Landlords: The New National Register Starts In December

Landlords in England now have a date, and a price.

The government has confirmed that the new national register of landlords and rented homes opens on 15 December 2026, and rolls out region by region through the following year. Registration will cost £65 per property, every year.

If you let a home in England, this applies to you. Here is what has actually been confirmed, and what to do about it.

What is the landlord register?

It is a national record of who lets what. Officially it is the Private Rented Sector Database, and the service you will use is called Register your rental property.

You register yourself once as a landlord, then each property separately. You receive a landlord registration number, and every property gets its own number.

It is worth being clear about what it is not. It is not a licence. It is not an inspection, and nobody is coming to look at your property because you registered it. It is a record, held in one place, so councils can see who is letting what in their area.

It was created by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and forms the second phase of that Act. The Act itself is not news. What arrived this week is the detail that had been missing all year: the dates, the order, and the fee.

When do you have to register?

That depends on where the property is, not where you live.

Registration opens region by region, and once your region opens you have three months.

West Midlands, opens 15 December 2026, register by 14 March 2027
East of England, opens 15 January 2027, register by 14 April 2027
East Midlands, opens 15 February 2027, register by 14 May 2027
South East, opens 15 March 2027, register by 14 June 2027
Yorkshire and the Humber, opens 15 April 2027, register by 14 July 2027
North West, opens 15 May 2027, register by 14 August 2027
North East, opens 15 June 2027, register by 14 September 2027
London, opens 15 July 2027, register by 14 October 2027
South West, opens 15 August 2027, register by 14 November 2027

Own property in more than one region and you will have more than one deadline. Live in one part of the country and let a home in another, and it is the property's location that counts.

This is England only. Wales and Scotland have their own long standing schemes.

What does it cost?

£65 per property, per year. It is not a one off. You renew every year and pay it again, so four properties means four fees, every year.

The fee is the small part. The register asks for your gas safety record, your electrical certificate and your EPC. If any of those have lapsed, putting them right costs considerably more than the registration does. That is the real cost of this change for a lot of landlords, and it is worth finding those three documents now rather than in the last fortnight.

What happens if you do not register?

A first or less serious breach, such as letting a property that is not registered, can carry a civil penalty of up to £7,000. Repeat breaches, or serious ones such as giving false or misleading information, can carry a penalty of up to £40,000, and knowingly providing false information can be prosecuted as a criminal offence.

The fine is not the worst of it though.

If you are not registered, you cannot get a possession order. There are two narrow exceptions, both to do with serious anti-social or criminal behaviour by a tenant. Everything else, rent arrears included, is closed to you until the registration is put right.

Picture that for a moment. A tenant stops paying, you go to take the property back, and you cannot, because of a form and £65.

That is the reason to register when your region opens rather than in the fortnight before your deadline.

What will you need to hand?

Most of it you already have.

Your own details, or your company's, including a Companies House number where there is one
The property address, its type, its tenure and the number of bedrooms
The freeholder and any superior landlord, plus whoever manages the property
Any HMO or selective licence, and its number
How many people live there, the rent, how often it is paid and what is included
Your gas safety record, your electrical certificate and your EPC

The certificates are where landlords lose time. Everything else is just a form.

One thing worth noting: the register does not replace licensing. If your property needs an HMO licence, or sits in a selective licensing area, you still need that licence as well.

Can your agent do it for you?

Not entirely, and be wary of anyone who tells you otherwise.

The government has been specific on this. Landlords are responsible for starting and ending the registration process. You open it, you submit it, and you remain responsible for the information on it being correct.

What a good agent can do is agree to provide certain information on your behalf. In practice that means the parts we already hold for you: the property and tenancy details, the rent, and the safety certificates we arranged and store. That is the slow half of the job, and we are happy to take it.

Full guidance on exactly what an agent is able to upload is due to be published before the service opens.

What does it mean for tenants?

For now the register is a tool for councils, giving them a clear view of who is letting what so the small number of landlords who cut corners are easier to find.

Further along, the government plans to open a public view so tenants can check whether a landlord is registered before committing to a property. Exactly what will be visible has not been published yet.

What is being widely misreported?

You may have read this week that registration numbers must appear on adverts from December, and that empty properties must be registered before they can be marketed. Neither of those is true yet.

For now you register properties that are let, or that become let during the rollout. Both of those other duties arrive later, under future legislation, alongside the public view. If a supplier is using either of them to sell you something urgently, that is worth knowing.

What should you do this month?

Find your region in the list above and put both dates in the diary.
Dig out your gas safety record, your electrical certificate and your EPC, and check the dates on all three.
Book anything that has expired now, while there is no queue.
If you use an agent, ask them what they will be able to upload for you.

If you are a landlord and you would like to know what we already hold for your property, get in touch. It is a short conversation now and a much shorter job later.

Frequently asked questions

I have three properties. Do I pay three times?

Yes. The fee is £65 per property, per year, and each property receives its own registration number. Your own landlord registration is the same one across all of them.

I use a letting agent. Is it handled for me?

Not automatically, and not entirely. You have to start and complete the registration yourself. Your agent can supply information you have agreed they can supply. Ask them what they will cover, rather than assuming.

My property is empty at the moment. Do I register it now?

Not yet. For now the duty covers properties that are let, or that become let during the rollout. Registering empty properties before marketing them comes later, under future legislation.

I already have a selective licence. Does that exempt me?

No. Licensing and registration are separate things. You keep the licence and you register as well. The register will ask which licence you hold and its number.

If you know a landlord who would find this useful, please pass it on.

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Sources: GOV.UK, Register your rental property (Housing Hub); GOV.UK, Guide to the Renters' Rights Act; GOV.UK, Implementing the Renters' Rights Act 2025 roadmap; Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announcement, 9 September 2026. Checked 9 September 2026. England only. General information, not legal advice.