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Register Your Rental Property

Guide

Special cases on the PRS database

Most landlords own a property in their own name and let it to one household. If your situation is different, this is how the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Database rules apply to you.

Last checked 7 October 2026 against the Regulations, the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and GOV.UK. The Regulations are still a draft until Parliament approves them, so details could change.

Limited companies, SPVs and other organisations

If a company owns the property, the company is the landlord and makes the landlord entry. The same applies to a limited liability partnership, a charity or another organisation. The form asks for:

If the organisation has no Companies House number, you give the names, dates of birth and addresses of all its directors, trustees, partners or governing body members instead.

Trusts

Where the property is held in a trust, the organisation details are given for the trust, together with the details of the lead trustee.

Joint owners

The Regulations say little about joint landlords. They let one joint landlord renew an entry on behalf of the others, and the Act allows the government to set up a single landlord entry for joint landlords, but GOV.UK hasn't yet said whether each joint owner needs their own landlord entry. Check when the service opens.

One rule is already clear and matters most: if any one of the joint landlords is in breach, a court can't make a possession order (except on the anti-social behaviour grounds). Agree between you who will register and renew, and check it's done. See penalties.

HMOs and licensed properties

The form asks whether the property needs an HMO licence, an additional licence or a selective licence, and for the licence numbers if you have them. Registering doesn't replace licensing, and a licence doesn't replace registering: you need both where your council requires a licence.

The form also asks how many people and how many households live in the property. GOV.UK hasn't yet explained how a house let room by room should be entered, which affects how many £65 fees you pay. We'll update this guide when it does.

Empty properties

GOV.UK says that for now you only need to register properties that are let, or that become let during the rollout. If a property is empty, you don't need to register it yet.

That will change. GOV.UK says future rules will require you to register an empty property before you or your agent advertise it, with guidance to follow. If you're about to let a property for the first time, register it when you let it, before your region's deadline.

Tenants already living there

A long-running tenancy needs registering just like a new one. The deadline is your region's, not the date the tenancy started. Registering doesn't change the tenancy or your tenants' rights, and the property details (rent, occupants, certificates) are due within 28 days of creating the property entry, as usual. See deadlines by region.

Selling a property

A property normally has one active entry. When a let property is being sold, the Regulations allow a second active entry after contracts are exchanged, so a buyer who plans to let it can advertise it before completion.

Mortgage lenders, attorneys and executors

A small number of people can make entries for a landlord, with evidence of their authority: someone with a power of attorney, a court-appointed deputy, the personal representative of a landlord who has died, a receiver, a trustee in bankruptcy, a liquidator or administrator, and a mortgage lender (or someone it appoints) that needs to sell the property with vacant possession.

A letting agent can't make your entries, though it can add tenancy details once they exist. See how registration works.

Lets the register doesn't cover

The register applies to landlords of assured tenancies (under the Housing Act 1988) and regulated tenancies (under the Rent Act 1977). It doesn't apply to:

Some lets aren't assured tenancies in the first place. Under the Housing Act 1988 these usually include a lodger in your own home, a genuine holiday let, and a tenancy granted to a company rather than to people. If your let might fall outside the rules, get advice before your deadline rather than assuming it does.

Sources