Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the introduction of a tenancy deposit scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises and their landlords on trends in the level of legal cases in relation to rent brought before the courts.

The Department does not hold the information requested, as the terms on whether, and how much, deposit will be paid by the tenants of a commercial property is agreed by the landlord and tenant on an individual basis and this information is not reported centrally.

This information should be included within the commercial lease agreement agreed by both the landlord and the tenant. It is considered to be best practice to include a rent deposit deed, which sets out how a landlord secures a commercial tenant's deposit.

We do not currently have any plans to require the use of a tenancy deposit scheme for commercial tenancies.