The Renters' Rights Act 2025 creates a national Private Rented Sector Database, with rollout beginning in late 2026: every residential landlord in England will need to register themselves and each rental property, and registration is designed to become a precondition of lawfully marketing and letting. A new PRS Landlord Ombudsman is expected to follow, currently indicated for 2028. The registration dates, fees and detail will be set by regulations, so this page states what is settled, flags what is not, and will be updated as the government publishes.
What is settled, and what is not
Settled by the Act: the database will exist, landlords and properties must be registered on it, enforcement will run through it, and possession and marketing will in due course depend on it. Not yet settled in regulations: the precise start dates, the fees, and the transition rules for existing tenancies. Treat any confident claim about those details, from any source, as a guess until the regulations appear on legislation.gov.uk.
The practical preparation costs nothing: have your compliance records ready to evidence, because a registration system is a disclosure system. Gas, electrical and energy certificates, deposit protection, licence status where our guides to selective licensing in Nottingham and additional and HMO licensing apply. Landlords whose paperwork is already in order will register in an afternoon; landlords whose paperwork is a shoebox will not.
How we will handle it for managed landlords
For landlords on our Fully Managed and Overseas landlord management services, registration will be handled as part of the compliance calendar when the scheme opens, exactly as licensing is now, with the government's own fee paid at cost. We will publish the confirmed dates and figures on this page when the regulations are made. General information; the database provisions commence in stages and we confirm the current position before you rely on it.
