HC Deb 15 May 2000 vol 350 c4W
Mr. Pollard

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what recent research he has undertaken on the impact of upward-only rent reviews on town centre property markets. [121483]

Ms Beverley Hughes

My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning published a research report on 19 April about the impact of the property industry's Code of Practice on Commercial Property Leases. This considered, among other things, the extent of upward-only review clauses in the property market generally. The research did not look specifically at town centre property markets.

The study, by the University of Reading, found that upward-only rent review clauses still predominate in longer leases. We have asked the property market and professions to consider how the market could best promote alternatives to upward-only rent review clauses. We recognise that landlords may seek a higher initial rent to offset the greater risk of letting without such a clause. It will therefore be important for market promotion to draw the tenant's attention to the offsetting advantages of renting without an upward-only provision, as well as to any higher rent.