Do you need to register on the landlord database?
The Renters' Rights Act creates a national landlord register. Does it apply to my property, and when?
Rules last read at source on 24 September 2026. Covers England. Scotland and Wales run their own separate landlord registration schemes, and the checker says so rather than leaving you guessing.
Your property
Answer the three questions and this will tell you whether the database applies to this property, and when registration opens where it is.
What is actually known, and what is not
This one is worth separating carefully, because some of what is circulating the government has not said. The first column is GOV.UK's announcement, the government's Housing Hub guidance and the draft regulations; the second is everything else.
- The service is called Register your rental property.
- It launches on 15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands.
- It reaches the rest of England one region a month. Each region has an opening date and a deadline to register three months later — all nine are in the list above.
- Schedule 1 defines each region by naming the local authorities in it.
- Every actively let property must be registered by 14 November 2027.
- It "initially only applies to landlords with properties under let, or which become occupied during rollout". Empty properties will later need registering before they are marketed to let.
- The fee is £65 a year per property, renewed annually and pro-rated during the rollout.
- Registration is a legal requirement, and not registering risks a fine.
- The regulations behind the dates are still draft — laid before Parliament, not yet made.
- A penalty figure. The £40,000 in circulation is not in the regulations or on any government page, which say only that not registering risks a fine.
- That an unregistered landlord cannot regain possession. Widely repeated, and not something the government's guidance on the service says.
What registration will ask for
From Schedule 3 of the draft regulations, which lists them — so these are the actual fields rather than the roadmap's summary of them.
You
Your name, a correspondence address that cannot be a PO box, and an email address. Plus contact details for a freehold owner, superior landlord or property manager where there is one.
The property
The address, the ownership type, the property type, the number of bedrooms and whether it is currently let.
The letting
How many people live there and how many households they form, the rent and how often it is paid, which utilities it includes, and whether it is furnished, part furnished or unfurnished.
Safety and licensing
Whether HMO, additional or selective licensing applies and the licence number; a copy of the gas safety record and its issue date; a copy of the EICR and its expiry date; the EPC, and whether an exemption is registered where the rating is below the minimum standard.
The last group is the one to look at hardest. Schedule 3 asks for a copy of the gas safety record and its issue date, a copy of the EICR and its expiry date, and the EPC — so registering means putting the certificates themselves on a government record, and one that has quietly lapsed becomes visible on the day you register rather than on the day somebody inspects. If you want the dates in front of you first, the certificate expiry calculator works them out from what is on each certificate.
What this does not tell you
It works from what you typed in, and nothing else. Every one of these is a way the answer above can be right and your position still be wrong.
Nobody can register yet. The service opens on 15 December 2026, so this tells you where you stand rather than what to do today.
The dates, deadlines and fee are the government's own, but the regulations behind the dates are still in draft — laid before Parliament and not yet made — so they could still move.
It asks which region you are in rather than working it out from a postcode. Schedule 1 of the draft regulations defines each region by naming its local authorities, and the page links it — but that mapping is not built into this tool.
It does not state a penalty figure. The government says only that not registering risks a fine; the £40,000 quoted widely is not on any government page.
Whether a letting is an assured tenancy depends on the facts of the occupation rather than the label on the agreement. If that is genuinely uncertain, it is a question for someone who can look at your situation.
England only. Scotland's landlord registration and Rent Smart Wales are separate schemes with their own rules, and this page does not cover either.
Answers, in plain terms
When does the landlord database open?
15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands, then one region a month, and each region has three months from its opening date to register. The government's dates are: West Midlands opens 15 December 2026 (deadline 14 March 2027), East of England 15 January 2027 (14 April), East Midlands 15 February (14 May), South East 15 March (14 June), Yorkshire and Humber 15 April (14 July), North West 15 May (14 August), North East 15 June (14 September), London 15 July (14 October) and South West 15 August (14 November 2027). So every actively let property in England has to be registered by 14 November 2027. The regulations behind the dates are still in draft, so they could still move.
Does every landlord have to register?
Every landlord in England letting on an assured or regulated tenancy, with no minimum portfolio size — one property carries the same duty as a hundred. Registration covers both you and each property you let. A holiday let, a lodger sharing your own home and a let to a company are not assured tenancies, so the database is unlikely to apply to them.
What about a property that is sitting empty?
It is outside the first wave. GOV.UK says the requirements "initially only apply to landlords with properties under let, or which become occupied during rollout". So an empty property you are not letting is not caught yet. The government has said future legislation will require an empty property to be registered before it is marketed to let.
How much does it cost?
£65 a year per property, according to the government's guidance on the service. It is charged per property rather than per landlord, so four properties cost £260 a year, and it is renewed annually. During the rollout the fee is pro-rated, so landlords in the regions that register first do not pay more.
What will I have to provide?
Schedule 3 of the draft regulations lists it. Your own details, including a correspondence address that cannot be a PO box. The property's address, ownership type, property type, bedrooms and let status. The letting itself — how many people live there and how many households they form, the rent and its frequency, which utilities it includes, and the furnishing status. Then licensing, and the safety documents: a copy of the gas safety record with its issue date, a copy of the EICR with its expiry date, and the EPC. That last group is the one worth preparing, because registering means putting the certificates themselves on a government record.
How do I know which region I am in?
Schedule 1 of the draft regulations defines each of the nine regions by naming the local authorities in it — the West Midlands is the areas of Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council and so on. So it is your billing authority that decides your region, not your postcode or where you would say you live. The schedule fixes those authority areas as they existed on 15 December 2026, so a later council reorganisation will not move your date. If your council sits near a regional boundary, read the schedule rather than assuming.
Is this the same as the landlord ombudsman?
No, and they are not arriving together. The ombudsman is a separate redress service that tenants will be able to use for free, with membership becoming a legal requirement for private landlords in England. The roadmap says the government expects mandatory membership in 2028. The database comes first.
Tenarize keeps the rest of it in one place
This page answers a question Tenarize does not decide for you. What the product does is hold the answer once you have it — the licences, certificates and deadlines against each property, with a reminder before any of them lapse rather than a folder you have to remember to open.