Freedom of Information Act 2000

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I'm not entirely sure if this is the best place for this but I've got a quick question about the FOI Act:

I'm buying a house and I'm getting conflicting information as to whether it's been burgled in the past. It's not an issue if it has per se, it's more I just want to know either way. I don't want specific details, times, dates etc. merely just a yes / no. I've requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 details as to whether there have been any burglaries at the house and the response isn't positive.

Before going through the appeal / Information Commissioner I was hoping for any advice regarding their reply as they cite legislation which for me to counter as a layman isn't easy!

Here's a copy of their response with personal bits removed:

---

I note you seek access to the following information:

Whether there have been any burglaries at the following location:

---

Under the Freedom of Information legislation, there is a presumption that a Public Authority will firstly confirm or deny that information is held, and then disclose what is held unless an exemption applies.

However, on this occasion I am not required to confirm or deny that information is held as the obligation imposed by Section 1 (1) (a) of the legislation does not apply by virtue of the following exemption:

Section 40 (5) – Personal Information

(5)The duty to confirm or deny—

(b)does not arise in relation to …..information if or to the extent that either—

(i)the giving to a member of the public of the confirmation or denial that would have to be given to comply with section 1(1)(a) would (apart from this Act) contravene any of the data protection principles …….

In line with the Information Commissioners Guidance, any request of this legislation is considered to be applicant blind and we cannot therefore consider the motives behind the request. We have to treat such a disclosure as if it is being released to the world and assess each request accordingly.

In this case you are asking for confirmation of whether a burglary has ever taken place at a specific location. In essence this amounts to asking whether the owners of the property have reported an offence to --- Police which is considered to be personal data and confidential.

It must also be remembered that any information that the Police Service holds is given to us in the confidence that it would not be released into the public domain without a clear legal basis for doing so. As you can appreciate, public confidence would be reduced if members of the public were able to use the Freedom of Information Act to request data that relates to individuals and if they have reported crimes to the police. To provide the information on one occasion expresses a willingness to provide information on all occasions and it is for this reason that I can neither confirm nor deny that we hold any information of relevance to your request.

However, under Section 16 of the legislation we have a duty to assist where we can. In this regard I would advise visiting the website police.uk as this allows you to search for crimes in a specific area. However, it will not break it down to a specific location such as a house number.

--- Police provides you the right to ask for a re-examination of your request under its review procedure. Letters should be addressed to --- at the above address. If you decide to request such a review and having followed the Force’s full process you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your comments to the Information Commissioner who will give it consideration.

---

Any advice is appreciated!

glentoran99

You have no right to that information

agrinnall

Far more useful to look at the local crime map. The house may have been burgled, but if it was the only house in the area to have been burgled in the last 10 years then it's a pretty safe area and you may just need to check its security, but if it was never burgled but it's very common crime in the area then you may want to reconsider buying at all.

[Deleted User]

agrinnall wrote: »

Far more useful to look at the local crime map. The house may have been burgled, but if it was the only house in the area to have been burgled in the last 10 years then it's a pretty safe area and you may just need to check its security, but if it was never burgled but it's very common crime in the area then you may want to reconsider buying at all.

Completely hear what you're saying and agree - I just wanted to know for sure now that someone has planted the seed of doubt in my head.

dj1471

How are you getting this conflicting information? If it's a factor in your purchase decision then the question should be asked in writing through your solicitor, the vendors either respond or decline to do so.

unholyangel

What they've basically said is your request is so specific, that you're not asking about crime rates, you're essentially asking if xyz person/people were victims of a particular crime. You could try amending your request to be more generic - not sure if street will be generic enough but you could try and also add a bit to your request stating if its not generic enough, please can they give you the most specific info they can without actually breaching the DPA.

I agree with above - its far more important to know the crime rates of the neighbourhood/general area rather than one specific property. Have you reviewed the house to see if theres anything that might make it attractive to thieves? Tall fence/wall/hedge hiding them from view perhaps? Or it could even be the owners were stupid enough to announce they were going on holiday for 2 weeks on facebook. Thieves are opportunistic. Nothing will stop the most determined of course but there are measures you can take to minimise the appeal.

When buying a house, i'd also advise going at different times/on different days. Even the most hellish places have idyllic times. Even more important if you're going to be relying on street parking.