Social housing and Right-to-Buy sales Data Request
Dear Vale of White Horse District Council,
My name is Suraj Rajesh, and I am a second-year economics student at the University of Warwick.
I am a research assistant for a research project conducted by Professor Ludovica Gazze and Professor Thiemo Fetzer at the University of Warwick. As part of the project, I am studying the evolution of the Council's social housing stock.
I found the available data on aggregate social housing stock and Right-to-Buy sales at the local authority level. However, more detailed information would greatly assist in answering my research question. Therefore, I hereby submit a Freedom of Information request. I would like access to more detailed data, i.e. at a finer geographical level, on social housing stock and Right-to-Buy sales in the Council area for the period 1980-2021.
Ideally, the data would follow the following format:
Variable of interests: Properties sold under Right-to-Buy and Social/Council housing stock
Geographical unit: As granular as possible (e.g. full postcode or full address)
Time unit: As granular as possible (e.g. Date)
Period covered: As large as possible between 1980 and the present time.
Area Covered: As large as possible (e.g. all properties managed by the Council at any point in time)
Additional information, if possible: discount applied, property valuation, actual sale price, number of bedrooms, or other characteristics.
File format: .xlsx (Excel) or .csv
For indicative purposes, the following data format is expected:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6bmchrwqb5wt9l...
Thank you for your time in considering my request.
Yours faithfully,
Suraj Rajesh,
Economics student at the University of Warwick
Dear Suraj Rajesh
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request, which was logged under
FOI 22/1191 VALE and passed to me to respond accordingly.
Under Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 2000 Act) you
are entitled to be informed in writing whether the council holds the
information specified in your request and, if that is the case, to have
that information communicated to you unless any of the statutory
exemptions apply. I have considered your request and can confirm we no
longer hold the information requested. Please find below our response to
your request.
I found the available data on aggregate social housing stock and
Right-to-Buy sales at the local authority level. However, more detailed
information would greatly assist in answering my research question.
Therefore, I hereby submit a Freedom of Information request. I would like
access to more detailed data, i.e. at a finer geographical level, on
social housing stock and Right-to-Buy sales in the Council area for the
period 1980-2021.
Ideally, the data would follow the following format:
Variable of interests: Properties sold under Right-to-Buy and
Social/Council housing stock Geographical unit: As granular as possible
(e.g. full postcode or full address) Time unit: As granular as possible
(e.g. Date) Period covered: As large as possible between 1980 and the
present time.
Area Covered: As large as possible (e.g. all properties managed by the
Council at any point in time) Additional information, if possible:
discount applied, property valuation, actual sale price, number of
bedrooms, or other characteristics.
File format: .xlsx (Excel) or .csv
We hold no records of the number of properties transferred to private
ownership between 1980’s and 1995.
Please be advised that Vale of White Horse District Council transferred
ownership of its housing stock to Vale Housing Association in February
1995 under a Large-Scale Voluntary Transfer agreement. Vale Housing
Association merged with Sovereign Housing in 2007. Therefore, we do not
hold any information in relation to any properties Vale Housing/Sovereign
Housing transferred to private ownership under the Preserved Right to Buy
from July 1997 onwards.
Please treat this as the councils’ formal response under the 2000 Act. If
you are not satisfied with the decision I have made in response to your
request, you can make a request for an internal review by emailing
[1][Vale of White Horse District Council request email] within 40 working days from the day we issued
our response. If you remain dissatisfied after following that procedure,
you have the right under Section 50 of the 2000 Act to complain to the
Information Commissioner if you feel the council has not dealt with your
request properly. You can contact the Commissioner at Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (telephone number: 0303 123 1113).
You can also find further information at [2]www.ico.org.uk.
Kind regards
Information Governance Team
Legal & Democratic Services
Vale of White Horse District Council
Visit us at [3]www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk
To find out more about how the council holds, uses and stores your
personal data, please click on the link below
[4]Vale of White Horse District Council
Dear FOI Vale,
I would like to kindly request information on which authority holds the relevant RTB data discussed and how I could contact them.
Yours sincerely,
Suraj Rajesh
Dear Suraj Rajesh
Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately, Vale of White Horse District Council no longer holds
records in relation to housing stock sold under the Right to Buy 28 to 43
years ago. There is no other local authority who would hold this
information. [1]Sovereign Housing may hold information relating to
Preserved Right to Buy. However, as far as I am aware, because the housing
association is not wholly owned by a public body, they are not subject to
the Freedom of Information legislation.
We are sorry we could not be of more help.
Kind regards
Information Governance Team
Legal & Democratic Services
Vale of White Horse District Council
[2]www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk
To find out more about how the council holds, uses and stores your
personal data, please click on the link below
[3]Vale of White Horse District Council
Dear FOI Vale,
Thank you for your response. I would also be grateful if you could let us know which private entity holds the information as I can try to contact them directly
Yours sincerely,
Suraj Rajesh
Dear Suraj Rajesh
Please see my previous email and original response which includes the name
of the housing association you will need to contact.
Kind regards
Information Governance Team
Legal & Democratic Services
Vale of White Horse District Council
[1]www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk
To find out more about how the council holds, uses and stores your
personal data, please click on the link below
[2]Vale of White Horse District Council
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