Dear Stephen,

Thank you for your request dated 30 April 2024, asking for information that we hold as follows; please see our responses below in blue:

  1. How many instances of litigation regarding disrepair of council properties from the following financial years:
  1. April 2020-2021 – 14
  2. April 2021-2022 – 30
  3. April 2022-2023 – 45
  1. How much was the total spent on the litigation of council properties regarding disrepair in the following years:

These figures do not include damages and costs of the other side.

April 2020-2021

Our Solicitors Fees (not inclusive of VAT) – £54,1134.91

Disbursements (not inclusive of VAT) – £18,368.93

 

April 2021 – 2022

 

Our Solicitors Fees (not inclusive of VAT) – £73,597,58

Disbursements (not inclusive of VAT) – £12,752.48

 

April 2022 – 2023

 

J&P Fees (not inclusive of VAT) – £123,642.11

Disbursements (not inclusive of VAT) – £25,084.00

  1. How many of the cases of litigation for disrepair over council properties have the council successfully won in the following time:

The answer for this is zero as our cases have not been concluded by a judgement. Our litigated cases go as far as directions for both parties and are resolved before they escalate to judgements from the court. The cases can therefore not be classed as won or lost.

Please note, we are not able to provide full answers questions to 2 and 3, however we have put together what we have. This is because we do not record litigated case costs separately to the main cost of disrepairs, so we are unable give a full breakdown of the total spend for point 2. You will also note that we have caveated point 3 with the reason this cannot be fully answered.

 

Your Rights

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request a review by emailing Talk2Us@barnethomes.org and marking it as an appeal for the attention of the Data Controller. There is no charge for making an appeal.

After this, if you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner:

Kind regards,

Carly Williamson

Complaints and Information Manager