Second Homes

The request was successful.

Dear Sedgemoor District Council,
Can you please tell over the last year, how many dwellings that are classed as second homes have you visited to check on the amount of furniture and white goods installed in the home before it was classed as a second home for council tax. If your answer is nil can you tell me the number for the last 10 years.

Yours faithfully,
Alan Morgan

foi, Sedgemoor District Council

Thank you for your request for information about Second Homes. Your request was received on 8th April 2020 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000/ Environmental Information Regulations.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

As I’m sure you will appreciate, the Council is facing unprecedented challenge during the Coronavirus pandemic. Whilst we will endeavour to respond to your request within the statutory timescales, we may have to prioritise other areas with the result that you may experience unavoidable delay. In this respect we would like to refer you to the following statement from the Information Commissioner’s Office set out below:

FOI and the coronavirus: a measured approach
The ICO recognises the unprecedented challenges all are facing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In particular we understand that resources, whether they are finances or people, may be diverted away from usual compliance or information rights work. Whilst we can’t extend statutory timescales, we will not be penalising public authorities for prioritising other areas or adapting their usual approach during this extraordinary period.

To further support our information rights colleagues, we will tell people through our own communications channels that they may experience understandable delays when making information rights requests during the pandemic.

We are a reasonable and pragmatic regulator, one that does not operate in isolation from matters of serious public concern. Regarding compliance with information rights work when assessing a complaint brought to us during this period, we will take into account the compelling public interest in the current health emergency.

We are here to help you, information is available on our website or via our helpline on 0303 123 1113.

If you have any queries about this email, please contact me.

Emily Webber
Chartered Legal Executive Apprentice

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Amanda Gibbs, Sedgemoor District Council

Thank you for your request.
Sedgemoor District Council currently has 703 accounts which are classified as Second homes.
In January 2020 a review was started of these accounts and had up until March, 203 properties were visited to confirm that they were still categorised as a Second home.
This review is currently on hold.
If you are dissatisfied with this response you can ask for a review, which will be dealt with through the Council's complaints procedure.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council's review you have the right to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office at The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

Amanda Gibbs
Records Manager
Sedgemoor District Council
SS[Sedgemoor District Council request email]

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Dear Sedgemoor District Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Sedgemoor District Council's handling of my FOI request 'Second Homes'.

In your reply you stated Sedgemoor District Council currently has 703 accounts which are classified as Second homes and in January 2020 a review was started of these accounts and had up until March, 203 properties were visited to confirm that they were still categorised as a Second home.

I find this number of 203 to be high, considering the lock down started on 23March. You would have to achieve near or over 4 visits per day, it is impossible to do a part visit. I don't think the 203 quoted are proper visits where the second home owner was actually at the property.

Can you expand on how these visits were conducted.

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

Yours faithfully,

Alan Morgan

Amanda Gibbs, Sedgemoor District Council

2 Attachments

Thank you for your email.

 

203 properties have been visited although this does not mean that the
Visiting Officers had arranged visits to meet with the owners at these
properties. It was simply a visit to the properties in the first instance.
Their job was to ascertain the status and whether they could ascertain 
that the property was furnished and met the criteria to be a second home.

 

In some cases, the owners were at the property to clarify. In some cases
it was necessary to leave a card or contact the owners via other means in
order to arrange a further visit to identify that the property was
furnished and used as a second home.

 

If you are dissatisfied with this response you can ask for a review, which
will be dealt with through the Council’s complaints procedure.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council’s review you have
the right to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office at
The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

 

Amanda Gibbs

Records Manager

Sedgemoor District Council

* [1][Sedgemoor District Council request email]

 

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