Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested the address of every empty residential property in the London Borough of Camden in which a -�non-individual-� is listed as either being the owner or as having a material interest in the property. The London Borough of Camden (-�the Council-�) refused to provide the information, citing the exemption under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (-�the FOIA-�). In its internal review, the Council also sought to withhold the information using section 12(1) and 21(1). During the Information Commissioner-�s (-�the Commissioner-�) investigation, the Council withdrew its previous reliance on all three exemptions and it sought to withhold the information using section 31(1)(a) instead. The Commissioner decided that section 31(1)(a) was engaged and he accepts that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. The Commissioner also found breaches of section 17(1) and 17(1)(a)(b) and (c). He requires no steps to be taken. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2011/0007 dismissed.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 31 - Complaint Not upheld