When Is Your Property Register Deadline? Check the Postcode
Published · Updated
5 min read
When do you have to join the PRS database?
It depends on where each let sits. The Private Rented Sector Database opens in the West Midlands on 15 December 2026. One region opens each month after that, and each gets three months to register. The last window, the South West, closes on 14 November 2027.
The date follows the property's postcode, not your home address. A landlord in Bristol with a flat in Birmingham registers that flat first. Each let costs £65 a year.
Dates and fee checked in October 2026 against the GOV.UK announcement of 9 September 2026 and the draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026.
The database covers lets in the nine English regions below. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own landlord registers, so a UK portfolio that spans nations still has separate duties there. It applies to assured and regulated tenancies. Social housing and supported exempt accommodation sit outside it.
Postcode in, date out
Your portfolio, sorted by registration window
Property Register in the Compliance Hub reads the region from each postcode and shows the date that let must be on the database.
See each let's deadlineEvery region's window
Each window opens on the 15th and closes three months later on the 14th. Find the region for every let you own, then read across.
| Region where the let sits | Window opens | Register by |
|---|---|---|
| West Midlands | 15 December 2026 | 14 March 2027 |
| East of England | 15 January 2027 | 14 April 2027 |
| East Midlands | 15 February 2027 | 14 May 2027 |
| South East | 15 March 2027 | 14 June 2027 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 15 April 2027 | 14 July 2027 |
| North West | 15 May 2027 | 14 August 2027 |
| North East | 15 June 2027 | 14 September 2027 |
| London | 15 July 2027 | 14 October 2027 |
| South West | 15 August 2027 | 14 November 2027 |
Source: GOV.UK, 9 September 2026, and the regional table in regulation 1 of the draft regulations. All remaining provisions apply from 15 September 2027.
Treat the open date as your start line, not the close date. Registration needs certificate dates and tenancy details, and chasing a missing gas record takes weeks. Every actively letting landlord must be on the database by 14 November 2027.
One landlord, three postcodes
Spread portfolios feel this most. Here is how one owner's year runs when the lets sit in three regions.
Bristol landlord, lets in Birmingham, London and Bristol
- Birmingham flat (West Midlands): register by 14 March 2027.
- London flat: register by 14 October 2027.
- Bristol house (South West): register by 14 November 2027.
Three lets at £65 each is £195 a year. The landlord entry is made once, with the first let. Later dwelling entries take the renewal date of the entries already active, so all three renew together each year.
The shared renewal date is the useful part. Register the Birmingham flat in January and the whole portfolio renews every January, so the fee is one annual job. If an entry lapses, it goes inactive and you pay again to reactivate it.
Converted blocks and HMOs are the open question. The fee is charged per dwelling entry, and some lawyers read that as one fee per flat. On that reading, ten flats cost £650 a year. The operator sets the fee to cover its costs, so it can also change.
What the entry asks for, and the 28-day rules
- Landlord entry first: your name or company, contact details and correspondence address.
- Dwelling entry for each let: address, ownership, property type, bedrooms and whether it is let now.
- Tenancy and safety details can follow within 28 days of making the entry. An agent or property manager can supply them.
- For a home you intend to let, those details are due within 28 days of the tenancy starting.
- Update the entry within 28 days of any change, and renew every 12 months.
The tenancy and safety part is where entries stall. It asks for licence status, the gas safety record date, the EICR expiry, the EPC rating and any energy exemption. Renew anything that lapses inside your region's window before you start. The HMO evidence pack lists the certificates councils ask to see. To gather every answer in the order GOV.UK asks, follow the field-by-field register pack.
Get every let ready before your window opens
Missing the deadline costs more than the fee
- Up to £7,000: failing to register, or marketing or letting a home without an active entry.
- Up to £40,000: false or misleading information, or a repeat or continuing breach within five years.
False information is also a criminal offence, and company officers can be liable.
Possession is the bigger risk. While a let should be registered and is not, courts will not grant possession on most grounds. The antisocial behaviour grounds, 7A and 14, are the exceptions. With Section 21 gone, an unregistered let leaves you with very few routes to recover the home.
Where Lendlord keeps the rule in view
The Property Register card in the Compliance Hub carries the start date, the fee and the regional rule on one banner. Below it sit your landlords and lets, each with a status. A let with no postcode on file gets no region, so it gets no deadline either. Fix those rows first. The rental register tracker page shows the full set of screens.
What changes after the first round
Later legislation will tighten the rules for new lets. Plan for these now, because they change how you market a vacant home:
- Empty homes must be registered before you advertise them.
- The registration number must appear on every advert.
- Tenants will get a public lookup to check a landlord before they sign.
Once that lookup is live, a missing entry is visible to every applicant. Put the dates next to your other Renters' Rights duties in the 2026 landlord duty calendar.
Add a postcode to every let and see which window each one falls in, months before the first one opens.
Check your deadlines in Compliance Hub
Expert insight from Aviram Shahar, Co-Founder and CEO of Lendlord · PropTech entrepreneur · Last updated October 2026
Aviram's advice for spread portfolios: register the earliest region as soon as it opens. That first entry sets the renewal date for every let you add later, so pick a month that suits your cash flow.