What is the PRS Database?
The Private Rented Sector (PRS) Database is the second major pillar of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, after the possession reforms that came into force on 1 May 2026. The government has confirmed it will begin rolling out the Database area by area from late 2026, with registration becoming mandatory for every private landlord in England.
The Database is intended to give tenants, local authorities, and the government a single, reliable record of who owns and manages each rented property, alongside its compliance status. It sits alongside the new Private Rented Sector Ombudsman, which the government has said will not be ready until 2028 — so the Database is coming considerably sooner than the ombudsman scheme.
Who needs to register, and how
Every landlord letting a property on an assured tenancy in England will need to register. A key detail that catches people out: even where a letting agent manages the property day-to-day and can submit information on the landlord’s behalf, the landlord must still obtain their own Landlord Registration Number first. That step is tied to an individual GOV.UK login and can’t simply be delegated to an agent from scratch.
Once registered, landlords will need to keep the information on the Database up to date, including details of the property, the tenancy, and their compliance certificates, and will be required to pay an annual fee. The exact fee amount has not yet been confirmed, but the government has said registration costs will fund the Database’s launch and ongoing running costs.
What happens if you don’t register
The penalties are structured similarly to other RRA 2025 obligations: a civil penalty of up to £7,000 for a first breach, rising to as much as £40,000 for repeated or serious non-compliance. Separately, and arguably more consequential day to day, landlords who are not registered on the Database will not be able to obtain a possession order under most Section 8 grounds — the exceptions being the anti-social behaviour grounds (7A and 14). In practice, an unregistered landlord will find it very difficult to recover their property even where they have good grounds to do so.
How this connects to everything else in the Act
The Database is not a standalone system — it is expected to draw on the same compliance data landlords already need to maintain: gas safety certificates, EPCs, EICRs, deposit protection, and the RRA 2025 Information Sheet. Landlords who already have this information organised in one place will have a much easier registration process than those piecing it together from folders and email inboxes when the rollout reaches their area.
How to prepare now, before it’s mandatory
- Get your compliance paperwork current. If your gas safety certificate, EPC, or EICR has lapsed, renew it now rather than scrambling when registration opens in your area.
- Confirm deposit protection is in order for every tenancy, since this is exactly the kind of record the Database is designed to surface.
- Keep a single, accurate record of which properties you own and let, ready to transfer into the Database once your area’s rollout date is announced.
- Watch for your local rollout date. The government has said the Database will be introduced area by area rather than all at once nationally, so registration deadlines will vary.
How Comprent helps
Comprent already tracks every property’s compliance status, certificate expiry dates, and tenancy records in one place — exactly the information the PRS Database will ask for. As the government publishes registration details, we’ll update Comprent to make transferring your existing records into the Database as close to one click as the government’s own system allows.
This article reflects the government’s published implementation roadmap as of September 2026. Registration fees and exact timings are still subject to confirmation — check GOV.UK for the latest position before your area’s rollout date.