A new mandatory national register for landlords and rental properties is on its way, created by the Renters' Rights Act 2025. It isn't fully live yet, and there's no single deadline that applies to every landlord — but the penalties for not registering once it applies to you are serious, so it's worth understanding now rather than scrambling later.
What the PRS Database actually is
The Private Rented Sector (PRS) Database is a publicly searchable register of every private landlord and every privately rented property in England. Landlords will need to register themselves and each of their properties before marketing or letting them, and keep that information up to date.
It sits alongside the other changes brought in by the Renters' Rights Act — the abolition of Section 21, the move to periodic tenancies, and reformed grounds for possession under Section 8 — as part of the same package of reform to the private rented sector.
What happens if you don't register
Non-registration carries a civil penalty of up to £7,000, rising to £40,000 for serious or repeated breaches. More immediately relevant for most landlords: once the database applies to you, you won't be able to obtain a possession order — on any ground except anti-social behaviour — unless you're registered.
That last point is the one worth sitting with. If a tenancy situation goes wrong and you need to serve a Section 8 notice, discovering at that point that you're not registered — and can't get a possession order until you are — is a genuinely bad time to find out. Registering early removes that risk entirely.
When does it actually apply to you?
This is the part that's easy to get wrong, because a specific date gets mentioned casually online in places, and it isn't accurate. There is no single national deadline. The database is rolling out regionally from late 2026, with full mandatory registration expected across England during 2027. The government ran a beta of the registration service over the summer of 2026, with landlords registering real properties and receiving a Landlord Registration Number and a Property Registration Number. Exact dates for when registration becomes compulsory in a given area are being confirmed through secondary legislation as the rollout progresses.
In practice, that means: don't wait for a single deadline to appear in the news, because for your specific area there may not be one you can point to months in advance. Instead, watch for when registration opens where your properties are, and register as soon as you're able to.
What to do now
- Keep an eye on official updates on the Renters' Rights Act rollout, rather than relying on a single remembered date.
- Have your landlord and property details ready to go — legal name, contact details, and the address, type, and licensing status of each rental property — so registering is quick once it opens for you.
- Register as soon as it's available for your area rather than waiting until you need to serve a notice.
- If you use a letting agent, check who's responsible for registration on your properties — it's worth confirming rather than assuming.
How Slatebase helps
Every property you manage in Slatebase already has its core details — address, type, tenancy status — recorded in one place, so when registration opens for your area you're pulling from an existing, accurate record rather than hunting through old paperwork or spreadsheets. And because Slatebase's legal document generator is kept current with the Renters' Rights Act, the Section 8 notices you generate reflect the current grounds and notice periods, not a template that's quietly gone stale.
This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. The Private Rented Sector Database rollout is ongoing and specific dates are confirmed via secondary legislation as it progresses — check official government guidance for the current status in your area before relying on any date mentioned here.