Landlords will pay £65 a year for each rental property registered through the Government’s new service, with the first legal deadline falling in the West Midlands after the scheme opens on 15 December.

The Government has confirmed that landlords must start and end each registration themselves. Letting agents and property managers may provide certain information by agreement, but the landlord remains responsible for making sure the entry is complete.

The design puts the new cost and compliance duty directly on the owner, even where an agent holds the certificates, tenancy details and day-to-day property records. For portfolios spread between agencies, the quality of that handover could decide whether the service feels routine or becomes another point of friction.

Owners keep control of the register

The registration duty initially applies to landlords of assured or regulated tenancies where a property is already let, or becomes let during the rollout. Each property has its own annual £65 fee and must be renewed every year. The deadline follows the property’s location, not where the landlord lives.

Entries will include property, tenancy, rent and safety information, including relevant gas, electrical and energy certificates. Landlords with properties in more than one region may register early from 15 December, rather than wait for each area to be called forward.

The schedule runs monthly after the West Midlands launch. The South West regulations commence on 15 August 2027, with a registration deadline of 14 November 2027. Government says councils can begin enforcement activity in a region after its deadline, but it has not set out a fine amount in the announcement or guidance.

Agents can assist, but cannot take over

Propertymark argues that this distinction does not reflect how much of the sector is managed. Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, said that requiring each landlord to make a separate entry could create unnecessary delays and discourage timely action.

Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, said: “Letting agents will be central to making the service work in practice. We need clear guidance, as soon as possible, on what agents can and cannot do to support their landlord clients.”

This follows Residential Landlord’s report on agent access concerns when the PRS Database was still being designed. The new guidance settles one point: agents can support an entry, but cannot initiate or close it. It leaves the promised detail on permissions, information-sharing and practical agency workflows for later guidance.

The announcement also moves the database from policy plan to a live operating cost. Residential Landlord’s earlier coverage of the Government’s PRS data strategy examined how registration data is intended to sit alongside enforcement and tribunal information. The service now gives that plan a fixed start date and a landlord-facing process.

The Government’s Housing Hub guidance on the service sets out the information required and confirms that the landlord remains responsible even where an agent provides some of it.

Industry sees a new compliance pinch point

Goodlord welcomed registration in principle but said the rollout would add to pressure on a stretched sector.

Tom Goodman, Managing Director at Goodlord, said: “Landlord registration and a faster route to resolving rent disputes are welcome in principle. But in practice, this will increase the compliance burden facing a sector that’s already stretched thin.”

Goodman said Goodlord’s own research found 44% of landlords named regulatory pressure as their top concern. That is company research, not an official measure, but it explains why the division of work between owner and agent has become an early focus of the launch.

For now, unoccupied properties do not have to be registered before marketing. That will change only under future legislation, when landlords and agents will also need to include unique identifiers in adverts. The distinction matters because the December rollout is narrower than the eventual public-facing system.

Opinion

The £65 fee is clear. The working boundary between landlord and agent is not yet. Ministers have avoided handing responsibility to agents, but the service will only run cleanly if the promised permissions and guidance match the way managed portfolios are actually administered.