Millions of privately rented homes in England will have to be registered on a new national database that will give government and councils far greater visibility over England’s private rented sector.
The new ‘Register your rental property’ service is part of the Renters’ Rights Act reforms and will begin its regional rollout in December. It will ultimately require almost all private landlords to register themselves and their rental properties.
The regulations are still subject to final parliamentary approval, but the details are unlikely to change significantly.
How will the new database work?
The register’s mandatory information will include contact details, as well as information about individual properties, including their address, type (house/flat etc), number of bedrooms and occupancy details.
It will also hold information covering key safety and energy efficiency requirements, including gas and electrical safety certificates and EPCs.
Under the draft regulations, registration will cost £65 per property each year, with landlords required to individually register each of their rental properties. They will then be allocated unique registration numbers for both themselves and their properties.
Councils will have access to the database, which the government says will help them identify landlords and properties that are failing to meet their legal responsibilities and take enforcement action more quickly.
At a later stage, tenants will also be able to access some of the information to check whether a landlord and property are registered, although it has not yet been confirmed exactly what details will be made public.
Registration numbers will eventually have to be included with property details when they are advertised for rent.
Who will need to register?
The scheme will cover the vast majority of conventional private landlords, including those letting houses, flats, HMOs and ordinary student rental properties.
Initially, landlords will only need to register properties that are already let or become occupied during the rollout. At a later stage, unoccupied properties will have to be registered before they can be advertised for rent.
Short-term and holiday lets are not covered by this database. Instead, they will be subject to a separate national registration scheme (LINK).
When does registration begin?
The new scheme will first be introduced in the West Midlands on 15 December 2026, and will then be rolled out region by region (see below).
Landlords will have three months to register once their region is brought into the scheme, with all landlords actively letting properties covered by it required to be registered by 14 November 2027.
The deadline is based on where the rental property is located rather than the landlord, so portfolio landlords with properties in several regions are likely to face a number of different deadlines.
The government says landlords in each area will be asked to register as the rollout reaches them, with a wider communications campaign planned to publicise the changes.
What happens if landlords fail to register?
The register is a legal requirement and the consequences for failing to comply could therefore be significant.
Local authorities will be able to impose civil penalties of up to £7,000 for breaches of the database requirements, rising to as much as £40,000 for repeat offences.
An unregistered landlord could also be prevented from obtaining a possession order until the registration requirements have been met, except when relying on specified antisocial behaviour grounds.
Existing local licensing schemes will remain in place, including HMO and selective licensing, so some landlords will have to register under both their local licensing scheme and the national database.
Industry reaction
The principle of a national register has received broad support from the property industry, although landlord and property groups have raised questions about how it will work in practice.
The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) says the database could help responsible landlords demonstrate compliance and councils target those breaking the rules, but argues it needs to become more than simply a national directory.
Chief Executive Ben Beadle is particularly concerned about duplication for landlords who already provide information and pay fees under local licensing schemes.
He says: “The Government needs to explain how these systems will work together – compliant landlords should not have to pay twice to provide the same information.”
Allison Thompson, Chief Lettings Officer at LRG, one of the UK’s largest estate agency and lettings groups, says: “We support the principle of a national landlord register.”
Greg Tsuman, Managing Director for Lettings at Martyn Gerrard, believes the requirements should be relatively straightforward for responsible landlords.
He says: “Landlords might baulk at the prospect of more red tape, but in practice, the requirements are all things they should already have been doing.”
And property lawyer Scott Goldstein, a Property Disputes Partner at Payne Hicks Beach, told Property118 that the database will operate alongside existing licensing schemes, potentially leaving landlords exposed to penalties under more than one regime.
He warns: “These hefty penalties may well drive more and more small private landlords out of the market.”
For landlords, the immediate priority is to establish when their properties must be registered and ensure the information and safety documentation they will need is readily available before their registration deadline.
Regional registration deadlines
West Midlands — 14 March 2027
East of England — 14 April 2027
East Midlands — 14 May 2027
South East — 14 June 2027
Yorkshire and the Humber — 14 July 2027
North West — 14 August 2027
North East — 14 September 2027
London — 14 October 2027
South West — 14 November 2027
Register your rental property service https://www.gov.uk/government/news/stronger-protections-and-greater-confidence-for-renters
