The Private Rented Sector Database: register or risk a £40,000 fine

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 creates a mandatory Private Rented Sector Database (sometimes called the landlord database, the private renters' database or the Property Portal). For the first time, every private landlord in England has to register themselves and each rented property on a single national system. Fail to do it and the fines are steep: up to £7,000 for a first or less serious breach, rising to £40,000 (or criminal prosecution) for serious or repeated ones.

This post explains who must register, what goes on the record, what tenants can see and how to avoid the penalties.

What the database actually is

The database has two connected parts:

• A landlord entry: one record per landlord (the person or company that owns the tenancy), with your identity and contact details.
• A property entry: one record per rented dwelling, linked to your landlord entry.

The stated aims are to give tenants a way to check a property and landlord before they apply, to give councils a single source of truth for enforcement and to make rogue operators much easier to find.

Who has to register

If you let residential property in England under an assured or regulated tenancy, you are in scope. That means:

• Single-property landlords (there is no minimum portfolio size).
• Portfolio landlords (one landlord entry, a property entry for each dwelling).
• Companies and individuals alike.

You must have an active property entry before you market or let the property. In practice that means registering early rather than at the point a tenant moves in.

What you have to provide

Exact fields are set out in regulations, but expect to supply:

• Your name and contact details (and, for a company, the registered details).
• The property address and basic characteristics.
• Confirmation and, in most cases, evidence of key compliance documents: a valid gas safety certificate, an EICR, an EPC and the required deposit protection details.

That last point matters. The database ties registration to compliance, so an out-of-date certificate is no longer just a private risk. It can block or invalidate your entry.

What's public and what isn't

The database is deliberately not fully open:

• Public: enough for a prospective tenant to identify the property and confirm it is registered and broadly compliant.
• Restricted: certain landlord contact details and any enforcement or penalty history, visible to councils and (in some cases) current tenants rather than the whole internet.

The penalties

This is the part landlords need to take seriously. Local councils enforce the database and can issue civil penalties without going to court:

• Up to £7,000 for an initial or less serious breach. Examples: marketing or letting a property without an active entry, or providing inaccurate information.
• Up to £40,000, or criminal prosecution, for continued, repeated or serious breaches. A council can also treat a single serious case (for example knowingly supplying false information) at this level.

There is a further sting. You generally cannot obtain a possession order through the courts, or lawfully market a property, if the property is not properly registered. So a missing entry does not just cost a fine, it can freeze your ability to regain possession.

What to do now

1. Register early. Don't wait for a tenant. Create your landlord entry and a property entry for each dwelling as soon as the service opens to you.
2. Get your compliance evidence in order first. Because registration is tied to gas, electrical, EPC and deposit records, sort those before you register so the entry goes through cleanly.
3. Keep the entry accurate. Update it when tenancies, certificates or contact details change. An out-of-date entry is itself a breach.
4. Diarise renewals. Registration is not a one-off if the underlying certificates lapse.

How havelo helps

havelo won't file the registration for you (the legal duty stays with the landlord), but it removes the two things that trip landlords up: missing paperwork and forgotten dates.

• The Compliance module (/dashboard/compliance) tracks your gas safety certificate, EICR, EPC and deposit protection in one place, with reminders well before each expiry, so the evidence the database asks for is always current.
• The Properties module (/dashboard/properties) keeps a tidy record per dwelling (address, tenancy and documents), which is exactly the information you'll be transcribing into each property entry.
• The AI Landlord Assistant (/dashboard/ai-assistant) can answer plain-English questions like "what do I need before I register this property?" and point you at the right compliance items.

Get your records straight in havelo, then registration becomes a copy-and-paste exercise rather than a scramble.

This is general guidance based on the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and the database rules as currently set out. Details and commencement dates may change as regulations are finalised. For advice on your specific situation, please consult a solicitor.