
Feedback Team, Hull City Council. P.O. Box 15, Hull, HU1 2AB. Telephone
(01482) 300300, Textphone (01482) 300349. E-Mail
[1][email address].
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review then you
may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the
government body established to enforce the legislation. Their details are
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625
545700, Email: [2][email address], web site
[3]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
The Council’s Freedom of Information Policy, which includes the charging
policy, is available on request and from the web site
[4]www.hullcc.gov.uk. Also available is a booklet on ‘Accessing
Information from Hull City Council’ which explains how to request
information and your rights (according to the Data Protection Act 1998 and
The Freedom of Information Act 2000).
Please note that this information may be subject to copyright and supply
of the information to you under the Freedom of Information Act does not
confer an automatic right to re-use it in a way that would infringe
copyright. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any
non-commercial research or private study you are carrying out and for
purposes of news reporting.
Any information we provide to you under the Freedom of Information Act
will not confer an automatic right to re-use that information, for example
to publish it. If you wish to re-use the information that we provide and
you do not specify this in your initial application for information then
you must make a further request for its re-use as per the Re-Use of Public
Sector Information Regulations 2005 www.opsi.gov.uk - This will not affect
your initial information request.
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Town Clerk's Service
Resources Directorate
Hull City Council
Tel: 01482 300300
Dear Information Governance,
Many thanks for the information above. I would also like the length of time that each property as been empty
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Mr Smith
We are unable to provide the length of time that each property has been empty for this report because it is now out of date; however please let us know if you would like us to generate a new report with this information on?
Please accept our apology for this oversight in our original response.
Information Governance Team
Town Clerk's Service
Hull City Council
Tel: 01482 300300
Dear Information Governance,
Yes, I'd be grateful if you could generate a new report with the requested information included
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Information Governance,
Please can you advise if you have generated a new report with the length of time each property as been empty for
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Information Governance,
A response regarding this FOI request was due yesterday. My original request asked for names and addresses of owners of these properties - this information can be omitted
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Mr Smith
I have looked on our system to try and identify whether we received a copy
of your email in which you confirmed you would like us to produce a new
report however I have not been able to find anything. I have looked on the
email trail on the what do they know website and see that you did ask us
for this on the 7 February 2013.
The Officer that dealt with your original FOI request; reference 1401/12
is currently on annual leave and is back on Monday 11 March.
I will have to wait for him to return to establish whether he received
your email and has generated a new report for you.
I hope this does not cause you any inconvenience and will make sure the
Officer deals with your query urgently next week.
Kind regards
Information Governance Team
Town Clerk's Service
Hull City Council
Tel: 01482 300300
Dear Information Governance,
Many thanks for the email. Yes I'm more than happy to wait until Monday. I would be grateful for a speedy response under the circumstances
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Information Governance,
Please can you advise of the status of this request. I should have received a reply late last week.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Mr Smith
Further to our e-mails below we sincerely apologise for the delay in responding to your query. This was due to a technical issue with the computer system due to new legislation from Central Government which meant we had to wait until this had been resolved and their backlog cleared before any of our requests could be processed.
We are expecting a few of these reports shortly and yours is one of these. Once it has arrived and been processed we will be able to send it to you and we expect to have this completed no later than the end of next week.
We hope that this will not cause you any inconvenience in the mean time.
Information Governance Team
Town Clerk's Service
Tel: 01482 300300
Dear Information Governance,
Please can you advise on the statues of this request. It is now two weeks over due. I would rather the matter be settled promptly rather than escalating the matter
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Mr Smith
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Information Request - 001401/12
Further to our e-mail of 13 March 2013 please find our revised response
attached and below.
Please can you provide me with the following information under the Freedom
Of Information Act 2000:-
(a) addresses of "empty and derelict" properties that are within Hull
Borough Council area; and
(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in
(c) The period of time they have been unoccupied for
The above questions relates to both residential and commercial properties
In accordance with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act, the
Council is required to inform you that some of the information you have
requested has not been provided and has been withheld due to the following
exemptions under the Act.
Section 31- Law Enforcement
It is considered that this exemption under Section 31 of the Act applies
to some of the information you have requested therefore the rows
containing the commercial addresses of individuals who have passed away
and the locations of mobile phone masts have been withheld. Section 31 (1)
(a) is designed to cover all aspects of the prevention and detection of
crime. Section 31 (1) (b) is intended to cover all stages of the
apprehension process and the subsequent prosecution of criminal activity.
We have considered the public interest in regard to the release of this
information and in so doing have weighed the benefits that disclosure
would provide in respect of openness and accountability against the harm
and prejudice which could be caused to the Council in release of this
detailed information. We therefore believe in this case, there is no
justification in releasing the information relating to the personal
details of the deceased and the locations of mobile phone masts therefore
the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public
interest in disclosure.
Revealing details of the assets of an estate before such steps are taken
would provide an opportunity for criminal acts to be committed (e.g.
theft, fraud). Similarly, there would be concerns about making the last
known address of the deceased public, as the property is likely to be
unoccupied and might still contain the deceased’s personal papers and
effects. The Council is therefore relying on S31(1)(a) of the Act on the
basis that disclosure of the information would be likely to prejudice the
prevention of crime by enabling or encouraging the commission of offences.
Section 40 – Personal Information
It is considered that this exemption under Section 40(2) of the Act
applies, namely that some of the information is personal information and
all personal details are protected under the Data Protection Act 1998
legislation. The Council cannot disclose personal information where to do
so would breach any of the data protection principles and we believe
consent to disclose would not be given. Where this exemption has been
used on the attached spreadsheet the rows containing premises owned by
individuals has been deleted and on the remaining rows the personal
information has been removed and replaced with ‘S40’ accordingly.
In addition we consider that the addresses and contact details of empty
commercial and residential properties owned by individuals to be personal
information. Personal data may only be released to satisfy Freedom of
Information requests where to do so would not breach any of the data
protection principles. In this case we do not believe that any of the
conditions for processing this personal data, detailed in Schedule 2 of
the Data Protection Act, are met.
For details of commercial and residential premises owned by companies
please refer to the attached spreadsheet. As per your request the date
the residential premises became vacant has been included at column ‘B’;
however this information is not recorded for commercial premises.
Hull City Council holds no records of any properties that would be classed
as derelict. Once our systems have been updated with the details of any
property identified as derelict then that property no longer exists as a
record until such time as we are informed that it has been rebuilt. Some
of the properties on the attached spreadsheet may be currently
uninhabitable but that does not mean derelict it just means that they are
currently under refurbishment.
Key
NNDR = Commercial Premises
CTAX = Residential Premises
Although information supplied in response to your request may be in an
Excel Spreadsheet format please feel free to contact us should you wish
the information to be supplied in an alternative more readable/reusable
format
We hope that you will be satisfied with our response and should you
require any further information then please do not hesitate to contact
us.
Should you wish to complain about our response in any way, then this must
initially be done through the Council’s internal review procedure. Please
contact the Corporate Feedback Team: Freepost RSJC-KKBE-ABXZ, Customer
Feedback Team, Hull City Council. P.O. Box 15, Hull, HU1 2AB. Telephone
(01482) 300300, Textphone (01482) 300349. E-Mail
[1][email address].
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review then you
may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the
government body established to enforce the legislation. Their details are
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625
545700, Email: [2][email address], web site
[3]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
The Council’s Freedom of Information Policy, which includes the charging
policy, is available on request and from the web site
[4]www.hullcc.gov.uk. Also available is a booklet on ‘Accessing
Information from Hull City Council’ which explains how to request
information and your rights (according to the Data Protection Act 1998 and
The Freedom of Information Act 2000).
Please note that this information may be subject to copyright and supply
of the information to you under the Freedom of Information Act does not
confer an automatic right to re-use it in a way that would infringe
copyright. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any
non-commercial research or private study you are carrying out and for
purposes of news reporting.
Any information we provide to you under the Freedom of Information Act
will not confer an automatic right to re-use that information, for example
to publish it. If you wish to re-use the information that we provide and
you do not specify this in your initial application for information then
you must make a further request for its re-use as per the Re-Use of Public
Sector Information Regulations 2005 www.opsi.gov.uk - This will not affect
your initial information request.
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Town Clerk's Service
Resources Directorate
Hull City Council
Tel: 01482 300300
Dear Information Governance,
I thank you again for the reply BUT again the length of time the property's have been empty for has not been included. This was my updated request some three weeks ago. Please can you supply the requested information (length of time each home as been empty for to the supplied spreadsheet as a matter of urgency bearing in mind the length of time this request as been with you.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Mr Smith
As per our response which was sent to you on 20 March 2013 Hull City Council does not hold any information which shows the length of time residential premises have been empty.
Information Governance Team
Town Clerk's Service
Tel: 01482 300300
Dear Information Governance,
I would like to request an internal review regarding your response. The main point I wish to raise is that I'm told the council does not hold the length of time residential premises have been empty for, as I find this almost impossible to believe
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Mr Smith
Further to your e-mail below we can confirm that our response sent to you on 20 March 2013 is correct in stating that the empty property date for residential premises was included; this information can be found at column 'A' of the revised spreadsheet supplied to you. It is the date for commercial premises that we do not hold.
Please accept our apologies for any confusion we caused by our e-mail below and let me know whether you still wish to proceed with an Internal Review.
The Information Governance Team
Town Clerk's Service
Resources Directorate
Hull City Council
Tel: 01482 300300
Dear Information Governance,
I have checked both files and in Column A there is only the address details for the property not the date it became empty. If this information can be provided this week I'd be happy not to ask for a internal review of this FOI
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Smith
Dear Mr Smith
Attached is another copy of this spreadsheet with empty date on the CTAX worksheet highlighted in red.
Information Governance Team
Town Clerk's Service
Tel: 01482 300300
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