You cannot search a national landlord registry in England yet. The Private Rented Sector Database opens region by region from 15 December 2026, and what the public will see is left to regulations not yet made. Today you can check a council's licence register, the EPC register, the Land Registry title and deposit protection. Scotland and Wales have public registers.
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.
Not a national one. As at 15 October 2026 there is no register in England where you can type a landlord's name or a property address and see whether they are registered. The register that will exist, the Private Rented Sector Database under Part 2 Chapter 3 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025, opens region by region from 15 December 2026 (West Midlands first; the dates by region are here). Until then, a search for "landlord registry" leads to one of the checks below.
Scotland. Every local authority keeps a landlord register under Part 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, and the national Scottish Landlord Register lets anyone search for a landlord's or agent's details or a rental property.
Wales. A landlord must be registered (Housing (Wales) Act 2014 s.4), the licensing authority must maintain a register, and Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Act governs public access to it (s.14). The licensing authority, known as Rent Smart Wales, must on request tell anyone who gives a property address or a landlord's name who the landlord is and whether they are registered and licensed (Schedule 1, Part 2).
If you reached this page looking for one of those, that is where to go. Neither covers England.
The Act fixes some of this and leaves the rest to regulations:
We will update this page when the public-access regulations are published. The landlord registry overview explains the duty, the cost and the penalties.
Whatever the regulations make public, the entry will be yours to keep accurate. The draft regulations put a duty on landlords to update active landlord and dwelling entries when the information changes (regs 8 and 9), and an entry that lapses becomes inactive, which once the duty is in force stops you marketing the home and stops a court making a possession order on most grounds (s.90). The documents a prospective tenant is most likely to ask about, the gas safety record, the EICR and the EPC, are the ones the dwelling entry asks for as copies.
Our free Landlord Register Ready? check tells you when your region opens and which of those documents you already hold. It does not register anyone and it is not a public register; you register on the government service.
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 |
In England you cannot yet; the national register opens from 15 December 2026 region by region, and the duty to register is not in force on 15 October 2026. You can check whether the property is licensed on the council's register, look up its EPC on GOV.UK, and confirm the owner with HM Land Registry. In Scotland use the Scottish Landlord Register; in Wales, Rent Smart Wales.
Partly, and the detail is not decided. Section 86 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 lets regulations specify what the public can see, and the draft regulations published so far do not cover it. Entries recording banning orders, convictions and penalties for banning order offences can be made public by regulations, but no sooner than 21 days after entry, and adverts will have to show the landlord and dwelling identifiers.
Your tenancy agreement and rent demands should name the landlord. A tenant in England can also ask in writing whoever collects the rent, or the landlord's agent, for the landlord's name and address, and they must reply in writing within 21 days (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 s.1). HM Land Registry's property information search on GOV.UK gives the registered owner for a small fee.
Yes. The Scottish Landlord Register at landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk lets anyone search for a landlord or agent, or for a rental property.
No. The database of rogue landlords and property agents under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 is maintained by councils for enforcement. Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, banning orders and relevant convictions and penalties will instead be recorded on the new Private Rented Sector Database, where regulations can make them public no sooner than 21 days after entry.
For landlords: a postcode gives you the opening date for each property, and the free app checks which of the documents the register asks for you already hold. It never registers you and it is not a public register.
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.
