London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

The complainant has requested information relating to the sale of a property in the public authority’s area. The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (“LBHF”) refused to provide this information and cited sections section 40 (personal data), section 42 (legal professional privilege) and section 43 (prejudice to commercial interests) as its basis for doing so. However, at internal review it revised its position and cited section 12 (Cost of Compliance Limit Exceeded) as its basis for refusal. The complainant emailed a further request which LBHF failed to identify on its systems for technical reasons. It responded following the Commissioner’s intervention. The Commissioner’s decision is that LBHF is entitled to rely on section 12 as a basis for refusing the request. It also provided adequate advice and assistance in respect of this request. However, in failing to respond to the further request within 20 working days, it contravened the requirements of section 1 and section 10 of the FOIA.