Rental of apartments at The Laurence by Government of Jersey (FOI)

Request

Has the Government of Jersey  rented, or currently renting apartments at 'The Lau​rence' development in St Helier and, if so, how many apartments, how long for, and what cost to the Jersey taxpayer? 

Response

The Public of the Island (Central Accommodation Service) are currently leasing in 16 apartments at The Laurence, 113 Rouge Bouillon.  

These apartments have been leased in since 28 June 2023 until, at present, 27 June 2025.  

Information regarding the rental costs is exempt under Article 33(b) (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as the information is commercially sensitive.

Article 33 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

Article applied

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest Test

Article 33 is a qualified exemption and a public interest test should be carried out by the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) to determine whether the information should be released.

It is in the public interest to be made aware of any rental costs paid by the SPA (the Government of Jersey) in relation to the leasing in of these apartments.

However, the release of the rental costs could potentially disadvantage the landlord and the Government of Jersey’s ability to retain commercial advantage in any future rental negotiations.

Therefore, it is considered that the likely prejudice to the landlord and the Government of Jersey, should this information be released, outweighs the argument that the release is in the public interest.​