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’s “Register your rental property” service opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands, then one region a month. Once your region opens you have three months to register, and every private landlord in England must be registered by 14 November 2027.
When your region opens
| Region | Opens | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| West Midlands | 15 December 2026 | 14 March 2027 |
| East of England | 15 January 2027 | 14 April 2027 |
| East Midlands | 15 February 2027 | 14 May 2027 |
| South East | 15 March 2027 | 14 June 2027 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 15 April 2027 | 14 July 2027 |
| North West | 15 May 2027 | 14 August 2027 |
| North East | 15 June 2027 | 14 September 2027 |
| London | 15 July 2027 | 14 October 2027 |
| South West | 15 August 2027 | 14 November 2027 |
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 an occupied property on an assured or regulated tenancy in England will need to register. A key detail from GOV.UK’s official Register your rental property service guidance (published 29 October 2026): even where a letting agent manages the property day-to-day, the landlord must start the registration and pay the fee themselves using their own GOV.UK One Login to obtain their Landlord Registration Number (L-XXXX-XXXX) and Property Registration Number (P-XXXX-XXXX).
However, landlords can delegate the compliance uploads to their letting agent or property manager: during registration, you enter your agent’s email address for that property, and GOV.UK sends the agent a unique property access link where they set a password and upload the compliance certificates and tenancy details on your behalf. Licensed HMOs require a single registration for the whole property, not per room.
Once you pay the registration fee, you have 28 days to submit any outstanding compliance certificates (Gas Safety, EICR/EIC, EPC, tenancy/rent details, and any HMO or selective licence) or the property registration is deactivated. Any subsequent changes (such as a change in occupants, rent amount, or a renewed certificate) must also be updated on the service within 28 days.
How the £65 fee and rollout discount work
Landlord registration itself is free. The standard property registration fee is £65 per property per year (no VAT, and tax-deductible as an allowable rental expense). All properties registered by the same landlord share a single annual renewal date, set to one year from the date your first property is registered.
During the initial rollout (15 December 2026 to 14 November 2027), every day before 15 November 2027 is free. GOV.UK calculates your first-year fee using the formula (65 / year_length) × (remaining_days − free_days), rounded down to two decimal places:
- Example 1 (Opening day in the West Midlands, 15 December 2026): You receive 335 free days and pay just £5.34 for your first year.
- Example 2 (Registering on 25 June 2027): You receive 142 free days and pay £39.60 for your first year.
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 knowingly or recklessly providing false information or repeated breaches. From 15 December 2026 (once a region’s window opens), tenants can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order (Section 98) where a landlord knowingly or recklessly gives false information or commits repeated breaches.
Separately, and arguably more consequential day to day, landlords who are required to be registered and are not (or whose registration has been deactivated after 28 days for missing certificates) cannot obtain a possession order under most Section 8 grounds, the exceptions being the anti-social behaviour grounds (7A and 14).
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 when your region opens.
- Note your region’s window. Registration opens one region at a time (see the table above, or enter your postcode in our free PRS Database checker), and you have three months from your region’s opening date.
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.
Dates and the fee are from the government’s Housing Hub guidance as of October 2026. Check GOV.UK for the latest position before your region opens.