When do landlords in England have to join the national landlord register?

Every private landlord in England letting on an assured or regulated tenancy will have to register themselves, and each property they let, on the government's new Register Your Rental Property service. Registration opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands, and draft regulations put the North West, including Manchester, on 15 May 2027. The government says landlords get three months once their region is called, and everyone actively letting must be registered by 14 November 2027.

This guide keeps the law, the draft rules and the announcements apart.

What the register is

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 creates a Private Rented Sector Database; Register Your Rental Property is the service for joining it. Each landlord makes a landlord entry, each rented home gets a dwelling entry, and both receive a registration number. Two things are still missing:

• Commencement. The Act's database sections are not yet in force. Separate commencement regulations will switch them on; none had been published by 17 September 2026.
• The detail. How registration works is in the draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026, published on 9 September 2026. Both Houses of Parliament must approve them, and they could change.

Who has to register

The Act covers the landlord of a home in England let on an assured tenancy, or a Rent Act 1977 regulated tenancy, other than social housing. The draft regulations also exclude supported exempt accommodation.

At first, the government says, only properties already let, or occupied during the rollout, must be registered. Registering empty properties before marketing them will follow under future legislation.

Joint landlords each make their own landlord entry and share one dwelling entry.

Can a letting agent register for you?

Not entirely, under the draft rules. The entries must be made by the landlord or someone with legal authority to act for them, such as an attorney or executor. A landlord can, however, appoint a letting agent or property manager to supply and update the tenancy and safety details. In practice, you create the entries and an agent can keep the certificates current; our fees page shows what ours covers.

When: the timetable

The draft regulations set these start dates by region:

• West Midlands: 15 December 2026
• East of England: 15 January 2027
• East Midlands: 15 February 2027
• South East: 15 March 2027
• Yorkshire and Humber: 15 April 2027
• North West: 15 May 2027
• North East: 15 June 2027
• London: 15 July 2027
• South West: 15 August 2027

The government has announced three months to sign up once a region is called forward, and a final deadline of 14 November 2027 for everyone actively letting.

For Manchester: Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Stockport and the other Greater Manchester boroughs are all in the draft North West region, so registration here would open on 15 May 2027. That date is not yet law.

What you will be asked for

Under the draft regulations, an individual landlord gives their name, date of birth, home address, phone number and email address. For each property, they ask for:

• the address, ownership type, property type, number of bedrooms and whether it is let
• a correspondence address in England or Wales for the landlord
• the names and email addresses of the freeholder, any superior landlord and any managing agent

For a let property, the rest must follow within 28 days of the entry or it lapses:

• the number of occupants and households, and any HMO, additional or selective licence number
• the gas safety record and its issue date, if there is a gas supply
• the EICR and the date the next inspection is due
• the EPC, where one had to be given to the tenant, and any registered energy efficiency exemption
• the rent, how often it is paid and which bills it includes
• whether the home is furnished, part-furnished or unfurnished

Entries must be updated within 28 days of anything changing, and renewed every 12 months. See our guides to landlord safety certificates and, if you live abroad, letting a Manchester property from overseas.

Is there a fee?

Yes. The draft regulations require a fee for each property when it is registered and at each annual renewal. The amount will be set to cover running and enforcing the register, and had not been announced at the time of writing.

What happens if you don't register

These rules are in the Act but not yet in force.

• Marketing. Nobody may market a home to let without an active landlord entry and dwelling entry. It applies to anyone, agents included.
• Adverts. Written adverts must show the registration numbers of both the landlord and the property.
• Fines. Councils can fine up to £7,000 for breaching either rule, or the landlord's duty to keep both entries active and up to date.
• Offences. Knowingly or recklessly giving false or misleading information is an offence, as is a breach that continues more than 28 days after a fine, or a further breach within five years of one. These carry a council fine of up to £40,000 or prosecution, and some can also lead to rent repayment orders.
• Possession. A court cannot make a possession order while the landlord, or any joint landlord, lacks active entries, unless the claim is on ground 7A or ground 14, the anti-social behaviour grounds.

A breach does not, on its own, make the tenancy invalid. For the wider possession rules, see what the Renters' Rights Act changed.

Where the landlord ombudsman fits

The landlord ombudsman is separate. The government's roadmap says it will follow the database, with landlords, including those using a managing agent, expected to have to join in 2028. Letting agents already have to belong to a redress scheme; Atlas is a member of the Property Redress Scheme.

What to do now

1. Confirm who the landlord is on each tenancy; joint landlords will each need an entry.
2. Put the current gas safety record, EICR and EPC for every property in one place, with renewal dates noted.
3. Check whether each property needs an HMO, additional or selective licence, and note the number.
4. Write down the rent, what bills it includes, the furnishing and who lives there.
5. For flats, find contact details for the freeholder and any managing agent. If you live overseas, arrange a correspondence address in England or Wales.
6. Put 15 May 2027 in the diary and budget for a fee per property.

General information, current at September 2026, and not legal advice. The register depends on draft and commencement regulations not yet made, and details may change; confirm the current position on GOV.UK before acting.

If you would like help getting a property's certificates and tenancy details together before the North West opens, ring 0161 710 4510 or call in at 12–14 Midland Street, Manchester M12 6LB.