How to use the Register your rental property service: a step-by-step guide for landlords

"Register your rental property" is the government's planned online service for England's new landlord database: you register yourself free, then each let property for £65 a year. It is due to open region by region from 15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands, so that every actively letting landlord in scope is registered by 14 November 2027, and guidance published on 29 October 2026 sets out how registration will work.

Nobody can register yet. As of 31 October 2026 the regulations are still a draft: committees in both Houses debated them on 28 October, but neither House has approved them (Parliament). For why the database exists, see our PRS database overview; this post is the walkthrough.

What did the government publish on 29 October 2026?

Three guidance pages from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), which will run the service: for landlords, for letting agents and property managers and for third parties.

What do you need before you start?

A GOV.UK One Login, plus one folder per property. The landlord guidance says you "will register with the service using GOV.UK One Login and will have the option of verifying your identity". One Login offers three ways to prove your identity: its app with photo ID, security questions online, or at a Post Office. What verifying adds inside the service is not yet confirmed.

The Housing Hub lists what you will be asked for:

An expired EPC from a current tenancy does not need renewing to register; see our expired EPC guide. A licensed HMO is one registration, not one per room.

How do you register as a landlord on GOV.UK, step by step?

Register yourself, then each property, then pay, then complete each property record within 28 days:

1. Register yourself. Sign in with One Login and add your details. It is free and gives you a landlord number (L-XXXX-XXXX). Under the draft, a landlord registration with no property added within three months goes inactive (regulation 11).
2. Add each property. Enter its details, a correspondence address and any agent, superior landlord or freeholder contacts.
3. Pay the fee. This gives the property its number (P-XXXX-XXXX).
4. Complete the record within 28 days. Certificates, tenancy, rent and licences can go in at once or later; the draft counts from the day the entry is made (regulation 6(2)). Miss it and the registration "may be deactivated", which can put you in breach if the property is let.
5. Keep it current. Update anything that changes or expires within 28 days, free.

GOV.UK uses the anniversary of your first property's registration as the common renewal date. However, draft regulation 10(3) says the last day of the 12-month period beginning with registration, which is a day earlier. This difference is not yet resolved in the published sources; confirm the renewal date when the service opens. If you stop letting one, you can deactivate it; with no active properties left, your landlord registration is deactivated too.

How does the £65 fee work during the rollout?

You pay £65 per property per year, but the first payment covers only the days from 15 November 2027 to your renewal date. In the guidance's words: "The annual service fee is £65 per property. This fee is not subject to VAT." Landlord registration and updates are free.

The formula is £65 divided by the days in the year, times the days to renewal minus the days before 15 November 2027, rounded down. GOV.UK's example: register on 15 December 2026 and pay £5.34. Because charging starts on the same date for everyone, registering early costs no more. GOV.UK says the fee "is tax-deductible" and points to HMRC guidance on allowable expenses.

How do joint landlords register on the PRS database?

Every joint landlord registers as a landlord, but only one registers each property: "One of the joint landlords must register the property and invite all other joint landlords to the property registration." That includes a part-owner entitled to possession, "even if you are not named on the tenancy agreement".

• Partnerships. English partners register as individuals and follow the joint route; LLPs and Scottish partnerships register as organisations.
• Renewal date. Under draft regulation 10(5) it follows whoever makes the entry, so if one of you makes every entry, everything renews together.
• Possession. Once section 90 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 is in force, a court cannot make an assured-tenancy possession order while any joint landlord lacks the required active entries, except on antisocial behaviour grounds 7A and 14. A co-owner who ignores the invitation holds up everyone.

Can a letting agent register a landlord's property for you?

No. An agent can complete the tenancy and certificate sections, but you start the registration and pay. The agent guidance says: "Landlords must start all property registrations. It's their legal responsibility to register each of their properties and make payment."

When registering a property, you can give your agency's email address. The agency gets a unique link for that property, sets a password, and can then provide and update licence details, tenants and households, furnishing, rent and bills, and the gas, electrical and EPC certificates with their dates.

The agent is "responsible for the accuracy of any property information you submit", and you are notified of everything it submits. You remain responsible for the information arriving within 28 days; the service will remind you if it is missing. Agents cannot reset a link's password: you cancel the link and send a new one. Agents opt in voluntarily, so agree who does what before launch.

When do you have to register your rental property?

By the end date for the property's region, not yours. Dates from the landlord guidance, each end date running until midnight; check your council's region on the government's regions list (PDF).

You can register properties before their region opens, so a portfolio across regions can go in at once, "providing none are registered after their region's end date".

During the rollout you only have to register properties let on an assured or regulated tenancy, or that become let; the agent guidance words this as let at the region's deadline, or let after it. Supported exempt accommodation is excluded. Empty properties wait until a later rule requires registration before marketing.

What happens if you do not register?

Once the duties are in force, a council can impose a penalty of up to £7,000 for breaching the registration requirements, or up to £40,000 for an offence such as knowingly or recklessly giving materially false or misleading information (sections 91 and 92). Councils can enforce after each region's deadline, and the third-party guidance says the possession restriction applies "From Winter 2027". A council licence does not replace registration: see selective licensing and the PRS database.

Is there a paper route if you cannot register online?

Yes: "If you do not have digital access, you can register through a paper-based application", requested from the service's support team once it is live. How to request one is not yet confirmed (checked 31 October 2026).

Someone else can register for you only with legal authority, such as an attorney, deputy, receiver or mortgagee, by contacting the service with a certified or sealed copy of that authority. Unless they have become the landlord, as a personal representative or trustee in bankruptcy does, you stay legally responsible.

What does registration look like for a couple with three lets?

Sam and Alex will each register as landlords, and Sam will register all three properties and invite Alex. This illustrative example uses GOV.UK's anniversary renewal method, subject to the draft wording difference above: they jointly own two flats in Birmingham (West Midlands) and a house in Bristol (South West), all let on assured periodic tenancies. An agent manages one flat.

From 15 November 2027 to the 11 January 2028 renewal is 57 days: £65 ÷ 365 × 57 = £10.1506, rounded down to £10.15. Adding Bristol on 1 September 2027 instead would cost the same, so January simply means one sitting. The 28 days from 11 January, counting that day, end on 7 February.

What should you do before 15 December 2026?

Prepare your login, records and registration dates before the planned opening.

• Set up a One Login for each owner, and decide who makes the entries.
• Diary each property's regional end date.
• Build one folder per property from the table above, and book any gas or electrical check due near your window.
• Agree with your agent who uploads what, and which email you will give.
• Budget the pro-rated first payment, then £65 per property a year.
• Ignore anyone offering to register you now: the service is not open.

Padlord keeps each property's certificates, expiry dates, licence and tenancy details in one place, ready to upload, and the free compliance deadline checker calculates standard gas and EICR due dates and EPC expiry from the dates you enter.

General information, not legal advice. The regulations are still in draft and the service is not yet open, so check GOV.UK before relying on any date. Sources checked on 31 October 2026.