The Private Rented Sector Database is the landlord register created by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 for England. As at 15 October 2026 the duty to register is not yet in force: the regulations are still a draft. GOV.UK has announced a regional rollout from 15 December 2026. You register on the government service itself, not through any app.
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 yet. The Renters' Rights Act 2025, Part 2 Chapter 3 (sections 75 to 96) creates a national database of private landlords and their rented homes in England, and section 82 puts landlords under a duty to have an active entry for themselves and for each dwelling they let. That duty has not been switched on. On legislation.gov.uk, sections 82, 90 and 91 are "in force at Royal Assent for specified purposes" only (the power to make regulations), and section 92, the offences, is "not in force". None of the commencement regulations made by 15 October 2026 brings Chapter 3 into force.
The detail sits in the Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026, which legislation.gov.uk still labels "a draft item of legislation" that "has not yet been made". Draft text can change before it is made.
What has happened is an announcement: the GOV.UK Housing Hub says the "Register your rental property" service will open region by region, starting with the West Midlands on 15 December 2026. Those dates also appear in regulation 1(3) of the draft. So the sensible position on 15 October 2026 is: nothing to do on the government service yet, but every reason to get your documents in order.
It is a register run by a "database operator" on behalf of the Secretary of State. Once the duty is in force, section 82 of the Act says three things:
Two entries, then: one for you, one for each property. A dwelling entry cannot be made unless there is already an active landlord entry (draft reg 4(6)), so your own entry comes first. Each entry gets a unique identifier, which is what you will quote in adverts. This guide covers England only; the Act's database provisions apply to residential landlords in England.
The dates below come from regulation 1(3) of the draft regulations and match the GOV.UK Housing Hub. Registration for landlords and dwellings in each region opens on the date shown; the regulations come into force "for all other purposes" on 15 September 2027.
| Region | Registration opens | GOV.UK's three-month window ends |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
The three-month window is GOV.UK's statement: "Once properties in a particular region are required to be registered, you will have a 3-month window in which to do so", after which councils can start enforcement. That window is not in the Act or the draft regulations, so treat it as announced policy rather than a statutory deadline. The region is the one the property is in, not where you live. Our free Landlord Register Ready? check takes a postcode and gives you the date.
The draft regulations list it. GOV.UK adds that you will sign in with a GOV.UK One Login.
For an individual landlord: name, date of birth, residential address, telephone number and email address (Schedule 2, paragraphs 1 to 5). A company, charity or trust gives its legal-entity details, registration numbers and the people behind it instead (paragraphs 6 to 16).
Schedule 3 is in two parts. Part 1 is the property itself: address, your name and a correspondence address in England and Wales, ownership type, dwelling type, number of bedrooms, whether it is currently let, and any freeholder, superior landlord or property manager. Part 2 is the tenancy and the safety evidence:
A dwelling you have let needs both parts. Regulation 6(2) lets Part 2 follow "before the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the date the dwelling entry was made", and the entry becomes inactive if it does not (reg 11(2)(a)). A dwelling you only intend to let needs Part 1 at first. The fee is paid before the entry is made (reg 6(5)).
Note the word copy. A line in a spreadsheet saying the gas check was done will not be enough; the service asks for the document.
Renewal: every 12 months. Draft regulation 10 makes an entry inactive "the day after the renewal date unless renewed on or before the renewal date", and 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". A second property you add later shares the renewal date of your first (reg 10(4)). A dwelling entry cannot be renewed until the fee is paid (reg 10(2)).
Fee: the Act and the draft regulations do not state a figure. Draft regulation 14 says the amount is "to be determined by the database operator by reference to the relevant costs". The £65 a year per property that is widely quoted is GOV.UK's announcement on the Housing Hub ("an annual £65 registration fee per property"), not a figure in legislation. It may well be what the operator sets, but it is not law today.
Three consequences, all dormant until the duty commences:
Because the possession bar is tied to the register, an unregistered landlord with rent arrears could find the Section 8 claim stalled until the entry is active. That is the practical reason to be ready on day one of your region's window rather than day ninety.
Everything the service asks for is something you should already hold: a current gas safety record, an EICR within its five years, a valid EPC, a licence number if the property needs one, and the tenancy's rent and furnishing details. If any is missing, the register will expose it.
ComplyWithMe Landlord tracks each of those duties, works out the exact last compliant day and reminds you before it. Its free Landlord Register Ready? check places each property in its region from the postcode, counts down to the announced opening date and lists which Schedule 3 items you already hold as a copy. It does not register anyone. When your region opens, you register on the government service yourself; the app records the identifiers it issues.
We re-check the Act, the draft regulations and the GOV.UK rollout before every release. If the regulations are made, or section 82 is commenced, this page will change.
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 |
| Mandatory membership of a Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman scheme | announced, dates to be confirmed | Government roadmap: landlords required to join "in 2028", after the Database launches; scheme conditions set during Phase 2 from 2026 | Keep a written complaints process and records of how tenant complaints were handled; the scheme will expect both. Source |
Not yet. The registration duty in section 82 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 has not been brought into force, and the Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 are still a draft (checked on legislation.gov.uk on 15 October 2026). Once in force, every private landlord in England will need an active entry for themselves and for each dwelling they let.
GOV.UK has announced a regional rollout: West Midlands 15 December 2026, 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. The same dates appear in regulation 1(3) of the draft regulations, which are not yet made.
No fee is fixed in law. The draft regulations leave the amount to the database operator, set by reference to its costs (reg 14). GOV.UK has announced an annual £65 fee per property, so that is the expected figure, but it is an announcement rather than a statutory amount.
For each let dwelling, Schedule 3 of the draft regulations asks for a copy of the gas safety record and its issue date, a copy of the EICR and its expiry date, a copy of the EPC (and any MEES exemption if below band E), whether an HMO, additional or selective licence is required and its number, the rent and payment frequency, and whether the home is furnished. Your own entry needs your name, date of birth, residential address, phone and email.
Yes. There is one landlord entry for you and a separate dwelling entry for each property you let. A dwelling entry cannot be made until your landlord entry is active (draft reg 4(6)). Properties added later share the renewal date of your first entry.
Once the duty is in force, a court may not make a possession order while you are in breach of the registration duty for that dwelling, except on Ground 7A or Ground 14 (Housing Act 1988 s.7(5ZC), inserted by Renters' Rights Act 2025 s.90). You can still serve the notice, but the claim will not succeed until both entries are active. Today, before commencement, there is no such bar.
Every 12 months under draft regulation 10. The renewal date is the last day of the 12-month period beginning with the day the entry was first made, and an entry becomes inactive the day after that date unless renewed on or before it. A dwelling entry cannot be renewed until the fee is paid.
No. The register is a government service. ComplyWithMe's free Landlord Register Ready? check only tells you when your region opens and which of the required documents you already hold. You register on the government service yourself.
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.
Enter a postcode to see when registration opens in your region, then let the free app check which of the documents the service asks for you already hold. It never registers you; you do that on the government service.
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.
