THE NEW ENGLISH LANDLORD REGISTER
“Register your rental property” – what landlords need to know
The Government has now announced the first details of the new national landlord registration system being introduced under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.
The new service is called Register your rental property and will eventually form the national Private Rented Sector Database for England.
When does it start?
The register does not start everywhere at once.
The first area will be the West Midlands, where registration will begin on:
15 December 2026
The scheme will then be rolled out gradually across England, region by region, over approximately 12 months.
When your area is brought into the scheme, landlords will have a three-month period in which to register.
The Government says that all landlords who are actively letting property in England will need to have registered by:
14 November 2027
So there is no need for landlords outside the first rollout areas to attempt to register immediately.
Who will have to register?
Registration will be a legal requirement.
The initial rollout applies to landlords whose properties:
are already let; or
become occupied during the rollout period.
The wider Private Rented Sector Database provisions apply to landlords of assured and regulated tenancies.
The Government intends subsequently to extend the system so that an unoccupied property must also be registered before it can be marketed for letting.
What will landlords have to register?
There will effectively be two elements:
1. The landlord
The landlord will have their own entry on the database.
Where there are joint landlords, information about the joint landlords will also be required.
2. Each rental property
Every individual rental property will have its own entry.
The Renters’ Rights Act provides for a unique identifier to be allocated to the landlord and another unique identifier to each registered property.
A landlord with several properties will therefore have one landlord identity together with separate property registrations.
What information is likely to be required?
The detailed regulations will provide the final list, but Government guidance has indicated that landlords should expect to provide information including:
landlord contact details;
details of joint landlords;
the address of the property;
property type;
number of bedrooms;
number of households or residents;
whether the property is occupied;
whether it is furnished; and
relevant safety and compliance information.
The Government has previously indicated that this is expected to include information relating to:
Gas Safety Certificates;
Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICRs); and
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs).
The database will therefore become much more than simply a list of landlords.
It will increasingly become a property compliance record.
Will landlords have to pay?
Yes.
The legislation allows a registration fee to be charged and the Government has confirmed that landlords will be required to pay to register.
However, the amount of the fee has not yet been confirmed.
Landlords should therefore be wary of websites or businesses currently quoting a supposed official registration fee.
What about letting agents?
This is important.
The legal registration obligation ultimately sits with the landlord, although regulations can make provision for somebody else to undertake particular requirements.
Agents are nevertheless going to have an important practical role.
In due course, when the advertising provisions are brought into force, letting agents and landlords will have to include the relevant registration numbers on property advertisements.
This means registration will eventually need to become part of the agent's pre-marketing compliance checks.
An agent should not simply assume that because a landlord says they are registered, everything is in order.
What happens if a landlord doesn't register?
Failure to register will have serious consequences.
The Renters’ Rights Act provides enforcement powers where properties are marketed or let without the required active database entries.
Government guidance states that a landlord who lets or advertises a property without the required registration may face a civil penalty of up to £7,000.
Repeated breaches, or serious offences such as providing fraudulent information to the database, can potentially result in a civil penalty of up to £40,000 or criminal prosecution.
There is another particularly important consequence.
A landlord who is in breach of the database registration requirements may be prevented from obtaining a possession order, subject to limited exceptions including the serious anti-social behaviour Grounds 7A and 14.
Registration therefore needs to be treated as a core possession compliance requirement, not simply an administrative exercise.
Will tenants be able to see the register?
Eventually, yes.
Public access is part of the planned system.
The Government says tenants and prospective tenants will eventually be able to check whether their landlord or prospective landlord has registered.
The exact information which will be visible to the public will be determined by further regulations.
The legislation also allows certain information relating to offences, financial penalties and regulatory action to appear on the database.
Do empty properties need registering now?
Not initially.
The Government's announcement specifically says that the first stage will apply to properties that are already let or become occupied during the rollout.
The intention is that, under future legislation and as the public-facing system develops, unoccupied properties will also have to be registered before they can be advertised for rent.
At that stage, registration numbers will also have to appear on advertisements.
What should landlords do now?
For most landlords: prepare rather than panic.
There is no requirement for every landlord in England to register today.
Agents and landlords should instead begin making sure that their property records are complete and readily accessible.
A sensible preparation file for every property would contain:
LANDLORD DETAILS ✓
PROPERTY DETAILS ✓
GAS SAFETY RECORD ✓
EICR ✓
EPC ✓
LICENCE DETAILS – where applicable ✓
OWNERSHIP / JOINT LANDLORD DETAILS ✓
CURRENT OCCUPANCY DETAILS ✓
When the landlord's region is called forward, registration should then be relatively straightforward.
The important dates
9 September 2026Government announces the rollout arrangements.
15 December 2026Registration begins in the West Midlands.
2026–27The service rolls out region by region across England.
Three monthsThe period landlords will have to register once their region is called forward.
14 November 2027Government's deadline for all landlords actively letting property to have registered.
Lettingchange view
The important point for agents is not simply that another register is being created.
The Register your rental property service is likely to become part of the compliance gateway to letting property in England.
Registration, property compliance information, advertising and ultimately possession proceedings will increasingly connect through the same system.
The best approach is therefore to build registration into the agency's compliance process from the outset:
Landlord → Property → Documents → Registration → Marketing → Tenancy
For well-organised landlords and agents this should be manageable.
For landlords whose compliance records consist of assorted emails, certificates and paperwork scattered across several years, the arrival of the register may be rather more uncomfortable.
LettingchangeAdvice – September 2026
This guide reflects the Government announcement and legislation available at 9 September 2026. Further regulations and detailed registration guidance are still to be published.
helpline see here - https://lettingsadviceservice.co.uk/
If you found anything of value on this site please 'buy me a coffee' all donations are used towards maintaining this site as a free resource ko-fi.com/le
Comments