The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 creates a national register of private landlords and the homes they let in England, the private rented sector database. The government has announced when it opens, region by region, and roughly what it will cost. The one thing still missing is the law that switches it on. This guide sets out what is announced, what is in draft and what you can prepare now. It covers dates and checklists, not legal advice.
Draft regulations as of 25 October 2026 Draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 (laid 9 September 2026)
Where things stand on 25 October 2026
- The Act is passed, but these duties are not commenced. The database sections (75 to 96 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025) are on the statute book. The commencement regulations made so far (SI 2026/421 in April and SI 2026/638 in June) do not bring them into force.
- The regulations are in draft. The Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 were laid before Parliament on 9 September 2026. They follow the draft affirmative procedure, so both Houses must approve them before they are made. The Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments did not draw them to Parliament’s special attention on 14 October, but the Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee did on 20 October. Debates in the Commons Delegated Legislation Committee and the Lords Grand Committee are scheduled for 28 October 2026, so on 25 October 2026 neither House had approved them and there was no SI number.
- The launch is announced. The government’s press release of 9 September 2026 says the database “will launch on 15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands”. It adds: “All landlords actively letting property will need to have registered by 14 November 2027.”
So the timetable below is the government’s plan, published in draft legislation and official guidance. It could still move if Parliament does not approve the regulations as laid. Quarterday shows these dates as “planned” and will update them when the regulations are made.
Your region’s dates
Draft regulation 1(3) brings in the duty region by region from the dates below. The “register by” column comes from the GOV.UK Housing Hub, which gives landlords three months after their region opens. After that, councils “will be able to initiate enforcement activity”. The deadline comes from guidance, not from the draft regulations themselves.
| Wave | Region (where the property is) | Registration opens | Register by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Midlands | ||
| 2 | East of England | ||
| 3 | East Midlands | ||
| 4 | South East | ||
| 5 | Yorkshire and The Humber | ||
| 6 | North West | ||
| 7 | North East | ||
| 8 | London | ||
| 9 | South West |
The region is decided by where the property is, not where you live. A Bristol landlord with a flat in Coventry registers that flat in the West Midlands wave. Schedule 1 of the draft regulations lists which councils fall in each region; they follow the nine standard English regions.
The landlord database checker finds the region for a postcode or council and shows its window. Properties in the tracker get the dates added to your deadline list automatically.
The fee
The Housing Hub says: “There’s an annual £65 registration fee per property”. It adds that during the rollout the fee “will be adjusted (pro-rated)”. It is charged per dwelling, every year, and no separate per-landlord fee has been announced.
The draft regulations do not fix a figure. Draft regulation 14 says fees “are to be determined by the database operator by reference to the relevant costs”. A fee is payable when you create a dwelling entry, when you renew it, and in some cases when you reactivate one. Treat £65 as the announced figure, not a statutory one.
For a five-property landlord that is £325 a year at the announced rate, before any pro-rating in the first year.
What you will be asked for
The draft regulations split the information into a landlord entry and one dwelling entry per property.
| Entry | What it covers | When |
|---|---|---|
| Landlord (individual) | Name, date of birth, home address, phone, email | At registration |
| Landlord (organisation) | Name, legal entity type, address (no PO Box), Companies House or charity number, directors or partners | At registration |
| Acting for someone | Your capacity (attorney, executor, receiver and so on) and evidence of authority | At registration |
| Dwelling, part 1 | Address, ownership type, property type, bedrooms, whether let, freeholder / superior landlord / manager contacts | At registration |
| Dwelling, part 2 | Occupants and households; HMO, additional or selective licence status; gas safety record and date; EICR or EIC and date; EPC details incl. any exemption; rent and frequency, bills included, furnishing | Within 28 days of the entry (if already let) or of the tenancy starting |
Deposit protection details are not on either list: neither the draft schedules nor the Housing Hub mention them.
Most of part 2 is information you should already hold. If you cannot put your hands on the last gas safety record or EICR date, fix that now. The compliance checklist lists each certificate and how often it is due.
Keeping your entry active
The draft regulations set three clocks:
- 28 days to update. Change a landlord or dwelling entry within 28 days of anything going out of date (draft regulations 8 and 9). Examples: a new EICR, a rent increase, a change of agent.
- 12-month renewal. Each entry becomes inactive unless renewed every 12 months (draft regulation 10), with the annual fee.
- Three months for a first dwelling. A landlord entry with no dwelling entry within three months becomes inactive, according to the Explanatory Memorandum.
What changes once the duties are in force
These provisions of the Act are not in force yet. They are what the database is designed to enforce.
- Marketing ban. Section 82(1): “A person must not market a dwelling for the purpose of creating a residential tenancy unless” there are active landlord and dwelling entries. Every written advert must include the unique identifiers the operator allocates.
- Tenancies stay valid. A breach does not make the tenancy unenforceable (s.82(5)).
- Penalties. Section 91 allows a civil penalty of up to £7,000 for breaching section 82. Offences under section 92 carry up to £40,000. These include knowingly or recklessly giving false information and repeat breaches within five years.
- Possession bar. Section 90 adds section 7(5ZC) to the Housing Act 1988. The court “may not make an order for possession” while you are in breach of the duty to have active entries. The only exceptions are the antisocial behaviour grounds, 7A and 14. An unregistered landlord will therefore be unable to recover a property for rent arrears, sale or moving in. See the Form 3A guide for how that sits alongside the deposit-protection bar.
The landlord ombudsman is a separate scheme
The database is often mentioned together with the new PRS Landlord Ombudsman, but they run on different timetables:
- Ombudsman regulations made. The Private Landlord Redress Schemes (Approval and Designation) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/1033) were made on 16 September 2026 and came into force on 17 September 2026. They cover how a scheme is approved, compensation of up to £25,000, and the principle that fees “must be fair and proportionate”.
- No operator yet. The Housing Ombudsman says the government “has not decided which organisation will run the new Ombudsman” and that membership “will be mandatory for nearly all private landlords”. Its page gives no go-live date; the 2028 launch commonly cited comes from the government’s implementation roadmap and is not yet in legislation.
- Membership is not required yet. No membership date and no fee have been set.
Until the ombudsman exists, a tenant’s main route on most disputes remains the courts or the local council.
What to do now
- Note each property’s region and window. If one is in the West Midlands, your window is planned to open on 15 December 2026 and close on 14 March 2027.
- Put the certificate dates in one place. You need the gas safety and EICR dates and the EPC details for part 2 of each entry.
- Budget for the fee. At the announced rate it is £65 per property per year.
- Check the status before you register. If the regulations are approved as laid, nothing above changes. If they are amended, the dates may move, and we will update this page and the checker.