Dear Jonathan Boyle,

 

Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Evictions
and Personal Property which we received on 07/10/19.

 

This has been logged as a Freedom of Information Request, and will be
dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act.  The reference number for
your request can be found above.

 

The Freedom of Information Act states that we must respond to you within
20 working days, therefore, you should expect to hear a response from us
by 04/11/19.

 

In the meantime, if you have any queries please, contact us at the email
address below.

 

Thank you.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sheffield City Council

PO Box 1283

Sheffield, S1 1UJ

Email: [1][Sheffield City Council request email]

P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to

 

 

From: Jonathan Boyle [mailto:[FOI #609477 email]]
Sent: 07 October 2019 07:46
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Evictions and Personal Property

 

Dear Sheffield City Council,

 

1. Over the past twelve months, how many people have been evicted from
local authority property?

2. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted people have been
licensees?

3. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted people have been tenants?

4. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted tenants have had their
personal property disposed of by the local authority?

5. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted tenants have had their
personal property stored by the local authority?

6. Over the past twelve months how many evicted ex-licensees have had
their personal property stored by the local authority?

7. Over the past twelve months how many evicted ex-Council licensees have
had their personal property stored by the local authority?

8. Please provide details of the average cost of storing an evicted
persons personal property?

9. Please provide details of the average length of time that evicted
persons have their personal property stored by the local authority over
the past twelve months?

10. Under what circumstances does the local authority protect the personal
property of evicted persons?

11. Under what circumstances do the local authority dispose of the
personal property of evicted persons?

12. Under what legal basis does the local authority dispose of the
personal property of evicted persons?

13. Please detail when the local authority started disposing of evicted
persons personal property seven days after eviction?

14. Please disclose any policy documents or guidance issued to housing
officers regarding disposing of personal property left behind by
ex-Council tenants in Council property?

15. Please disclose any policy regarding evictions?

16. Please disclose any Equality Impact Assessments that was carried out
when formulating the policies in 14 and 15.

17. Please detail over the past three years, the number of complaints that
have been made by evicted persons because of the Council’s disposal of
their personal property?

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Jonathan Boyle

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

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show quoted sections

Link: [1]File-List

Dear Jonathan Boyle,

 

Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Evictions
and Personal Property which we received on 07/10/2019.

 

Please find below, Sheffield City Council’s response to your request:

 

1. Over the past twelve months, how many people have been evicted from
local authority property? Total evictions for 2018/19 = 219

 

2. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted people have been
licensees?

If someone had an SCC property on licence, the Council would not evict
them. The provider may evict them, but Sheffield City Council does not
keep a record of this, and, as such, we do not hold any information for
this question.

 

3. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted people have been tenants?

As stated in Q1, 219 tenants were evicted.

 

4. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted tenants have had their
personal property disposed of by the local authority?

From Apr 18 to Sept 19 we have stored 20 lots of belongings from evicted
tenants. Of these, 18 of the lots have been disposed of following the
section 41 notice period. However, please note that on some occasions SCC
area teams have disposed of evicted tenants’ belongings directly due to,
for example, the condition of the said goods or the goods being
perishable, in which case we cannot store them.  

 

5. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted tenants have had their
personal property stored by the local authority?

20. Please see the explanation for Q4 above.

 

6. Over the past twelve months how many evicted ex-licensees have had
their personal property stored by the local authority?

N/A. Please see our response to Q2 for an explanation.

 

7. Over the past twelve months how many evicted ex-Council licensees have
had their personal property stored by the local authority?

N/A. Please see our response to Q2 for an explanation.

 

8. Please provide details of the average cost of storing an evicted
persons personal property?

The average cost of storing goods for the required periods is £125 per
property

 

9. Please provide details of the average length of time that evicted
persons have their personal property stored by the local authority over
the past twelve months?

The minimum storage period for all goods is 31 days, after which time they
are disposed of.

 

10. Under what circumstances does the local authority protect the personal
property of evicted persons?

The Local Authority would keep possessions if the evicted party have
approached the Local Authority for assistance due to homelessness.

 

11. Under what circumstances do the local authority dispose of the
personal property of evicted persons?

This is done when the section 41 notice period for storage has expired, as
explained in Q9 above. Please also note that, as explained in Q4 above,
personal property may be disposed of earlier than this if it appears that
any of the articles are perishable, if any items are pest-ridden and
storing them would damage the other items in storage or if looking after
them would involve unreasonable expense or inconvenience.

 

12. Under what legal basis does the local authority dispose of the
personal property of evicted persons?

Section 41 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982.

 

13. Please detail when the local authority started disposing of evicted
persons personal property seven days after eviction?

The decision to do this was made approximately 6 years ago. Please note
that, as noted in Q4 and Q11 above, there are in any case circumstances in
which property would have to be disposed of earlier than the 31 day period
due to the nature or condition of that property.

 

14. Please disclose any policy documents or guidance issued to housing
officers regarding disposing of personal property left behind by
ex-Council tenants in Council property?

Please see the attached guidance documents entitled “Eviction Guidance for
Neighbourhood Teams” and “Abandonment Procedure”. Please note that the
names of individuals have been redacted as this is personal information
and its disclosure would constitute a breach of the Data Protection Act
2018. Therefore, this information is exempt from disclosure under section
40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

15. Please disclose any policy regarding evictions?

Please see the attached document entitled “Rent Recovery Policy”. Eviction
is covered under section 4.3.

 

16. Please disclose any Equality Impact Assessments that was carried out
when formulating the policies in 14 and 15.

Please see the attached document entitled “EIA – Evictions”. Please note
that this is the most recent Equality Impact Assessment and was carried
out in 2011. We do not hold a record of any other EIAs. Please note that
the names of individuals have been redacted as this is
personal information and its disclosure would constitute a breach of the
Data Protection Act 2018. Therefore, this information is exempt from
disclosure under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

17. Please detail over the past three years, the number of complaints that
have been made by evicted persons because of the Council’s disposal of
their personal property?

We have had no official complaints about the disposal of evicted persons’
goods over the 3 year period stated above.

 

 

If you have any queries about this response, please do not hesitate to
contact us.

 

If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your
request, you are entitled to have this reviewed.  You can ask for an
internal review by either writing to the above address or by emailing
[2][Sheffield City Council request email].  Internal review requests should be submitted
within 40 working days from the date of this response.

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your internal review, you
can contact the Information Commissioners Office. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 0303
123 1113, or for further details see their website [3]www.ico.org.uk

 

Kind Regards,

 

Sheffield City Council

PO Box 1283

Sheffield, S1 1UJ

Email: [4][Sheffield City Council request email]

P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to

 

 

 

From: Jonathan Boyle [mailto:[FOI #609477 email]]
Sent: 07 October 2019 07:46
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Evictions and Personal Property

 

Dear Sheffield City Council,

 

1. Over the past twelve months, how many people have been evicted from
local authority property?

2. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted people have been
licensees?

3. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted people have been tenants?

4. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted tenants have had their
personal property disposed of by the local authority?

5. Over the past twelve months, how many evicted tenants have had their
personal property stored by the local authority?

6. Over the past twelve months how many evicted ex-licensees have had
their personal property stored by the local authority?

7. Over the past twelve months how many evicted ex-Council licensees have
had their personal property stored by the local authority?

8. Please provide details of the average cost of storing an evicted
persons personal property?

9. Please provide details of the average length of time that evicted
persons have their personal property stored by the local authority over
the past twelve months?

10. Under what circumstances does the local authority protect the personal
property of evicted persons?

11. Under what circumstances do the local authority dispose of the
personal property of evicted persons?

12. Under what legal basis does the local authority dispose of the
personal property of evicted persons?

13. Please detail when the local authority started disposing of evicted
persons personal property seven days after eviction?

14. Please disclose any policy documents or guidance issued to housing
officers regarding disposing of personal property left behind by
ex-Council tenants in Council property?

15. Please disclose any policy regarding evictions?

16. Please disclose any Equality Impact Assessments that was carried out
when formulating the policies in 14 and 15.

17. Please detail over the past three years, the number of complaints that
have been made by evicted persons because of the Council’s disposal of
their personal property?

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Jonathan Boyle

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[5][FOI #609477 email]

 

Is [6][Sheffield City Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Sheffield City Council? If so, please contact us using this
form:

[7]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[8]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

 

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:

[9]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

 

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

 

show quoted sections