The national landlord register in England: who must register, when and what it costs

From 15 December 2026, private landlords in England start registering themselves and their rental properties on a new national register. The government calls it the Register your rental property service; the Renters' Rights Act 2025 calls it the Private Rented Sector Database. Registration opens region by region, and every let property in England has to be on it by 14 November 2027. This guide covers who must register, your region's deadline, what you will need and what it costs.

The dates, fee and requirements below come from the government's guidance for landlords, first published on 29 October 2026. The detailed rules are set by regulations that were still in draft, not yet made, when this article was written on 4 November 2026, so check the guidance before you register in case anything changes.

The short answer

• Who: private landlords renting out a property in England to tenants on an assured or regulated tenancy. Joint landlords each register.
• When: each region has a 3-month registration window. The West Midlands goes first, from 15 December 2026 to 14 March 2027. London runs from 15 July 2027 to 14 October 2027, and the South West is last, ending on 14 November 2027.
• Cost: £65 a year for each property, with no VAT. Registering yourself as a landlord is free. During the rollout the first fee is reduced, so nobody pays for any day before 15 November 2027.
• What you need: your contact details, the property details, gas and electrical safety records, the Energy Performance Certificate, the rent and any licences.
• If you do not register: your council can fine you up to £7,000.

Who must register

The guidance says: "If you are a private landlord that is renting out a property in England that is currently occupied by tenants on an assured or regulated tenancy, you must register." That includes organisations that act as landlords, such as companies, charities, trusts and limited liability partnerships.

You count as an individual landlord if you rent out a property on your own, as a sole trader, or in a partnership with one or more other people.

The only exception the guidance names is supported exempt accommodation, as defined in section 12 of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023.

During the rollout you only have to register properties that are let, or that become let during that period. In the future you will also have to register an empty property before you market or advertise it.

Joint owners and partnerships

If you let a property with one or more other landlords, each of you must register. One of you registers the property and then invites the others to join that registration.

This matters for couples and families who own a rental together. The guidance says: "If you own part of a rental property and are entitled to possession of it, you must register as a joint landlord. This applies even if you are not named on the tenancy agreement as a landlord."

Members of an ordinary English business partnership that lets property register as individuals and follow the rules for joint landlords. Limited liability partnerships and Scottish partnerships register as organisations and give details of all partners.

When you must register

The rollout runs region by region. You must register each let property by the end date for the region it is in, before midnight.

The region depends on the council area the property is in, not where you live. The guidance links to a list of the councils in each region.

You can register a property before its region opens. If you have properties in more than one region, you can register them all at once, as long as none is registered after its own region's deadline.

What you will need

You register using GOV.UK One Login, and you can choose to verify your identity. If you cannot get online, you can ask for a paper application once the service is live.

First you register yourself as a landlord. For an individual, the draft regulations list your name, date of birth, home address, phone number and email address. You will get a landlord number in the format L-XXXX-XXXX.

Then you register each property. You need to give:

• the property details, such as the address, the number of bedrooms and whether it is let now
• a correspondence address in England or Wales
• contact details for any managing agent, superior landlord or freeholder

You then pay the fee and get a rental property number in the format P-XXXX-XXXX. The service also asks for:

• your gas safety record, if the property has a gas supply
• your electrical safety report or certificate
• your Energy Performance Certificate
• tenancy details, including the rent, how often it is paid and any bills it includes
• any licences, such as a house in multiple occupation (HMO) licence

You can give all of this when you register the property, or register first and add the rest within 28 days. If you miss the 28 days, the property's registration may be deactivated, which can leave you in breach of the requirement to have an active registration for a let property.

If you let an HMO, you register the whole property once, not each room.

What it costs

The fee is £65 a year for each property, and VAT is not charged on it. There is no charge for registering yourself as a landlord or for updating your records.

All your properties share one renewal date: 1 year from the day you registered your first property. A property you add later renews on the same date.

During the rollout, the first fee is reduced so that you do not pay for any day before 15 November 2027, the date by which every landlord has to be registered. The guidance gives two worked examples:

• register on 15 December 2026, with a renewal date of 15 December 2027, and you pay £5.34
• register on 25 June 2027, with a renewal date of 25 June 2028, and you pay £39.60

So registering early does not cost you more. From your first renewal, you pay the full £65 for each property.

The guidance also says the fee is tax-deductible. If you use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, record it in your digital records with your other property expenses.

Keeping your registration up to date

You must update anything that changes or expires within 28 days. That includes your own details and the property's, such as who lives there, the rent, or a safety certificate that has been renewed. Updates are free.

Your landlord registration is deactivated if you have no active properties on the service.

Using a letting or managing agent

You must start every registration yourself and pay the fee, and you stay responsible for meeting the requirements. Once the property has its number, you can ask your agent to fill in the tenancy and safety information through a link the service sends them. Even then, it is your job to make sure the record is complete within 28 days.

The government has published separate guidance for letting agents and property managers.

Penalties for not registering

Your local council enforces the rules. The guidance sets out:

• a penalty of up to £7,000 for not registering yourself and your property
• a penalty of up to £40,000 for knowingly or recklessly giving false or misleading information, or for continuing or repeated breaches of certain requirements
• rent repayment orders, which tenants can apply for in those same false information or repeated breach cases once registration has opened in their area, decided by the First-tier Tribunal

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 also links registration to getting your property back. Section 90 says a court may not make a possession order while a landlord, or any of the joint landlords, is not registered for the property, unless the landlord is relying on one of two anti-social behaviour grounds. The landlord guidance does not say when this applies during the rollout.

Landlords with a banning order may not be allowed to register, depending on the order.

Adverts and what will be public

In the future, every advert for a rental property will have to show the landlord number and the rental property number. You can already include them now. The government says it will update its guidance before this becomes a requirement.

For now, your landlord and property information will not be shown publicly. The guidance says some information about you and your property may be viewable by the public in the future, and that a privacy notice will be updated before any change to how your data is used or shared.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

This register covers England only. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland already run their own landlord registration schemes, with their own rules and fees. If you let property in more than one nation, you may need to register in each.

How to get ready

• Work out which region each of your properties is in, by its council area, and note the deadline.
• If you own a property jointly, agree which of you will register it and invite the others.
• Gather each property's current gas safety record, electrical safety report and Energy Performance Certificate, with their dates.
• Have the rent, payment frequency, number of occupants and any licence numbers to hand.
• If an agent manages the property, agree with them who will add the tenancy and safety information.
• Set up GOV.UK One Login if you do not already use it.

Key dates

This register is separate from Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Registering a property does not replace reporting its rental income to HMRC.