Landlord database cost put at £327m a year, NRLA warns

The landlord database cost for England’s private rented sector will be at least £327m a year, according to the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), which says renters will ultimately pay. Landlords must pay £65 a year for each rental property to join the new national register, which opens on 15 December 2026.

The government says the database will give tenants more confidence and help councils find rogue landlords. The NRLA says the charge is too high for what it delivers. Here is what the change means for landlords and for the people who rent from them.

New landlord registration database UK: the change in plain English

The government calls the scheme the ‘Register your rental property’ service. It is part of the second phase of the Renters’ Rights Act, and it is a legal requirement. According to GOV.UK, landlords who do not register risk a fine.

The service rolls out region by region across England, starting in the West Midlands on 15 December 2026 and reaching other areas over 12 months. When a region is called forward, landlords with property there have three months to sign up. All landlords actively letting property must be registered by 14 November 2027. The deadline depends on where the property is, not where the landlord lives, so a London landlord with a flat in Birmingham follows the West Midlands timetable.

For now, only properties that are let, or become let during the rollout, need registering. Under future legislation, landlords will also have to register empty properties before marketing them, and agents and landlords will have to put registration numbers in adverts. Tenants will later be able to check whether a landlord is registered. The government has said it will publish at a later stage the list of information the public can see.

NRLA landlord database costs: who pays more and why

Landlords pay the fee directly, and it renews every year. Landlords must also upload gas, electrical and energy performance certificates, and give details such as the number of bedrooms and the rent received. Supported exempt accommodation covered by the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 is excluded.

The NRLA, which represents landlords, puts the sector-wide bill at a minimum of £327m a year, based on just over five million private rented dwellings in England. It says the £65 fee is almost seven times the figure the government first envisaged in the impact assessment for the Renters’ Rights Bill. The association warns the cost is “a cost that will ultimately be borne by renters”.

Chief executive Ben Beadle said: “What we have on offer is a costly mess. It expects payment for landlords to provide much the same information as many already give their councils, with no additional benefit to them or their customers.” The NRLA also points out that gas and electrical certificates are not due to be digitised in the way energy performance certificates are, so they must be scanned and uploaded by hand.

Rental housing database charges: a worked example

The fee is per property, not per landlord, so the bill grows with the size of a portfolio. The table below sets out the annual cost at £65 a property and what it would add each month if a landlord passed all of it on to tenants. This is our own arithmetic, not a figure from the government or the NRLA, and landlords may choose to absorb some or all of the cost.

For a tenant, the most that full pass-on would add is £5.42 a month, or £65 a year. The NRLA’s total follows the same sum: five million properties at £65 is £325m, and its £327m figure reflects a number of dwellings slightly above five million. Property Industry Eye reports the NRLA as warning that landlords could pass on some of the cost, while the NRLA’s own statement says renters will ultimately bear it.

Tenants have some protection. Under the Renters’ Rights Act, according to the government’s explainer, landlords can raise rent only once a year and renters can challenge unfair rises. Anyone who applies to the First-tier Tribunal does not have to pay the higher rent until the Tribunal has made its final decision.

What to do now

Landlords should first work out which region each property is in and when that region will be called forward. The regional deadlines are listed in the FAQ on the Housing Hub page. Landlords will need a GOV.UK One Login, and should gather gas, electrical and energy performance certificates in a form that can be uploaded. Those using a letting agent must still start the registration themselves, although the agent can upload some information afterwards. Offline registration routes will be available for those who need them.

Tenants do not need to do anything yet, because the public view of the register is not live. If a landlord proposes a rent rise, check that it is the first in 12 months and, if it seems unfair, ask about challenging it. The government says the Valuation Office will take over decisions on challenges to rent increases in England, but until that service is ready, challenges still go to the First-tier Tribunal.

Your questions answered

How much will the new landlord database cost?

Landlords pay £65 a year for each property and must renew annually, according to the government’s Housing Hub guidance. The NRLA calculates that this adds up to at least £327m a year across the sector. It says the fee is almost seven times the amount in the original impact assessment.

What are the new changes for landlords in 2026?

According to the government’s explainer, the main Renters’ Rights Act changes began on 1 May 2026. They include an end to no-fault evictions, rolling tenancies with no fixed end date, one rent rise a year, and a cap of one month’s rent upfront. Registration follows from 15 December 2026. Property Industry Eye reports that landlords are still waiting for the fees for the new private rented sector ombudsman.

Do all landlords have to register?

Landlords of assured or regulated tenancies must register themselves and each property. Those running supported exempt accommodation under the 2023 Act do not. Penalties for failing to register can include a fine.