The Renters' Rights Act 2025 introduces two new mandatory registers for English residential landlords. The first is the Landlord Redress Scheme (commonly called the PRS Ombudsman) under Part 2 Chapter 2 of the Act. The second is the Private Rented Sector Database under Part 2 Chapter 3. Both are enacted, neither is yet fully in force, and the planning question for landlords as of 22 May 2026 is what to do in the transitional window before commencement bites.
For the wider enforcement context, see our civil penalty and banning order defence guide. For the property-condition floor that runs in parallel, see our Decent Homes Standard compliance checklist. For the cap-versus-revenue and professional-expense deductibility framework that drives the tax treatment of the registration costs, see our HMO licensing fees deductibility guide. For the contrast with the tax-withholding register that non-resident landlords already deal with (the NRL scheme), see our non-resident landlord scheme guide.
Status on 22 May 2026: Two Registers, Neither Yet Fully Operative
The commencement state is the operative editorial frame for this page. A landlord reading guidance on the PRS Database in May 2026 needs to understand that none of the substantive registration mechanics is yet a live duty, and that the planning window is the right place to be doing the preparatory work rather than waiting for the database operator to open the portal. The status table below summarises the position as verified against the legislation.gov.uk commencement table on 22 May 2026.
| Provision | RRA 2025 reference | Status on 22 May 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Commissioner complaints route (non-tenants) | s.74 | In force from 1 May 2026 | SI 2026/421 reg.3 |
| Duty to belong to an approved Landlord Redress Scheme | ss.64 to 65 | Pending | Awaits further SI + SoS regulations |
| Landlord Redress Scheme civil penalty + offences | ss.66 to 67 | Pending | Awaits further SI |
| PRS Database creation + database operator | ss.75 to 76 | Pending | Awaits further SI |
| Database entries, active / inactive rules, verification | ss.77 to 80 | Pending | Awaits further SI + SoS regulations |
| Marketing restriction + unique identifier | ss.82 + 84 | Pending | Awaits further SI |
| Possession bar where landlord not registered | s.90 | Pending | Awaits further SI |
| Database financial penalties + offences | ss.91 to 92 | Pending | Awaits further SI |
Government policy statements anticipate full commencement of both registers before April 2027 but neither chapter has had a commencement day appointed by statutory instrument as of 22 May 2026. The structural reason for the phasing is that the substantive Landlord Redress Scheme requires the Secretary of State to either approve a private scheme or designate and administer one, and the PRS Database requires the database operator function to be set up (either by the Secretary of State directly or by an appointed contractor). Both are administrative processes with delivery lead times that the commencement timetable has to accommodate.
The Landlord Redress Scheme (PRS Ombudsman): What Section 64 Will Require
Section 64 of the RRA 2025 empowers the Secretary of State to make regulations requiring a residential landlord to be a member of an approved Landlord Redress Scheme. The expected core duties of membership, based on the section text and government policy statements, are:
- Join an approved scheme before marketing a dwelling for residential tenancy purposes.
- Remain a member of the scheme during the tenancy and for a specified post-tenancy period (likely six months on current policy expectation).
- Supply the scheme administrator with prescribed information about each property within the landlord's portfolio.
- Notify the scheme administrator of changes to that information.
- Cooperate with scheme investigations into tenant complaints.
- Comply with any code of practice issued by the Secretary of State under section 64 powers.
The scheme itself, once approved or designated, must enable independent investigation and determination of tenant complaints, with redress in the form of an apology, compensation up to a maximum to be set by regulation (anticipated at £25,000 on current policy), or specified actions to remedy the complaint. The scheme administrator must designate an individual responsible for overseeing complaint investigation, and the scheme must include procedures for expelling members for serious or repeated non-compliance, with independent review of expulsion decisions.
Civil penalty and offence regime under sections 66 and 67
Section 66 establishes the civil-penalty regime for breach of the membership and information duties: up to £7,000 per breach, imposed by the local housing authority. Multiple penalties are permitted only after a 28-day cure period from a prior penalty, which means a landlord receiving a section 66 notice has a structured window to remediate before further enforcement.
Section 67 establishes the offence regime for the more serious failures: continuing breach after the cure period has expired, different breaches within five years of a prior penalty, or fresh breaches after a prior conviction. Section 67 offences are summary in mode of trial and carry a financial penalty up to £40,000. The local authority chooses between section 66 (civil) and section 67 (criminal) on a case-by-case basis informed by its published civil-penalty policy; sessions advising on a likely-prosecution case should consider whether the landlord would prefer to be steered onto the civil track via active engagement at the representations stage.
The Private Rented Sector Database: What Chapter 3 Will Require
Chapter 3 of Part 2 of the RRA 2025 creates the PRS Database. The register has two entry types under section 77: a landlord entry (one per landlord) and a dwelling entry (one per property let or marketed for let). Both are required before the dwelling can lawfully be marketed under the section 82 restriction.
Landlord entry: what goes in
The expected landlord-entry dataset, based on the section text and likely regulations under section 77:
- Full legal name of the landlord (individual, partnership, or corporate body).
- Registered address or principal place of business.
- Contact information (email, telephone).
- Unique identifier allocated by the database operator under section 84.
- Any banning order in force against the landlord (recorded under section 83).
- Any conviction for a banning-order offence (recorded under section 83).
- Any financial penalty imposed under section 91 or 92 (recorded under section 83).
Dwelling entry: what goes in
The expected dwelling-entry dataset:
- Property address.
- Tenancy type (assured periodic from 1 May 2026; HMO; supported exempt accommodation; homelessness accommodation; or company-let, where applicable).
- Current tenancy status (active or void).
- Unique dwelling identifier under section 84.
- Gas Safety Record expiry date.
- Electrical Installation Condition Report expiry date.
- Energy Performance Certificate band and expiry date.
- Deposit protection scheme name + deposit reference number.
- Right to Rent check evidence reference.
- HMO licence reference (where the property is a licensed HMO).
- Selective licence reference (where the property is in a designated selective licensing area).
- Decent Homes Standard compliance status (once the substantive standard regulations under Part 3 of the Act commence; see our Decent Homes compliance checklist).
Active vs inactive entries (section 79)
An entry can be active or inactive. An active dwelling entry is one currently let or marketed for letting; an inactive entry is one not currently in either status (genuine void awaiting refurbishment, owner-occupied period, family member occupation outside the assured tenancy regime). Section 79 regulations will set the mechanic for transitioning between active and inactive status, including notification timelines to the database operator. Section 78 imposes a continuing duty on the landlord to keep active entries up to date; failing to update is itself a civil-penalty trigger under section 91.
The unique identifier and the marketing restriction (sections 82 and 84)
Every dwelling entry receives a unique identifier under section 84. Section 82 restricts marketing of a dwelling to circumstances where both the landlord entry and the dwelling entry are active, and requires the unique identifier to appear on the marketing material. Property portals (Rightmove, Zoopla, OnTheMarket, OpenRent) will need to include an identifier field; letting agents will administer this as part of the standard listing workflow. A direct-to-tenant landlord posting a property advert on social media or local notice boards will need to include the identifier in the advert text itself. Marketing without a valid identifier is a section 91 financial-penalty trigger (£7,000) and, for repeated or knowing breaches, a section 92 offence (£40,000).
The possession bar at section 90
Section 90 is the structural enforcement teeth of the Database regime. A court cannot grant a possession order in respect of a dwelling let under a relevant tenancy where the landlord is in breach of the registration duty, except where possession is sought on Ground 7A (serious anti-social behaviour) or Ground 14 (other anti-social behaviour). Every other section 8 ground (rent arrears under Ground 8 or Ground 8A, landlord-sale under Ground 1A, landlord-occupation under Ground 1, breach of tenancy under Ground 12, anti-social behaviour outside Ground 7A/14, and the discretionary grounds) is blocked unless the landlord is properly registered.
The operational consequence: a landlord planning a possession claim around the commencement window of the Database must ensure registration is in place before the section 8 notice is served. Serving a notice from an unregistered position locks in the section 90 bar even if registration is completed before the court hearing, because the validity of the notice goes to the registration status at the date of service. The interaction with the broader post-Section-21 possession process is covered in detail in our Section 21 abolition possession guide.
Access to the database (sections 86 and 87)
Sections 86 and 87 distinguish between published information (publicly accessible) and restricted information (accessible only to specified persons or in specified circumstances). The detailed split will be set by regulations under section 86. Current government policy expectation is that landlord identity, property address, compliance status (current gas safety, EICR, EPC, deposit protection), and unique identifier will be publicly searchable; personal contact details, fee payment information, and full date of birth will be restricted. A prospective tenant viewing a property will be able to verify that the property is properly registered and that the headline compliance fields are current; deeper data fields will be available only to the local housing authority and the database operator.
Civil penalty and offence regime under sections 91 and 92
Section 91 establishes the civil-penalty regime for breach of any of the registration, information, or unique-identifier duties: up to £7,000 per breach, imposed by the local housing authority on the procedural framework set out in section 91 itself. Section 92 establishes the offence regime: knowingly or recklessly providing false information, continuing breach after a section 91 penalty, or repeat offending. Section 92 offences carry up to £40,000 on summary conviction. The civil-penalty / criminal-offence choice mechanic mirrors the section 66 / 67 mechanic in the Ombudsman chapter and the section 15 / Schedule 5 mechanic for the broader housing-offence regime under the RRA 2025.
The Other Database: Why the PRS Database is Not the Rogue Landlord Database
The HP Act 2016 rogue-landlord database under section 28 has existed since 2018 and continues to operate in parallel with the new PRS Database. The two registers are different in purpose, scope, and access. The table below sets out the contrast.
| Feature | Rogue-landlord database (HP Act 2016 s.28) | PRS Database (RRA 2025 Ch.3 Pt.2) |
|---|---|---|
| Who must be on it | Landlords subject to a banning order (mandatory under s.29); convicted or twice-penalised landlords (discretionary under s.30) | Every residential landlord, regardless of compliance history |
| Trigger for inclusion | Banning order or repeat offence | Acquiring a residential property to let or starting a marketing process |
| Access | Restricted to local authorities + database operator; not publicly searchable | Substantially public for compliance verification; restricted for personal data |
| Operator | Secretary of State | Secretary of State or appointed contractor (s.76) |
| Removal | On expiry of banning order or after defined period for discretionary entries | On disposal of the property or cessation of lettings (s.89) |
| Status on 22 May 2026 | Operational since 2018 | Enacted; commencement pending |
A small subset of landlords will appear on both registers (post-banning-order, the landlord is on the rogue database AND remains on the PRS Database with a section 83 entry recording the banning order). The two regimes carry separate enforcement and remediation paths; settling one does not affect the other.
Tax Treatment of Registration Fees, Ombudsman Subscription, and Civil Penalties
The recurring costs (database registration fees, Ombudsman subscription, professional fees on first-year set-up) are deductible against rental income as professional expenses of the rental business. The legal basis is the wholly-and-exclusively rule in ITTOIA 2005 s.34 (cash basis) and s.272 (accruals, applying trading-profit principles), backed by the broader treatment of statutory operating costs in HMRC's Property Income Manual at PIM2080 (revenue expenses) and PIM2090 (allowable expenses checklist). The deductibility analysis is identical to the treatment of HMO licensing fees explored in detail in our HMO licensing fees deductibility guide.
The civil penalties (section 91 / 92 / 66 / 67) are not deductible. HMRC's Business Income Manual at BIM38500 sets the long-standing position that financial penalties for breach of regulatory obligations are not laid out wholly and exclusively for trade or business purposes. The non-deductibility extends across the full RRA 2025 penalty regime (Database, Ombudsman, broader housing offences under section 15 + Schedule 5) and the existing Housing Act 2004 penalty under section 249A. Professional fees defending a notice (representations, appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal Property Chamber) are deductible where they are revenue in character, on the same basis covered in our civil penalty defence guide.
Worked Example: 8-Property Portfolio Landlord, First-Year Compliance Cost Stack
An anonymised illustration. A landlord owns 8 buy-to-let properties across two English cities (4 properties each), all let to individual tenants on assured periodic tenancies after the 1 May 2026 conversion. None of the properties is an HMO. Annual gross rent £124,000, net rental profit (after mortgage interest, repairs, agent fees) £42,000 before the new compliance stack. Higher-rate taxpayer.
Anticipated first-year compliance costs once both registers commence (illustrative based on government policy expectations and the analogue cost of social-housing landlord registration schemes):
- Landlord entry registration fee (one off, recoverable to database operator): £80.
- Dwelling entry registration fees (8 properties at £30 each, annual recurring): £240.
- Landlord Ombudsman annual subscription (single landlord subscription, all properties covered): £100.
- Letting agent set-up fee for administering the database registration workflow on the landlord's behalf (one off): £200 (£25 per property).
- Accountancy fee for first-year deductibility review and apportionment of fees to property accounts: £180.
- Total first-year compliance cost: £800.
Tax treatment:
- All £800 is revenue, deductible against rental income in the year of payment under the cash basis (the landlord is below the £150,000 gross-income accruals-trigger).
- At higher-rate income tax (40%), the £800 deduction is worth £320 in immediate tax relief.
- Net after-tax cost of the first-year compliance stack: £480.
- Cap-versus-revenue: nothing in the stack is capital; all costs are recurring operating expenses of the rental business.
Year-2 onwards (steady state): the £80 landlord-entry fee is not recurring; the dwelling-entry fees of £240, Ombudsman subscription of £100, and ongoing accountancy fees of £180 carry forward; the letting agent set-up fee is one-off. Steady-state recurring cost £520 gross, £312 net of higher-rate income tax relief. Across the 8-property portfolio, the steady-state annual cost is £39 per property net of tax: a manageable line on the rental P&L, and small enough that the operational risk of non-compliance (£7,000 per breach civil penalty, possession bar under section 90) overwhelmingly outweighs the cost of registering.
What to Do Now: Planning Moves for the Pre-Commencement Window
The transitional window between 22 May 2026 and commencement (anticipated before April 2027) is the right time for the preparatory work. Concrete moves:
- Consolidate the compliance evidence pack per property. Gas safety record, EICR, EPC, deposit protection certificate, Right to Rent check evidence, HMO licence (where applicable), selective licence (where applicable). One per-property folder, refreshed as certificates renew. This is the dataset the database will likely require, and consolidating it now is operationally useful regardless of the commencement date.
- Audit for compliance gaps. Lapsed gas safety, EICR due, EPC expiring, deposit protection certificate missing, Right to Rent check undocumented. Address the gaps in the pre-commencement window so the first registration is a clean one. A property with lapsed certificates registered into the database from day one will carry the compliance flag against the dwelling entry, which is visible to local authorities and potentially to prospective tenants.
- Build a portfolio-level register spreadsheet. One row per property, columns mirroring the likely dwelling-entry fields. Use it as the working register pending the database opening; transfer the data structure to the operator portal on commencement.
- Discuss the registration workflow with any letting agent in the portfolio. Larger agents will offer database registration management as a standard managed-service inclusion; tenant-find-only and let-only services will not. The split of responsibility should be documented in the management agreement.
- Include registration fees and Ombudsman subscription in the next budget cycle. The cash impact is modest (the worked example above suggests £520 to £800 first-year, declining to £300 to £400 steady-state per landlord across a typical portfolio), but planning it into the cash-flow forecast avoids surprises when the SI lands.
- For landlords considering portfolio disposal, the section 90 possession bar interacts with the disposal timeline: a landlord intending to recover possession before sale (the landlord-sale Ground 1A route, with its 12-month re-letting prohibition) must register the dwelling before serving the notice. The commercial side of the dispose-or-retrofit decision is covered in detail in our portfolio disposal under RRA 2025 tax implications guide.
The pattern across the entire RRA 2025 reform programme is the same: the substantive duties are scheduled, the planning window is open now, and the landlords who use the window to prepare will face less enforcement risk and less administrative friction at commencement than the landlords who wait. The combination of the Decent Homes Standard extension (covered separately in our compliance checklist linked above), the PRS Database, and the Ombudsman scheme is the substantive compliance architecture of the new regime, and they will all become operative within a roughly overlapping window. Treating them as a single connected compliance programme rather than three separate obligations is the cleaner planning posture.