Freedom of information response
Unoccupied non-residential properties
I am writing to obtain information about the costs incurred by unoccupied non-residential properties owned by the council. Please provide an itemised list of non-residential properties owned by the council that were unoccupied for one month or longer between 1 Jan 2022 and 31 December 2023.
Please include the following information:
· The address of the property
· The dates during which the property was unoccupied.
· The cost of insuring the property during the period it was unoccupied.
o If this is not possible, please provide an annual amount.
· The cost of providing security for the property during the period it was unoccupied.
o If this is not possible, please provide an annual amount.
· Any other maintenance costs for the property during the period it was unoccupied.
o If this is not possible, please provide an annual amount.
· The cost of any renovation works undertaken during the period it was unoccupied.
· The dates any such renovation work was undertaken.
· The size of the property
I have provided an example below, which you can use as a template if convenient:
Address Unoccupancy start date Unoccupancy end date Insurance costs
(£) Security
costs
(£) Maintenance costs
(£) Renovation
costs
(£) Renovation start date Renovation end date Size of property
Building, street, city, postal code 01/01/2022 31/12/2023 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 01/01/2022 31/12/2023 100sqm
Please note that we are unable to provide the Insurance costs due to the information being commercially sensitive.
In issuing our response the Council has applied S43 (2) Commercially sensitive and S40 (2) Exemption of the Freedom of Information Act .
In issuing our response the Council has applied S43 of the Freedom of Information Act. Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it). A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to successfully participate in a commercial activity, i.e. the purchase and the sale of goods or services. The reasons for this have been captured below under the public interest test section.
Public Interest Test
Public Interest Test:
The council have considered the public interest test in relation to section 43 (2) in releasing the information in scope of your request. The outcome of this is below.
- Public interest in disclosure:
- The pricing and pricing documentation is considered to be commercially sensitive and if asked to disclose specific information in relation to the policy, pricing, etc we would refuse quoting the exemption under Section 43(2) of the FOI act
- Public interest to maintain the exemption:
- If disclosed under the FOIA prejudice our legitimate commercial interests as it could allow our competitors to obtain commercially sensitive information’
S40 (2) Data Protection
Personal data of any person (third party data) is exempt under section 40(2) if disclosure would breach one of the data protection principles. This aspect of Section 40 is an Absolute Exemption and is therefore not subject to the Public Interest Test. It is therefore subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act (1998). The information published could contain details of sole traders. There is no prior expectation on the part of individuals that the premises that they own would be published into the wider public domain under FOI. A disclosure made under FOI constitutes a publication to the world at large. We believe that to disclose this would be likely to breach the first Principle of the Data Protection Act by unfairly contravening their right to privacy and confidentiality.