FI14668
Request
- The total number of complaints you have received from private renters in each of the last six financial years (i.e. 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24 until the most recent available date).
- The number of complaints you have received from private renters in each of the last six financial years (i.e. 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24 until the most recent available date) for each of the following reasons:
- Repairs (e.g. that haven't been actioned, haven't been completed or haven't been completed to a good standard)
- Illegal eviction (or the threat of)
- Harassment
- Dishonest or unfair trading behaviour
- The number of complaints you have received from private renters in each of the last six financial years (i.e. 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24 until the most recent available date) about letting agencies (or the top ten with the most complaints is fine). Please provide the name of each letting agency, along with the number of complaints.
- The number of complaints you have received from private renters in each of the last six financial years (i.e. 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24 until the most recent available date) that have been resolved:
- By the council
- By the landlord/letting agency
- Referred to an external body (such as Environmental Health)
Response
1 2018/19 Data no longer held as this is outside our retention period
2019/20 86
2020/21 219
2021/22 373
2022/23 245
2023/24 193
2 Repairs (e.g. that haven't been actioned, haven't been completed or haven't been completed to a good standard)
2018/19 Data no longer held as this is outside our retention period
2019/20 86
2020/21 215
2021/22 370
2022/23 239
2023/24 188
Illegal eviction (or the threat of)
The data is not recorded in a way as to be able to identify this category of complaint
Harassment
2018/19 Data no longer held as this is outside our retention period
2019/20 0
2020/21 4
2021/22 3
2022/23 6
2023/24 5
Dishonest or unfair trading behaviour
3 Dover District Council has no responsibility for complaints of this type as it is the responsibility of Trading Standards. Kent County Council are the Trading Standards authority for our District and can be contacted at freedomofinformaton@kent.gov.uk
4 I can confirm that the Council holds information falling within the description specified in your request, however it is not readily available as we do not record the resolution of complaints in this way and a check of every complaint would need to be made to see how it had been resolved. From our preliminary assessment, we have estimated that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for Local Government it is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2½ working days in determining whether the information is held, locating, retrieving and extracting the data. I regret therefore, that on this occasion I must refuse this part of your request in accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act.