When do I have to register?

The government's 'Register your rental property' service opens region by region from 15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands. Each region gets a three-month window, and the last deadline is 14 November 2027 for the South West. The deadline depends on where the property is, not where you live.

Yes. The government says it's £65 per property per year, and you renew and pay again each year. During the rollout the fee is pro-rated so that people who sign up first don't pay more.

Do I register once or for every house?

You register yourself as a landlord and each property you let, and keep the details up to date when things change.

When do I have to join the landlord ombudsman?

Private landlords will have to join once the ombudsman is set up. No start date had been announced when we last checked. The government says landlords will be given notice of the date to sign up.

Does Rentap register my houses for me?

No. Rentap shows what you'll need for each house on a readiness page, but you register yourself on the official service.

The PRS landlord database: what to prepare

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 creates a private rented sector (PRS) database for England. Landlords will have to register themselves and each property they let, and keep the details up to date (Renters' Rights Act 2025, Part 2). The government's "Register your rental property" service opens region by region from 15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands, and all landlords actively letting property must be registered by 14 November 2027 (GOV.UK housing hub). The fee is £65 per property per year. The same Act creates a landlord ombudsman that private landlords will have to join, but no start date has been set. Most of what you'll be asked for is information you should already keep, so gathering it now makes registration quick.

What the database is for

The government's guide to the Renters' Rights Act says landlords will be legally required to register themselves and their properties. The database is meant to:

give tenants basic information about their landlord and home before they sign;
help councils find rented homes and enforce standards; and
give landlords one place to see their legal obligations.

The duty applies to landlords of assured or regulated tenancies; landlords of supported exempt accommodation are excluded (GOV.UK housing hub). The guide to the Act says landlords who market or let a property without registering can face a civil penalty of up to £7,000, and up to £40,000 or prosecution for repeated or serious breaches. Once a region's deadline has passed, councils there can start enforcement.

When registration starts

The government has published a regional timetable. In each region you have a three-month window to register (GOV.UK housing hub):

Region	Registration opens	Deadline
West Midlands	15 December 2026	14 March 2027
East of England	15 January 2027	14 April 2027
East Midlands	15 February 2027	14 May 2027
South East	15 March 2027	14 June 2027
Yorkshire and the Humber	15 April 2027	14 July 2027
North West	15 May 2027	14 August 2027
North East	15 June 2027	14 September 2027
London	15 July 2027	14 October 2027
South West	15 August 2027	14 November 2027

The deadline depends on where the property is, not where you live. If you let houses in more than one region, each house follows its own region's dates.

Don't rely on second-hand timetables, including this one. Check GOV.UK for the date that applies to your area, and register when your region opens rather than at the last minute.

The fee

The government says registration costs £65 per property per year. You pay for each property you register and renew each year. During the rollout the fee is pro-rated, so landlords who sign up first don't pay more (GOV.UK housing hub).

What to prepare for each house

The government has listed what the service will ask for (GOV.UK housing hub). For each house, gather:

the full address;
the type of property, how you own it, and the number of bedrooms;
whether it's currently let;
the number of people and households living there, and whether it's furnished, part-furnished or unfurnished;
the rent, how often it's paid, and whether bills are included;
the gas safety record and its issue date (if there's a gas supply), the electrical installation condition report (EICR) and its expiry date, and the energy performance certificate (EPC), plus details of any minimum energy efficiency exemption (see landlord safety certificates);
whether the house needs a shared house licence (the legal term is HMO licence), or is covered by an additional or selective licence, with the licence number if you have one (see shared house licensing); and
details of any freeholder, superior landlord or property manager.

For houses let by the room

A house let by the room often counts as a shared house (the legal term is HMO) for licensing. Make sure the number of people and households you give the database matches your licence and the room sizes you've measured (see minimum room sizes). If those numbers disagree, a council will notice.

What to prepare about yourself

You'll need a GOV.UK One Login. If you're an individual landlord, the service asks for your:

name and date of birth;
residential address; and
phone number and email address.

If you let through a company or other organisation, it also asks for the organisation's name and legal type, an address (not a PO box), contact details, a nominated contact, and the Companies House or charity number where there is one. If you register on someone else's behalf, for example under a power of attorney, you'll need evidence of your authority. A letting agent can add some information for you, but the landlord has to start the process.

If you let through a company, decide who in the company will register and keep the details current.

Keeping it up to date

Registration isn't a one-off. You renew each year, and you should expect to update the database when you:

buy, sell or stop letting a property;
add or remove rooms, or change how many people a house is let to;
renew certificates or a licence; or
change your contact details or agent.

Build these updates into the routine you already use for safety certificates and licence renewals.

A simple routine

Most landlords who let a few houses manage this with one habit: whenever a certificate is renewed or a room changes hands, update your own records first, then the database, on the same day. If you leave it for a quarterly catch-up, the details drift and you end up checking every house from scratch.

It also helps to keep one person responsible. If you own houses jointly with a partner or through a company, agree who registers, who updates, and where the login details are kept.

Common mistakes to avoid

Waiting for a deadline. Register when your region opens, not in the final week, so there's time to sort out anything the service asks for.
Numbers that don't match. The number of people you register should match your licence, your tenancies and your room sizes.
Expired certificates. Renew gas and electrical checks before you register so you're not uploading something that's about to run out.
Getting the empty house wrong. For now, the government says you only need to register properties that are let, or become let, during the rollout. It also says that in future you'll have to register an empty property before you or your agent market it to let. Check GOV.UK before you advertise a room in a house that isn't registered yet.

How the database fits with licensing

Registering on the database and holding a council licence are separate duties. A shared house that needs a licence still needs one after you register, and registering doesn't tell you whether a licence is needed. Your council decides that under its own schemes; see shared house licensing.

In practice, the two overlap a lot. The database asks whether the house needs a shared house licence or another council licence, and for the licence number. Both ask about the same house, the same number of people and the same safety certificates. If the details you give the council and the details you give the database don't match, expect questions. Keep one set of facts per house and use it for both.

Questions to ask yourself before you register

Before your region opens, it's worth answering a few questions honestly:

Do I know exactly who lives in each house? Not just who signed, but every adult who lives there as their home, and how many households that is.
Is every certificate in date? Gas, electrical and energy certificates, plus your licence if you have one.
Is anyone else a landlord of this house? Joint owners and companies may need to be named.
Who do tenants contact? If someone manages the house for you, have their details ready.
Where are my records? Tenancy start dates, rents and repair records should be in one place, not spread across phones and email.

If any answer is "not sure", fix it now. It will make registration quicker and it's the same information you'd need if the council or the ombudsman ever asks.

What tenants will see

The government says the information shown to tenants will balance landlords' privacy with helping tenants make better-informed choices, and that it will publish a list of what will be public later. Assume that what you enter could be checked by tenants and councils, and keep it accurate.

The landlord ombudsman

The Act also introduces a landlord ombudsman so private tenants can take complaints about their landlord to an independent body. The government's guide to the Renters' Rights Act says private landlords with assured or regulated tenancies will have to join, including those who use a managing agent, and that landlords will be given notice of the date to sign up. It expects membership to carry a small annual fee per property. No start date or fee amount had been announced when we last checked.

The same guide says the ombudsman will be able to require a landlord to apologise, provide information, put things right and/or pay compensation. Landlords who don't join could face civil penalties of up to £7,000 for initial breaches and up to £40,000 or prosecution for repeated breaches.

Get your complaints process ready

You don't need to wait for the ombudsman to start handling complaints well:

Tell every tenant how to contact you about a problem, in writing.
Log each complaint with the date it came in.
Reply within a set time, even if only to say what happens next.
Record what you did and when it was resolved.
Keep the record with the tenancy.

If a complaint ever reaches the ombudsman, a clear record of what was reported and what you did is the best evidence you'll have.

Who it doesn't cover

The registration duty is for landlords of assured or regulated tenancies. If you live in your own home and let a room to a lodger, the lodger isn't an assured tenant, so the duty as the government describes it doesn't cover that arrangement. Lodgers are treated differently in many parts of the law; see lodger or tenant?. If you also let other houses you don't live in, those still need registering.

Worked example

Sam lets two houses in Coventry, in the West Midlands, both room by room: a five-bedroom house with a shared house licence and a three-bedroom house with three sharers.

In November 2026 Sam makes a sheet for each house:

House A: address, five bedrooms, five tenants in five households, furnished, rent and rent period for each room, bills included, gas record (due in March), EICR (valid for two more years), EPC, licence number and expiry date, and the number of occupiers the licence allows.
House B: address, three bedrooms, three tenants, the same rent and certificate details, and an email from the council confirming no additional licensing scheme covers the street.

Sam sets up a GOV.UK One Login, writes a one-paragraph complaints process and emails it to all eight tenants. Registration for the West Midlands opens on 15 December 2026 with a deadline of 14 March 2027. Sam registers both houses in December, pays the fee for each, and diaries an update for March when the gas record is renewed.

How Rentap helps

Each house in Rentap has a PRS readiness page ("Getting ready for the landlord database") that lists the things still to sort out from the information Rentap holds: rooms, tenancies and their start dates, and the certificates and licence on your compliance calendar, with reminders before each expires. Issues tenants report, with photos and updates, are kept for every house (repairs and issues), which is a useful record if a complaint escalates. Rentap doesn't register you on the database or join the ombudsman for you; you do that on the official services.

The free compliance calendar tool shows when your certificates are next due. For terms used here, see the letting terms glossary.

Sources

Last checked: 10 October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.

This page is general information about England, not legal advice. Rules change and every tenancy is different; if your situation is unusual, speak to a solicitor.