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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of tenants' rights to compensation from a landlord who has not protected their deposit in compliance with deposit protection legislation.

Under the tenancy deposit protection legislation introduced in the Housing Act 2004, all landlords letting on assured shorthold tenancies are required to protect their tenants' deposits in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of taking the deposit.

If a landlord fails to protect the deposit they cannot evict the tenant using a section 21 notice. In addition, the tenant may initiate legal action and if the court finds that the landlord has not complied with the legislation, it must order the landlord to pay the applicant a sum of money between one and three times the amount of the deposit.