Sale transaction with RND Holdings (FOI)

​Request

In 2005 on the 6 June the States of Jersey entered into a sale transaction with RND Holdings Limited.

A

Please provide full detail of the assets / rights sold to RND Holdings on that date.

B

Who were the individuals involved in that asset sale and purchase?

C

How much were those assets purchased for and on what dates were they purchased?

D

What was the reasoning behind the States of Jersey owning the property that was sold on 6 June 2005?

E

Who were the individuals involved in the purchase of the property in 2001?

F

What are the line by line items that total the sale of stock of £1,622,518 in the 2005 financial report and accounts (page 93)?

G

Please detail each and every transaction, the full name of the property, the address and associated parties / companies to the transactions for that sum of £1,622,518.

H

Please name all properties that the States of Jersey have purchased since 1991 that have been bought with a subsequent sale transaction to a licenced person, ie an essentially employed person, and the associated costs to acquire such properties, as well as the dates of those transactions.

I

Please provide all details of sale transactions by the States of Jersey with regards the aforementioned list of properties (in 'H' above), such as funds received from sale, and names of individuals / companies involved.

Response

A

The property "Champ Vert" and "Field O781" were sold as one by the Public of the Island (Housing Committee) on the 10 June 2005 for £422,924.77 to "RND Holdings Limited". The consideration paid being the amount outstanding on the States loan (please see the answer to 'D' below).

B 

Details of individuals involved in the asset’s sale and acquisition are withheld, as absolutely exempt information under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

C 

The property in question was acquired in two parts –

"Champ Vert", Rue du Nord, St Ouen was acquired by the Public of the Island (Housing Committee) on the 16 February 2001 for £707,484.32

"Field O781 (Clos de Devant)", Rue du Nord, St Ouen, located across the road and to the south of "Champ Vert", was acquired by the Public of the Island (Housing Committee) as an addition to "Champ Vert", on the 14 November 2003 for £38,000. The funds for the acquisition were transferred by the then occupant of “Champ Vert” to the States of Jersey "Comite des Finances Account" prior to the acquisition.

Copies of all the relevant acquisition contracts can be found in the Public Registry. The “Public Registry Index and Document Enrolment” (PRIDE) system can be accessed either at the Public Registry, in the basement of the States Building, or the Jersey Archive.

D 

The property “Champ Vert” was acquired as an Assisted House Purchase (AHP) for occupation by an employee of Health & Social Services. The former AHP scheme, which ran from November 1978 until September 2003, provided a means for certain employees to occupy properties acquired by the Public of the Island on which they serviced the mortgage and then acquired in their own right when able (either individually or through a company) at a consideration equivalent to the outstanding debt. The scheme was operated by the then Housing Committee.

E 

Details of individuals involved in the asset’s acquisition are withheld, as absolutely exempt information under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

F and G

Please find listed below details of the transactions that make up the £1.6m in the 2005 accounts (page 93). Albert Place Flats was a development of seventy first-time buyer flats, sold by the Public of the Island (Housing Committee) between June 2003 and September 2005.

Details of individuals involved in the property sales are withheld, as absolutely exempt information under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

H and I 

Please refer to the attached spreadsheet that lists the 78 Assisted House Purchases that have been acquired since 1991, and which have had a subsequent sale transaction to a licensed person, such as an essentially employed person. Please note that for 54 of the 78 subsequent sales the consideration paid was the amount outstanding on the States loan at the time of the sale, which is why the sales figures are generally lower than the acquisition costs.

Download Assisted house purchases 20170321 (size 50.3kb)

Details of individuals involved in the property acquisitions and subsequent sales are withheld, as absolutely exempt information under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

In some instances sales were made to companies rather than individuals, but to be able to disclose this information would involve checking each and every transaction, which would take more than the time allowed to respond.

However, copies of all the relevant acquisition and sale contracts can be found in the Public Registry. The “Public Registry Index and Document Enrolment” (PRIDE) system can be accessed either at the Public Registry, in the basement of the States Building, or the Jersey Archive.

Exemption and Justification applied

Article 25 Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the “Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005”.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the “Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005”; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

The information cannot be disclosed because its disclosure to a member of the public would contravene one or more of the data protection principles, which are set out in article 1 of schedule 1 to the “Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005”.

As a public authority, the States of Jersey must observe all of the data protection principles when processing personal data. The exemption from the duty to disclose personal data, where to do so would breach a data protection principle, is an absolute exemption, therefore the public interest test in Part 2 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 does not apply.