UK Landlord Database 2026: Registration Guide

If you let a home in England, you are about to be on a government register 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”. The Government runs it as the “Register your rental property” service. If you are a landlord of an assured or regulated tenancy, you must register yourself and each of your properties. The service opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands and rolls out region by region, and every actively let property in England must be registered by 14 November 2027.

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It is a bigger deal than it sounds. For the first time there will be one central record of who lets what in England. Councils will use it for enforcement, and the Government says tenants will in future be able to use it to see whether a landlord is compliant with key legal requirements. The list of information the public will be able to see is due to be published later.

This guide walks through what the PRD actually is, when it opens, exactly what you submit, the 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.

Where these facts come from. The dates, fee and information list below come from the Government’s Housing Hub page “Get ready: ‘Register your rental property’ service” and its GOV.UK announcement of 9 September 2026. The penalties come from the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 itself. GOV.UK guidance on using the service is still to follow, so check it before you register.

What the PRD is

A central, government-run register for England, created by Part 2, Chapter 3 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, of:

• Landlords of assured and regulated tenancies, both individuals and organisations
• Each property they let, with its address, type, bedrooms, occupants and rent
• Health and safety evidence for each property: the gas safety record, the EICR and, where one had to be given to the tenant, the EPC
• Licensing for each property: whether it needs an HMO, additional or selective licence, and the licence numbers

You use it online with a GOV.UK One Login. There will be offline routes for landlords who need them, and a dedicated contact centre to help with registering and renewing. Councils will use it for enforcement. In future, tenants will be able to use it to check whether a landlord is compliant with key legal requirements; the Government will publish the list of public information at a later stage.

From £7.99 a month, LetCompliance gathers what the register asks for from the records you already keep for the let (the property details, the tenancy and rent, and the gas safety, EICR and EPC certificates) and scores each property’s readiness. Registration itself happens on the Government’s service; LetCompliance does not register for you. Get started

Who must register

Every landlord of an assured or regulated tenancy in England must register themselves and each of their properties. An assured periodic tenancy is an assured tenancy, so it is covered. There is no exception based on portfolio size: a single buy-to-let flat needs registering.

Includes:

• Individual landlords
• Organisational landlords, such as companies, charities and trusts, which give extra details about the organisation
• People acting for a landlord, such as an attorney, a personal representative of an estate, a court-appointed deputy, a receiver or a mortgagee, who say so and upload evidence of their authority

Letting agents cannot take the duty off you. The landlord must start (and end) the registration. You can agree that your agent or property manager uploads certain information on your behalf, but you remain responsible for providing all the required information. The Government will publish guidance for agents before launch.

Right now you only need to register properties that are let, or that become let during the rollout. Unoccupied properties do not need registering yet: under future legislation they will have to be registered before you or your agent market them, and adverts will have to show your landlord and property identifiers.

Not covered:

• Landlords of supported exempt accommodation under the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 (section 12 of that Act sets out who this applies to)
• Properties outside England: the service is England only, and Wales has its own Rent Smart Wales scheme
• Arrangements that are not assured or regulated tenancies. If you are unsure what kind of tenancy you have granted, check before assuming you are outside the duty

Data you must submit

The Government has published the list of information the service will ask for. Have it ready before you start.

Landlord fields

For individual landlords:

• Name
• Date of birth
• Residential address
• Telephone number
• Email address

Organisational landlords give the organisation’s name, its type of legal entity, an address (not a PO Box), a telephone number and email address, the details of the person making the entry and of a nominated contact, and a Companies House registration number or charity number if it has one. Where there is no Companies House number, the names, dates of birth and addresses of all directors, trustees, partners or members of the governing body are needed.

Property fields per let property

• Address of the dwelling
• The name of the residential landlord, a correspondence address in England or Wales (not a PO Box) and an email address
• Ownership type and dwelling type
• Number of bedrooms
• Whether the dwelling is currently let
• Name and email address of any freeholder, superior landlord or property manager
• Whether the dwelling needs an HMO, additional or selective licence, and the licence numbers if available
• Gas: if there is a gas supply, a copy of the gas safety record and its issue date
• Electrical: a copy of the EICR (or the Electrical Installation Certificate) and its expiry date
• EPC: whether you had to give a valid EPC to the current tenant and, if so, a copy of the most recent one
• Older or low-rated EPCs: if the most recent EPC is no longer valid, the date the current tenancy started; if its rating is below the minimum standard, whether a MEES exemption is registered and which type

Tenancy fields per tenancy

• Number of occupants
• Number of households
• Whether it is let furnished, part furnished or unfurnished
• Rent charged and how often it is paid
• Whether the rent includes utilities, and which ones

The Government says tenants will in future be able to see some information through the service, balancing landlords’ privacy with tenants’ need to make informed choices. It will publish the list of what the public can see at a later stage, so do not assume any particular field will or will not be public.

Fee

The fee is £65 a year per property. It is charged for each property you register, not once per landlord, and you renew the registration every year. A landlord with three let properties pays £195 a year.

How the fee works:

• Per property: you pay each time you register a different property
• Annual: the registration is renewed, and paid for, each year
• Pro-rated during the rollout: the fee is adjusted so that landlords who sign up first do not pay more

The Government says the fee balances fairness for landlords with the cost of running the service and tackling non-compliance, including funding to help councils have the staff and skills to enforce.

No discounts are mentioned in the Government’s published fee information, for accredited landlords or anyone else, so budget for the full £65 per property per year.

Commencement and phasing

Primary legislation: Renters’ Rights Act 2025, Part 2, Chapter 3.

Launch: the service opens on 15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands, and rolls out region by region over 12 months.

Phasing: registration becomes a legal requirement in each region on a set date. From that date you have a 3-month window to register, and after the deadline councils in that region can start enforcement. The deadline depends on where the property is, not where you live: if you live in London but let a flat in Birmingham, the West Midlands deadline applies.

All actively let properties in England must be registered by 14 November 2027.

You do not have to wait for your region. You can register whenever you want from 15 December 2026, as long as you do it before your property’s deadline. That helps if you let in several regions and want to register everything at once.

Penalty for non-registration

The penalties are set in the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 itself:

• Financial penalty up to £7,000: a council can impose this for a breach of the registration, marketing or advertising requirements in section 82 (section 91)
• Financial penalty up to £40,000 where the person has committed an offence under section 92
• Section 92 offences include knowingly or recklessly giving false or misleading information, continuing the breach more than 28 days after a penalty, and a further breach within five years of a penalty
• No possession order while you are in breach: under section 90, a court may not make a possession order while the landlord is in breach of the duty to be registered, unless the claim is on Ground 7A or Ground 14 (antisocial behaviour)
• Enforcement starts after your deadline: once your region’s deadline has passed, councils there can start enforcement activity

The indirect penalty, being unable to get a possession order, is often more serious than the cash fine. If you need possession on any ground other than 7A or 14, the court may not make the order while the breach continues, so registering late can stall a case you urgently need.

How it interacts with other regimes

Rent Smart Wales (Wales): Separate system, unchanged. The “Register your rental property” service covers England only, so a landlord with homes in both countries deals with each system separately.

Selective licensing (England): PRD is in addition to any selective or HMO licence. The service asks whether the property needs an HMO, additional or selective licence and for the licence numbers, so the licence is a field on the register, not a substitute for it.

HMRC: The register asks for the rent charged and how often it is paid, but it is not a tax return and does not replace Self Assessment or Making Tax Digital. Keep declaring rental income to HMRC as you do now.

Property Ombudsman / Redress: Redress scheme membership is already required for agents, not landlords. It is not on the information list the Government has published for the register.

Private Landlords Ombudsman (new under RRA 2025): The Act also provides for a new landlord ombudsman for the private rented sector, but it is not open yet: mandatory membership is expected in 2028. It is separate from registration, and ombudsman membership is not on the published information list for the register.

What to do now (before the portal opens)

1. Gather your data

Make a clean list (or use LetCompliance) with:

• All let properties, with full addresses, bedrooms, occupants and households
• A copy of the gas safety record, EICR and EPC for each, with their dates
• Licence numbers for any HMO, additional or selective licence
• The rent for each tenancy, how often it is paid and whether it includes utilities
• The name and email of any freeholder, superior landlord or property manager

If you have gaps (a missing EICR, an out-of-date gas safety record), fix them before you register. They are legal duties in their own right, and the service asks for copies of the certificates, not just dates.

2. Tidy your company structure

If you let through a company or other organisation, ensure:

• The Companies House record is current (officers, registered office)
• The confirmation statement is filed
• You know who will make the entry and who the nominated contact will be, because the service asks for both
• If there is no Companies House number, you have the names, dates of birth and addresses of the directors, trustees, partners or members of the governing body to hand

3. Nominate an agent (or keep self-management)

Decide now whether you will handle registration yourself or have your letting agent upload some of the information. Either way, you must start the registration and you remain responsible for the information. If an agent is helping, agree in writing which information they will provide. The Government will publish guidance for agents before launch.

4. Budget for the fee

Set aside £65 per property per year, pro-rated during the rollout. Membership bodies and accreditation schemes can still be worth joining for training and support, but:

• The Government’s published fee information mentions no discount for accredited landlords
• Its Housing Hub guidance mentions no priority processing for anyone
• The fee is per property, so a larger portfolio pays proportionally more
• You renew, and pay, every year

5. Get told the day it opens in your area

The rollout is regional, and the dates are now published: find your property’s region in the table above. Registration becomes required in the West Midlands first, on 15 December 2026, and in the South West last, on 15 August 2027. Put your email and area on the free PRS Database alert and LetCompliance will email you when registration opens where you are, with a step-by-step on what to record.

What LetCompliance does

LetCompliance is landlord software that runs the whole let: lettings, tenancies, rent, tax and the tenant portal. Because of that, it already keeps most of what the register asks for: property details, tenancies, rent, and your gas safety, EICR and EPC records. The PRS Database page in your account uses that data to show which properties are ready:

• Scores every property 0–100 against the particulars the register needs
• Checks address, dwelling type, bedrooms, furnished status and licensing
• Pulls your EPC, Gas Safety and EICR from the property’s records
• Is HMO-aware: flags a likely-missing HMO licence and records rooms and households
• Keeps each property’s registration status, reference and date once you have registered
• Links you one click from any gap to the property form to complete it

Registration itself happens on the Government’s service with your GOV.UK One Login, and LetCompliance does not register for you. What it does is put the answers in one place before you sit down to register. See the PRS Database registration guide for more.

Related reading

• PRS Database registration: the 2026 landlord guide: what to record, the penalties and how LetCompliance helps you get ready
• RRA Information Sheet: how to serve and prove: sibling RRA duty
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 landlord checklist: full Act overview
• UK landlord compliance 2026: full compliance stack

Get started, from £7.99 a month, and have every property ready to register before your region’s deadline.