Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested information about the owner of the property that she was renting from the Council. The Council had a 99 year leasehold interest the expiry of which was approaching. The Council replied that it held the information but that it felt section 21(1) applied as the information could be accessed through the Land Registry. It confirmed its approach in its internal review. After being told that the information was not held by the Land Registry, it applied section 40(2) in its second internal review. After the intervention of the Commissioner, it indicated that actually it did not hold the information that had been requested, and that it should have told the complainant that was so. The Commissioner asked it to issue a refusal notice informing the complainant of its new position and it did so. The Commissioner has determined that the Council does not on the balance of probabilities hold the requested information. The Commissioner has noted a breach of section 1(1)(a) in wrongly confirming it held the information. In addition he has found a breach of section 10(1) for not complying with section 1(1)(a) in twenty working days. He requires no further remedial steps to be taken in this case.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Partly Upheld, FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld