Registration opens region by region: West Midlands 15 December 2026, then one region a month to the South West on 15 August 2027. GOV.UK says each region has a three-month window before enforcement. The dates are in draft regulations not yet made, and the duty to register is not in force on 15 October 2026.
Updated 15 October 2026 · Figures checked against legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK on 15 October 2026 · Statutory penalties are maximums; councils and courts decide the amount.
Regulation 1(3) of the draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 brings the regulations into force for landlords and dwellings in each region on the date shown. The GOV.UK Housing Hub gives the same dates and adds a three-month window for each region.
| Region | Registration opens | Three-month window ends (our calculation; GOV.UK gives no end date) |
|---|---|---|
| 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 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 |
Regulation 1(3) ends with "for all other purposes, on 15th September 2027". That is the date the regulations apply in full everywhere; it is not a registration deadline for the later regions, whose windows run past it.
The region of the property, not where you live. A landlord in Bristol with a flat in Birmingham is in the West Midlands window for that flat. Schedule 1 of the draft defines each region by the local authority areas inside it. With properties in two regions you register each in its own window, and because your own landlord entry comes first (draft reg 4(6)), you make that entry when your earliest region opens.
Our free Landlord Register Ready? check does the lookup from a postcode and counts down to the date.
GOV.UK's words are: "Once properties in a particular region are required to be registered, you will have a 3-month window in which to do so." After it, councils can enforce. The window is not in the Act or the draft regulations, so it is announced policy rather than a statutory grace period, and the end dates in the table are our arithmetic from the opening dates. When the registration duty and the possession bar start to apply depends on commencement regulations under the Act, which have not been made. Until then the window is guidance on enforcement, not a legal deadline.
Once section 82 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 is in force for your region, three dormant consequences wake up: a council penalty of up to £7,000 for letting, marketing or advertising without active entries, rising to up to £40,000 where it is imposed for a section 92 offence (s.91); no possession order while in breach of the registration duty for that dwelling, except on Grounds 7A and 14 (s.90); and no marketing without the identifiers. All are maxima or bars that apply only after commencement.
Draft regulation 10: the renewal date is "the last day of the period of 12 months beginning with the date the active landlord or dwelling entry was first made", and the entry becomes inactive "the day after the renewal date unless renewed on or before the renewal date". A dwelling you add later takes the renewal date of your first entry (reg 10(4)), so a portfolio renews on one day a year. The fee must be paid before a dwelling entry is renewed (reg 10(2)); GOV.UK has announced £65 a year per property, which draft reg 14 leaves to the operator to set.
legislation.gov.uk labels the regulations "a draft item of legislation" that "has not yet been made". Section 82 of the Act, the registration duty, is in force only for the purpose of making regulations: legislation.gov.uk's commencement note reads "in force at Royal Assent for specified purposes, see s.145(2)" (s.82), and none of the commencement regulations made by 15 October 2026 switches it on. Draft dates can change. We check the draft, the Act and the Housing Hub before every release and will update this page the day anything moves. The landlord registry overview and the full database guide cover what you need to register and how to prepare.
Government changes that bear on this duty. Where the status says in force the rule already applies; everything else is not yet law for private landlords. Dates are quoted as the government has published them, checked on 15 October 2026.
| Change | Status today | Published timing | Sensible preparation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandatory landlord and property registration on the Private Rented Sector Database (the landlord register), with an annual fee | regulations in draft | Regional rollout from 15 December 2026 (West Midlands first) to 15 September 2027 for all other purposes, per the draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 | Keep copies, not just dates, of the gas safety record, EICR and EPC for each property, and know whether a licence applies; those are what the draft regulations say the entry needs. Source |
West Midlands on 15 December 2026, then East of England 15 January 2027, East Midlands 15 February, South East 15 March, Yorkshire and Humber 15 April, North West 15 May, North East 15 June, London 15 July and South West 15 August 2027, per regulation 1(3) of the draft regulations and the GOV.UK Housing Hub.
Not a statutory one yet. GOV.UK has announced a three-month window after each region opens, which for the West Midlands would end on 14 March 2027 by our calculation; GOV.UK gives no end date. The window is announced policy; the draft regulations only give the opening dates.
15 July 2027 under regulation 1(3) of the draft regulations. GOV.UK's announced three-month window would then run to 14 October 2027 by our calculation.
It appears to be the date the draft regulations come fully into force everywhere in England, for matters not tied to a particular region. It is not an extra deadline for the regions that open later.
When a compliance question becomes a court or tribunal matter, BundleCreator.co, from the same company, turns the records into a court-ready bundle. From the notice to the order, stage by stage. Start with the possession and arrears journey.
A postcode gives you the property's region, its opening date and a countdown; the free app then checks which of the required documents you already hold. It never registers you.
Landlord Register Ready? (free)From the ComplyWithMe news feed: enforcement decisions and legislation changes, each linked to its official source.
Download the free app, then subscribe on the web at complywithme.co/subscribe — launch offer £59.99 for your first year with one property, then £119/year (until 28 February 2027, while 100 launch places last)from £119 a year for one property. Sign in with the same account and the full app unlocks.
