The PRS Database: what landlords and letting agents must do, and when

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 creates a Private Rented Sector Database for England, a register of landlords and the properties they let. Under the Act, landlords of assured and regulated tenancies in England will be legally required to register both themselves and each property, and will face penalties if they market or let a property without doing so. Scotland and Wales are outside this Act and already run their own schemes: landlord registration with the local council in Scotland, and Rent Smart Wales registration and licensing in Wales. Northern Ireland has its own separate landlord registration scheme. The government’s guide to the Renters’ Rights Act describes the database as a “one stop shop” for landlord obligations; the Act itself is the legal source.

What is confirmed

• Registration will be compulsory. A landlord must hold a valid registration for themselves and for each property before it can be marketed or let. Letting agents will not be able to market an unregistered property on a landlord’s behalf.
• The penalties are substantial. The Act provides for civil penalties of up to £7,000 for initial breaches, rising to as much as £40,000 (or criminal prosecution) for continuing or serious ones. They sit on top of the existing fines regime rather than replacing it.
• Possession is tied to registration. The Act links access to possession grounds to being properly registered. A landlord who is not on the database can find themselves unable to pursue possession until they are. For agents, an unregistered landlord client is therefore an operational risk as well as a compliance one.
• Local authorities will use it for enforcement. The government has been explicit that the database exists partly to help councils identify non-compliant properties and their owners.

What is indicated but not yet fixed

• Timing. The government’s implementation roadmap now states the government “will commence roll out of the Database from late 2026”, as the second phase of the Act’s implementation (the first phase, the periodic tenancy system, took effect on 1 May 2026). Treat anything more precise than “from late 2026” as provisional until the commencement regulations are made.
• The name. The service is expected to be presented to the public as “Register your rental property” rather than “the PRS Database”.
• The fee. A registration fee will apply; the government has said it will be proportionate, and has not confirmed the amount.
• Exactly what evidence registration will demand. The strong expectation across the sector is that registration will draw on the records landlords are already required to hold: gas safety, electrical safety, energy performance and the rest. That is not yet specified in regulations.

What a letting agent should do now

Nothing about the database can be completed today, because registration is not open. What can be done today is the work that makes registration trivial when it arrives, and it is the same work that makes a portfolio defensible now:

• Know your landlords. A register of who owns each property you manage, with current contact details, is the first thing a registration exercise will need. For portfolios with joint or corporate owners, untangling that later is the slow part.
• Get every property’s statutory record straight. You need to know which certificates each property is required to hold, which are on file, which are missing, and when each expires. If registration asks landlords to evidence compliance, this is the evidence.
• Keep the record in one place, dated. A database registration is a point-in-time declaration. Being able to show what was on file on a given date, rather than reconstructing it from inboxes, is what turns a stressful exercise into an administrative one.
• Follow the commencement regulations rather than the commentary. Dates and fee levels will be set by regulation. Anything more precise than “late 2026, phased” is currently speculation, including from software vendors.

How Verixad handles it

Verixad’s job here is the preparation, honestly framed. It holds the owner register, works out which statutory documents each property is required to hold, shows what is on file and what is not, and records PRS readiness per property so an agency can see at a glance which landlords would struggle to register tomorrow. It will never claim to register anyone, predict unpublished dates, or assert legal conclusions. When the government opens registration and publishes the mechanism, the records will already be in order.

The fastest way to see where a portfolio stands is the free compliance audit, which reads a portfolio’s position without an account and shows the gaps a registration exercise would surface.

This page describes the position as at August 2026 and is general information, not legal advice. The Act’s commencement regulations will set the operative dates and requirements, so check GOV.UK for the current guidance.