Leaseholder mag hits data protection block
Published: 28 May 2010
by PETER GRUNER
LEASEHOLDERS’ champion Ed Fredenburgh has 11,000 campaigning newsletters, in six boxes, blocking the hallway at his home at Milner Square, Angel.
He wants to distribute the four-page colour quality newsletter, which cost £600 to produce, to the borough’s other leaseholders.
But Islington’s housing agency, Homes for Islington (HFI), say they cannot provide names and addresses under the Data Protection Act.
Mr Fredenburgh, who stood as an independent councillor at the local elections, is an active member of the Islington Leaseholders Association (ILA).
“The whole thing is crazy,” he said. “We want to send our newsletter out to those who might be interested, other leaseholders. We’re not trying to sell them anything, although it would be nice if they wanted to join our association. It’s not costing HFI a penny. We’ve paid for printing and we’ll pay for distribution.
“All we want is the names and addresses of our fellow leaseholders so that we can send a copy of our excellent newsletter.”
Now the matter is being taken to the Government Office of Information who will be asked to make a ruling.
Mr Fredenburgh believes that someone at HFI may not have liked the tone of the articles contained in the newsletter. He added: “To be honest the ILA are not happy with HFI. We have always argued that the quality of work is not good and leaseholders don’t get value for money. Many leaseholders are critical of private contracts and massive running costs and would prefer to see housing returned to council control rather than run by an agency.”
A spokeswoman for HFI said: “We are committed to good communications with our 8,400 leaseholders but we cannot lawfully share their names and addresses with other parties. The only way this data can be released is with the permission of each individual leaseholder; otherwise the Data Protection Act safeguarding personal information would be breached.”