If you let a home in England, you are about to be on a government list whether you like it or not. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025, now law, creates a mandatory Private Rented Sector Database, often just called the “Landlord Database” or “PRD”. Every private landlord will have to register themselves and each property they let, with the rollout starting in late 2026.
Want the exact date for your area? Get a free alert the moment registration opens near you and skip refreshing GOV.UK every week.
It is a bigger deal than it sounds. For the first time there is one central record of who lets what in England, and it works three ways: councils use it to enforce, tenants can look you up before they sign, and the new Landlord Ombudsman can see your history. In plain terms, it closes the “anonymous landlord” gap that let a small number of bad operators hide behind faceless Ltd structures for years.
This guide walks through what the PRD actually is, when it opens, exactly what you submit, the likely fee, the penalty for getting it wrong, how it sits next to selective licensing and Rent Smart Wales, and the handful of things worth doing now so registration is painless.
Verify the current commencement date, fee and data schema on GOV.UK before relying on specific details in this article. The primary legislation is in force; the operational SI and portal guidance are being laid/published.
What the PRD is
A centralised, government-operated digital register of:
Expected to be modelled loosely on Rent Smart Wales (operational since 2015) but with a tenant-visible layer allowing prospective tenants to check the landlord’s history before signing.
Who must register
Every landlord of an assured or assured periodic tenancy in England. No exceptions based on portfolio size. A single buy-to-let flat triggers full registration.
Includes:
Letting agents can typically register on behalf of a client, but the statutory duty remains with the landlord. If an agent fails to register on your behalf, you carry the breach.
Excluded:
Data you must submit
The expected schema is drawn from Rent Smart Wales plus additional compliance fields. Final schema is set in the SI.
Landlord fields
Property fields per let property
Tenancy fields per tenancy
Some fields are tenant-visible on the public portal; others are for authority use only. Expect address, landlord name, licensing and Improvement Notice history to be public; rent band and tenancy duration may be council-only.
Fee
Expected annual fee per registration. Rent Smart Wales charges £33.50 for a landlord and £186.60 for a lettings/management licence (sector average 2025). England’s PRD fee is expected to land in a similar range:
Discounts expected for:
Verify the current fee schedule when the PRD portal opens — expected late 2026.
Commencement and phasing
Primary legislation: Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (Royal Assent).
Operational commencement: Expected late 2026 for voluntary early registration, with mandatory registration from a date specified by SI (expected 2027).
Phasing: Based on the consultation trail, the likely phasing is:
Don’t wait for the mandatory date. Register voluntarily when the portal opens. Early registrants are more likely to be processed quickly, accredited landlords get priority, and the database record starts clean.
Penalty for non-registration
Expected under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 framework:
The indirect penalty — being unable to serve a valid possession notice — is often more serious than the cash fine. A rogue tenant who discovers you’re not on the database can drag out eviction indefinitely while you scramble to register and wait for the record to activate.
How it interacts with other regimes
Rent Smart Wales (Wales): Separate system, unchanged. England landlords with Welsh properties register twice (once in each system).
Selective licensing (England): PRD is in addition to any selective or HMO licence. The licence number is a PRD field, not a substitute.
HMRC: The UK tax reference in the PRD is not an HMRC reporting channel — PRD doesn’t replace Self Assessment. However, HMRC and local authorities will cross-reference, making undeclared rental income easier to detect.
Property Ombudsman / Redress: Non-membership of a redress scheme is already required for agents, not landlords. The PRD may (per consultation draft) include a redress-membership field for landlords as a future addition.
Private Landlords Ombudsman (new under RRA 2025): The Act creates a new Ombudsman for the PRS. Non-membership of the Ombudsman is expected to be a PRD field and a separate penalty tier.
What to do now (before the portal opens)
1. Gather your data
Create a clean spreadsheet (or use LetCompliance) with:
If you have gaps (missing EICR, expired EPC), fix them before registering. Registering incomplete compliance invites a council inspection.
2. Tidy your company structure
If you let through a Ltd, ensure:
3. Nominate an agent (or keep self-management)
Decide now whether you will register yourself or delegate to a letting agent. If delegating, check the agent’s contract allows them to register on your behalf and indemnifies you against their failure to do so.
4. Join an accreditation scheme
NRLA (£80–£160/year) is the largest. UKLAP and LLAS also offer accreditation. Accreditation typically brings:
5. Get told the day it opens in your area
The rollout is regional, so your council may go live months before or after the one next door. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) publishes commencement dates on GOV.UK, but you should not have to refresh a government page every week to catch yours. Put your email and area on our free PRS Database alert and we will tell you the moment registration opens where you are, with a step-by-step on what to record.
What LetCompliance does
Our PRS Database readiness tracker is live now and:
So the day the portal opens, you copy-paste your details instead of scrambling to collect them.
Related reading
Start your 14-day LetCompliance trial to keep every property register-ready the moment the portal opens.
Section 21 → Section 8 Transition Map (2026)
Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026. Map every active S21 / Form 6A scenario onto a valid Section 8 ground with this 2-page transition guide.
- Pre-1 May 2026 Form 6A — still valid? Decision tree
- Map every S21 trigger to a Section 8 mandatory / discretionary ground
- Ground 8 (rent arrears) — 13-week threshold under RRA 2025
- Top 5 evidence packs courts now expect for possession
Frequently asked questions
Who must register on the UK landlord database?
Every private landlord letting residential property in England must register themselves and each property on the Private Rented Sector Database established by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. This applies to individual landlords, Ltd company landlords, partnerships, and properties held through trusts. Letting agents typically register on behalf of clients but the statutory duty sits with the landlord.
What information do I have to submit to the database?
The SI is expected to require: landlord name and contact details (including a service address in England/Wales), each let property address, tenancy type (assured, HMO, student), compliance certificate expiry dates (Gas Safety, EICR, EPC), any licensing held (selective, additional, mandatory HMO), and any enforcement action against you. Some fields will be tenant-visible; others are for authority use only.
What is the penalty for not registering a property on the database?
Expected civil penalties are up to £7,000 for a first offence (in line with the wider Renters’ Rights Act enforcement regime) and higher for repeat offences or deliberate concealment. You may also be unable to serve a valid Section 8 notice for properties that are not on the database — a powerful indirect penalty. Verify exact amounts in the current SI on legislation.gov.uk.