I would like to know how many of the security deposits that you have registered with MyDeposits for the residential properties that you are letting have been registered after more than 30 days from the date of payment

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TfL Ref: FOI-1783-2021

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 4 December 2020, asking for information about security deposits registered with My Deposits.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

We have established that it would considerably exceed the cost limit to provide a response to your current request. All the certificates are held electronically by My Deposits. In order to obtain the requested information, we would have to manually search nearly 300 individual deposits registered with My Deposits and review each individual certificate to ascertain the date the monies were paid and the date the deposit was secured. Where a tenancy has been renewed the task would be further complicated because the date the tenancy was paid would remain the same on the certificate but the date the deposit was secured would differ – as you renew the deposit security every time you enter a new tenancy.

The only way to pull together the required information would be to look back on the property files. We have a limited amount of information available electronically so in some cases we would have to refer to paper files. This would be very time consuming in normal circumstances, however with the backdrop of Covid-19 and remote working arrangements, this would further add to the challenge.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. For instance, you might consider limiting your request to particular properties you are interested in.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

However, if you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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