A letting agent has been found guilty of committing offences under the Data Protection Act after trying to get hold of personal information about tenants on its books.
He and his company were fined, but the Information Commissioner said there should be tougher sentences for breaches.
SAI Property Investments Ltd, trading as IPS Property Services, in Slough, was fined £260 for two offences under the Act and ordered to pay £702.08 prosecution costs, plus a £15 victim surcharge.
One of the directors, Sundeep Jaswall, was also fined, ordered to pay £260 for two offences, plus £351 in prosecution costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Reading Magistrates Court heard that in September 2009, Jaswal contacted an employee at Slough Council and asked him to obtain personal data about some of their tenants from housing benefit records.
The information was provided by customer service adviser Ounkar Singh Nainu without the council’s knowledge, and was used by the company to chase up tenants’ debts.
In March 2010 another attempt was made to obtain further information from Slough’s records, although this proved unsuccessful.
Nainu was caught after the local authority received an anonymous tip-off that he had been accessing the data.
After receiving the tip-off the council launched an immediate investigation and reported the incidents to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Nainu was fined £690 for three offences and ordered to pay £351.03 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £15.
The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, said the case highlighted the need for tougher punishments to be made available to the courts. The watchdog has previously called for the introduction of custodial sentences.
Graham added: “There must be no further delay in introducing tougher powers to enforce the Data Protection Act, otherwise unscrupulous individuals will continue to see a mere fine as a price worth paying.”
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Comments
Hang on, isn't it the council who've breached the act? The agent asked for information and was provided it, the second time he was refused, odd.
Now Water Authorities have the legal right to demand information on tenants from landlords or make the landlord liable for any charges incurred by the tenant it does seem that the Data Protection Act is not being applied fairly anymore.
Its a funny world we live in, where tenants who avoid paying their debts are protected by the DP Act.
In my own 'real world' council staff should be fined for NOT passing on the new contact details of such ex-tenants, and fined double in cases such as these where it appears the ex-tenants are now on benefits and so being supported by the tax payer.
OK, I know its the law but dammit, its sometimes not an ass, its an entire herd of them.