Propertymark has called for discretionary local landlord licensing schemes to be removed once the national Private Rented Sector Database is fully operational, arguing that councils should use the new system instead of requiring repeated applications from landlords and agents.
The trade body says the first stage of the register, branded Register your rental property, is due to begin in the West Midlands on 15 December before expanding across England. Its position paper does not propose weaker enforcement; it argues that national data should help councils identify higher-risk operators while cutting duplicated administration for compliant landlords.
The timetable gives the issue immediate weight. Landlord Knowledge previously reported that the Government has set a £65 PRS register fee from 15 December, so landlords will shortly face a new national requirement alongside any local schemes that remain in place.
PRS Database and licensing duplication
Propertymark’s report says selective and additional licensing fees can exceed £1,000 per property. For a landlord or agent with a larger portfolio, it says, the total can run into tens of thousands of pounds before the cost of supplying documents and renewing applications is counted.
Tim Thomas, Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer at Propertymark, said landlords should be able to see a clear link between the fees they pay and improvements in local housing. He said licensing should not become an end in itself where councils already have powers to find and act against unsafe or badly managed homes.
The case made by the body relies on enforcement capacity as well as cost. It says around two-thirds of English councils had not prosecuted a landlord in the previous three years despite an estimated 300,000 annual complaints about property conditions, while more than 84 percent reported difficulty recruiting environmental health professionals.
Propertymark is asking the Government to make the national database the main source of landlord and property information, introduce more transparency over what licence fees fund, and cap the share of a fee spent on initial administration at 20 percent. Its local authority landlord licensing report sets out those recommendations and the evidence behind them.
Enforcement remains the dividing line
The proposal is a policy call from Propertymark, not a Government decision to abolish local licensing. Councils would still need effective tools and staff to investigate poor conditions, and local schemes are often defended as a way to fund that work.
Landlord Knowledge’s September coverage of the NRLA’s warning about duplicated PRS registration and local licensing showed that the same tension is already shaping the database debate. The new Propertymark paper adds detailed fee and enforcement arguments, but the practical test will be whether national records help councils find rogue landlords without creating another layer of data entry for everyone else.
What this means for landlords
- If you operate in a licensing area: keep local licence and renewal duties under review. The proposed national register does not remove existing schemes.
- Before 15 December: check which properties and information will need to be registered, particularly if you hold homes in more than one council area.
- Watch for: Government guidance on how the PRS Database will interact with selective and additional licensing as the rollout begins.
- Bottom line: the database may reduce duplication in time, but landlords should not assume a local licence will disappear unless their council or the Government formally changes the rules.
Editor’s view
Propertymark is right to focus on the difference between collecting information and enforcing standards. A national register could make compliance simpler, but only if it replaces genuinely duplicated requests rather than sitting on top of them.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 05 October 2026
Sources: Propertymark, The effectiveness of local authority landlord licensing schemes
Related reading: Government sets £65 landlord register fee from 15 December
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