Government sets £65 landlord register fee from 15 December

The government will begin rolling out its ‘Register your rental property’ service in the West Midlands on 15 December 2026, charging landlords £65 a year for every let property entered on the new system.

The official rollout timetable, published today, gives landlords in the West Midlands until 14 March 2027 to register. England-wide registration will then move region by region until the South West deadline of 14 November 2027, with councils able to begin enforcement after each local three-month window closes.

The announcement turns an eventual PRS database into a dated compliance project for landlords with occupied homes. The first requirement is not limited to new tenancies: existing let properties are in scope during the rollout, and a landlord with homes in several regions must work to the deadline for each property’s location.

£65 charge applies to every registered property

According to the government’s Register your rental property guidance, the annual charge is £65 per property and must be paid again when registration is renewed. The service covers landlords of assured or regulated tenancies, while landlords of supported exempt accommodation are outside this requirement.

A landlord will need to provide property, tenancy and rent details, including the address, number of bedrooms and occupants, rent charged and whether utilities are included. The entry will also ask whether a property needs HMO, additional or selective licensing, and for copies or details of gas safety records, electrical safety reports and EPCs where applicable.

Letting agents can upload some information, but the government says the landlord must start and end the registration process and remains responsible for supplying the required details. That leaves no safe assumption that appointing an agent transfers the legal registration task.

West Midlands starts first as regional deadlines run to November

The West Midlands requirement begins on 15 December, followed by the East of England on 15 January and the East Midlands on 15 February. The timetable then reaches the South East in March, Yorkshire and Humber in April, the North West in May, the North East in June, London in July and the South West in August 2027.

Each region has a three-month registration period. A landlord can register earlier if they own property in more than one region, but cannot leave a let home until its local deadline. The government says the staggered approach is intended to prevent the service being overwhelmed when it opens.

This follows Landlord Knowledge’s 2 September report on calls for rent and eviction data to be included in the PRS database. Today’s timetable supplies the operational dates and the £65 annual cost that were previously unclear, while the tenant-facing element is still to come.

For the full property-location timetable, the information to prepare and the boundary between the initial rollout and future empty-property marketing rules, see Landlord Knowledge’s PRS Database registration guide.

Vacant homes and advert identifiers are a later phase

For now, the rules apply to homes that are already let or become occupied during the rollout. The government says later legislation will require landlords to register vacant homes before they, or an agent, market them, and will require unique landlord and property identifiers on adverts. It has not yet set the date for that part of the system.

The database is also intended to give councils a fuller picture of local private renting, so they can identify poor practice more quickly. Landlords should treat the requested compliance documents as records to check now, rather than a list to assemble in the final week of the registration window.

Landlords can use the Landlord Compliance Checklist to review the current gas, electrical, EPC, licensing, occupancy and rent records before registration opens.

What this means for landlords

• If you let in the West Midlands: start checking gas, electrical and EPC records now, ahead of the 15 December start and 14 March deadline.
• If you own homes across regions: make a property-by-property timetable, because the deadline follows the home’s location rather than your address.
• Budget for: £65 per property each year, alongside the time needed to prepare tenancy, licensing and safety information.
• Bottom line: the PRS database now has a fee, first launch date and regional deadlines, making early document checks a sensible compliance step.

Editor’s view
The £65 fee will draw attention, but the bigger issue for most landlords is the accuracy of the information and certificates attached to each property. A phased launch gives time to prepare, yet it also makes it harder to argue that a missed deadline was unforeseeable.

Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 9 September 2026

Sources: UK Government Housing Hub
Related reading: Renters Reform Coalition urges rent and eviction data in PRS database
 

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