RRA Phase 2: Register your Rental Property Service and update on rent increase challenges

This article is written by Sarah Orchard and Rebecca Grimshaw.

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (RRA 2025) introduces significant reforms to the Private Rented Sector (PRS), as discussed in a previous article on phase 1 of the Act, which came into force on 1 May 2026. Phase 2 is set to bring further substantial change for the sector with the introduction of the PRS database, also known as the “Register your Rental Property” service, which is currently being rolled out by the government.

Registration service

Chapter 3 of Part 2 of the RRA provides for the establishment of the PRS database and requires residential landlords of assured or regulated tenancies in England to register both themselves and their rental properties onto this database via the new registration service.

On 9 September 2026, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that the registration service will be rolled out across England later this year on a regional basis, marking the commencement of Phase 2 of the RRA 2025.

According to the government, the new PRS database is designed to create a fairer rental market by enabling landlords to meet their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance, preventing standards from being undercut .

Below, we consider the likely impact of the new registration requirements on landlords and local authorities.

Impact of the database

Landlords

Once the registration service opens in a particular region, all private landlords of assured or regulated tenancies within that region will be required to register their information by the deadline provided. This may include registered providers in respect of market-rent and other properties which are not “social housing” for the purposes of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. The status of the accommodation, rather than the landlord’s status as a registered provider, will determine whether registration is required. Landlords of supported exempt accommodation will not be required to register under the proposed arrangements.

The registration service requires landlords to provide personal or organisational information, together with details of their rental properties, including the property address, ownership type, number of bedrooms, tenancy information, rent amount and evidence of compliance with relevant health and safety standards.

Landlords will also be responsible for maintaining an active entry on the database throughout the duration of a tenancy and must comply with the regulations on keeping the database up to date. For example, registrations must be renewed annually and will be subject to a fee of £65 per property.

Failure to register the required information, or to maintain an active and accurate database entry, may result in civil penalties of up to £7,000 for a single breach. This includes marketing a rental property without an active entry on the database. In addition, a person will commit an offence if they “knowingly or recklessly provide information to the database operator which is false or misleading in a material respect”.

Alongside the financial penalties and criminal offences associated with non-compliance, a court will also be unable to grant a possession order unless both a landlord and dwelling entry are active on the database. An exception applies where possession is sought on ground 7A or 14 of the Housing Act 1988.

Local authorities

The Government has stated that local authorities will be responsible for taking enforcement action against landlords who fail to comply with the database requirements. Once the registration deadline for a particular region has passed, councils will have the power to impose the civil penalties outlined above and take enforcement action where necessary.

To support this role, local authorities will have access to the database, enabling them to verify landlord and property information. Funding generated through annual registration fees will also be used to assist councils in identifying and addressing non-compliance with the database requirements and RRA 2025 reforms .

The new registration service is therefore intended to provide local authorities with a more effective means of identifying poor practice and enforcing standards across the private rented sector.

Timeline

The draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 have now been published, alongside an Explanatory Memorandum. The Regulations set out the operational process for the PRS database, including the procedure for creating landlord and dwelling entries in the database and the range of requirements landlords are required to meet.

The registration service is expected to commence on 15 December 2026, on a phased regional basis, beginning in the West Midlands when parts of the Regulations come into force. Landlords with rental properties in that region will have until 14 March 2027 to complete their registration.

Importantly, registration requirements are determined by the location of the rental property, rather than the landlord’s residential address.

Landlords will generally have three months from the date the registration service opens in their region to submit the required information onto the database. All private rented sector properties must be registered by 14 November 2027.

The regional registration deadlines are set out below.

‘Register your rental property’ service – Registration deadlines

Rent increase challenges – future reforms

In addition to announcing the rollout of the PRS database, the Government indicated that HM Revenue and Customs’ Valuation Office will, in future, become responsible for making initial determinations on tenants’ challenges to proposed rent increases in England. This function is currently undertaken by the First-tier Tribunal.

The Government has stated that the proposed transfer is intended to enable challenges to be determined more quickly and reduce pressure on the tribunal system. However, the reforms will take time to develop. Until the new arrangements are introduced, tenants wishing to challenge a proposed rent increase must continue to apply to the First-tier Tribunal.

Where a tenant makes such an application, the higher rent will not be payable until the First-tier Tribunal has made its final decision.

What should landlords do now?

Landlords should begin preparing for registration by:

• identifying the registration region and deadline for each property they own;

• checking which tenancies and properties fall within scope;

• collating the required personal, organisational, ownership and tenancy information;

• reviewing gas safety, electrical safety and energy performance documentation;

• agreeing responsibilities with letting agents and property managers, where applicable;

• establishing processes for updating entries within the applicable time limits; and

• diarising annual renewal dates.

Landlords should also keep the developments with the planned reforms for rent increases under review.

Landlords with properties in more than one region will be able to register them together from 15 December 2026, provided that each property is registered before the deadline applying to its region

Should you require further advice and guidance on this, or the wider implications of the RRA 2025, please do not hesitate contact Sarah Orchard.

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