The government has confirmed it. The new Private Rented Sector Database, the "landlord register" everyone has been talking about since the Renters' Rights Act, goes live on 15 December 2026.
Here is what it actually means for you if you own a rental property:
£65 per property. Per year. Not a one-off. You pay it on registration and you pay it again every year to renew. Five flats? That is £325 a year, every year, just to have your name on a list.
You cannot delegate it. Your agent cannot register the property for you. You have to log in and do it yourself, property by property, uploading the address, the rent, the number of bedrooms, who lives there, gas safety, EICR and EPC certificates.
Miss it and the fine is up to £7,000. Get it wrong, or keep getting it wrong, and it is up to £40,000.
No registration number, no advert. Agents will be banned from marketing a property that has not been registered. So if you are late, your property sits empty while you sort the paperwork.
It rolls out region by region. West Midlands first in December, London from 15 July 2027 with a deadline of 14 October 2027.
Now let's be honest about what this is
This is not about rogue landlords. Rogue landlords do not register for things. They never have. The people who will dutifully log in, pay their £65 and upload their certificates are the same landlords who were already doing everything right.
Let's stack it up. In the last decade the private landlord has lost mortgage interest relief (Section 24), paid a 3% then 5% stamp duty surcharge on every purchase, watched the capital gains allowance cut from £12,300 to £3,000, faced the end of Section 21, seen selective licensing spread borough by borough at several hundred pounds a go, and now has to fund a database on top. Each one on its own is "only" a small charge. Together they are the reason so many good landlords have sold up.
And here is the bit the politicians never say out loud: landlords do not absorb costs. They pass them on. Every one of these charges ends up in the rent. Fewer landlords means fewer rental homes, which means higher rents. The person paying for this database is the tenant it claims to protect.
I have been an agent in South London for over 20 years. I speak to landlords every week who are tired. Not of tenants, not of the work, but of being treated as the problem to be solved rather than the people providing 4.6 million homes the state has no way of replacing.
If you are a landlord, here is my advice
- Do not panic, London is not until July 2027. But diarise it now.
- Get your certificates in order this year. Gas, EICR, EPC. If any of them are missing you will not be able to register.
- Budget £65 per property into your annual numbers and, frankly, into your rent review.
- If you have been thinking about selling, know that the market is still moving and good stock is still selling. Do it on your terms, not because a fine forced you.
If you want a straight conversation about what your property is worth today, either to let or to sell, get in touch. No sales pitch, just 20 years of knowing this market.
Sources: NRLA, Property118, Landlord Today, The Independent Landlord (September 2026).
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