Martin Gibbs
Complaints, Members
Head of Complaints,
Enquiries & Freedom of
Members Enquiries
Information
& Freedom of
Information
Ask for: Information
Complaints, Members Enquiries &
Governance
Information Governance
Newham Dockside
1000 Dockside Road
Mr Ranjan Kumaran
Your ref :
London
request-190913-
E16 2QU
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our ref: FOI/ E17833
Tel: 020 8430 2000
Fax: 020 8430 1504
Date: 29/1/2014
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
Web: www.newham.gov.uk
Dear Mr Kumaran,
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Request for Information: Information Provided
Please quote our reference: E17833
Subject: LOBO- Lender Option Borrower Option
We write with regard to your recent enquiry for information held by the Council under the
provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We trust that the information provided is satisfactory. You are free to use the information for
your personal use only. Any other type of re-use, for example, publishing the information or
issuing copies to the public will require permission of the copyright owner. If the Council is
the copyright owner, a licence can be applied for under the Re-use of Public Sector
Information Regulations 2005.
For future reference we publish information on our website, including the Freedom of
Information Publication Scheme and summary of Freedom of Information requests and
responses that may be of help to you in searching for information. Our website is mentioned
above.
It is important to note that under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive)
Regulations 2003 the Council asks not to receive unsolicited marketing communication.
Request & Response
1. How many Lender Option Borrower Option (LOBOs) contracts do you have on your
books?
27
2. When were they signed?
Response: We have taken this to mean the Contract start date.
11/04/2002
We publish an anonymised list of requests and responses on the Council’s website.
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01/07/2002
01/04/2003
03/10/2003
25/05/2005
20/03/2006
06/04/2006
03/04/2006
03/07/2006
06/08/2007
05/10/2007
03/12/2007
03/03/2008
19/12/2007
06/11/2008
05/08/2008
01/09/2008
03/12/2008
03/12/2009
03/12/2010
01/09/2009
11/01/2010
04/01/2010
26/02/2010
03/01/2010
01/02/2010
25/01/2010
We publish an anonymised list of requests and responses on the Council’s website.
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3. With which financial institutions were they taken out?
Bayerische Landesbank
Barclays Bank
Depfa Bank
Dexia Bank
Europaichehypothekenbank
Royal Bank of Scotland
Merrill Lynch Bank
4. Since each Contract has been signed, has the lender exercised their option and changed
the interest rate?
No
5. If so, please specify the dates of the interest rate changes and the revised interest rates
N/A
6. Please provide a copy of the original, signed LOBO agreement.
Response: Under the Freedom of Information Act we have the right to refuse a request for
information held if an exemption applies. We believe in this case such an exemption applies
and has decided to refuse your request.
Section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 states:
“41. (1) Information is exempt information if –
(a) it was obtained by the public authority from any other person (including
another public authority), and
(b) the disclosure of the information to the public (otherwise than under this Act)
would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other
person.
(2) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, the
confirmation or denial that would have to be given to comply with section 1(1) (a)
would (apart from this Act) constitute an actionable breach of confidence.”
Description of the exemption
In order for this exemption to apply, the information must have been obtained from another
person or public authority and disclosure of it would mean that London borough of Newham
would be open to legal action for a breach of confidence.
London borough of Newham is relieved of the duty to ‘confirm or deny’ whether the information
is held if doing so would result in a breach of confidence as outlined above.
Furthermore, it is our view that the information requested is also exempt from disclosure
under section 43(2) of the Act. The London Borough of Newham will not disclose information
which would prejudice the commercial interests of the companies concerned. Section 43 is a
qualified exemption therefore we have to consider the public interest in disclosure. We have
decided that in this case the public interest lies in favour of not disclosing the requested
information.
We publish an anonymised list of requests and responses on the Council’s website.
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If you require any further information or are not happy with our response please do not
hesitate to contact a member of our team on (020) 8430 2000 or email us at
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Complaints, Members Enquiries and Information Governance
Newham Council
We publish an anonymised list of requests and responses on the Council’s website.
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