If you’re a private landlord a new compliance requirement is about to land on your desk and it comes with a deadline, a fee and civil penalties if you miss it.
Here’s what’s confirmed so far:
What’s happening
From this December the Government is rolling out its new landlord database officially the ‘Register Your Property Service’ as part of phase two of the Renters’ Rights Act.
Registration will cost £65 per property per year and it will be compulsory for all private sector landlords to sign up.
The rollout isn’t happening all at once. It’s being phased in region by region over 12 months starting in the West Midlands on 15th December.
Once your region goes live you’ll have a three month window to get registered with every landlord in the country required to be signed up by 14th November next year at the latest.
We’d recommend checking your specific regional deadline as soon as the full schedule is published rather than assuming you have until the final date.
Do you need to sign up?
If you let a property under an assured or regulated tenancy the answer is yes and that applies to your existing tenancies as well as any new ones signed during the rollout period.
A couple of things worth flagging:
- Empty properties currently being marketed to let don’t need to be registered yet. That’s expected to change in future when a registration number will become a requirement before you can advertise a property at all.
- Landlords not agents. Even if we manage your property day to day agents aren’t able to register homes on a landlord’s behalf you’ll need to do this yourself.
Missing the deadline isn’t a minor slip up either. Landlords who fail to register could face civil penalties of up to £7,000 rising to as much as £40,000 for multiple or repeated breaches.
How do you actually join and what will you need?
You’ll register via the Government website and from what we understand so far each property will need to be added individually rather than in bulk.
The exact list of data required hasn’t been confirmed yet but based on what’s been signalled, expect to be asked for:
- The property address
- Type of ownership (freehold, leasehold, or commonhold)
- Property type (detached, semi-detached, terraced, etc.)
- Whether the property is licensed
- Occupancy details including whether it’s an HMO
- Rent amount, frequency and whether bills are included
- Relevant safety certificates — gas, EPC, and EICR/EIC
We’ll update this as soon as the full data requirements are confirmed.
A related change: rent disputes moving to the Valuation Office
Alongside the database announcement the Government also confirmed plans to hand the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) new powers over rent disputes.
Once the necessary legislation is passed challenges to section 13 rent increases will be decided by the VOA instead of the First tier Tribunal which currently handles them.
The aim is to speed up what can be a slow process and free up tribunal capacity elsewhere. This part of the reform is expected to take around two years to introduce though a firm start date hasn’t been set.
Our advice
Don’t wait until your region’s window opens to think about this. Get your property details ownership type, safety certificates, tenancy information in order now so registration is a quick job rather than a scramble against the deadline.
If you’re unsure how any of this applies to your portfolio our team is on hand to talk it through, Click Here
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