PRS Database registration: deadlines by region

Quick answer

The government’s PRS Database opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands only. Each English region then gets its own three-month window, one region a month, ending with the South West. Every landlord in England must be registered by 14 November 2027. The fee is £65 per property per year. The regional rollout was announced by MHCLG on 9 September 2026.

Every window and deadline is in the table further down. One region opens each month, starting with the West Midlands.

The region is the property’s region, not the landlord’s home address. A landlord with homes in Birmingham and Bristol faces two different deadlines.

Postcodes on a border

Some postcode areas cross a regional or national border — SK, S, PE, MK and KT among them. For those, the region comes from the full postcode. Do not guess from the first letters.

Postcodes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are outside the English database altogether.

Enter a postcode in the free PRS Database deadline checker to see its window, its deadline and the fee for your portfolio.

What registration gives you

Registration issues a Landlord Registration Number (LRN) and a Property Registration Number (PRN). The government says both will have to appear on adverts for the property once the government’s later advert rules start.

What happens if a property is not registered

Once registration is required for the property, an unregistered landlord cannot obtain a possession order except on grounds 7A or 14.

With Section 21 gone since 1 May 2026, possession depends on a Section 8 ground. An unregistered property closes most of those doors.

What it costs

The fee is £65 per property per year. That is a government charge, not a software charge.

Ten properties is £650 a year. A 221-property portfolio is £14,365 a year. Landlords will want to know which of them pays, and when.

Plan by deadline, not by landlord

An agency with branches in two regions has two sets of deadlines. A landlord with homes in three regions has three.

Sort the book by property region first. Then work through each window in order, starting with whichever opens soonest.

Who registers: landlord or agent?

The landlord. Registration is a landlord duty on every service level — let only, rent collection, fully managed and guaranteed rent. An agent can help gather the details. It cannot take the duty.

There is no public API planned for the database. Agents with large books should expect to enter details property by property.

Readiness checklist

• Every property’s full postcode, and its region.
• Landlord legal name for each property, including company landlords.
• Property type, bedrooms and current rent.
• Gas Safety record, EICR and EPC dates.
• Who is registering, and by when, agreed in writing with each landlord.
• A place to store the LRN and PRN once issued, and a check that adverts carry them.

The free PRS Database readiness pack turns this into a working list for a whole portfolio.

Every window on one page

Region	Opens	Register by
West Midlands	15 Dec 2026	14 Mar 2027
East of England	15 Jan 2027	14 Apr 2027
East Midlands	15 Feb 2027	14 May 2027
South East	15 Mar 2027	14 Jun 2027
Yorkshire and The Humber	15 Apr 2027	14 Jul 2027
North West	15 May 2027	14 Aug 2027
North East	15 Jun 2027	14 Sep 2027
London	15 Jul 2027	14 Oct 2027
South West	15 Aug 2027	14 Nov 2027

What the fee comes to

Properties	Fee a year at £65 each	Fee a month, spread
1	£65	£5.42
10	£650	£54.17
50	£3,250	£270.83
221	£14,365	£1,197.08

What is at stake

Failure	Consequence
Not registered by the regional deadline	Civil penalty up to £7,000 for a first breach
False information, or a continuing or repeat breach	Civil penalty up to £40,000, or prosecution
Seeking possession while unregistered	No possession order, except on Ground 7A or Ground 14 (anti-social behaviour)
Advertising without the registration numbers	A breach once the government’s later advert rules start

How councils already enforce a register: licensing cases

The PRS Database is new, so there are no tribunal decisions on it yet. The nearest thing councils already enforce is property licensing: a list of who lets what, with civil penalties for being missing from it. These decisions show how that enforcement works in practice — and that the agent who collects the rent is not safe either.

Case	Who was penalised	Council	Tribunal	What decided it
CAM/33UD/HNA/2022/0007	Landlord, unlicensed house in a selective licensing area	£7,500	£2,750	Offence proved; the tribunal reworked the amount
LON/00BH/HNA/2023/0059	Letting agent	£12,000	£12,000, confirmed	“We are not the landlord” failed; the management agreement did not move the offence
CHI/00MR/HNA/2020/0005	Letting agent collecting the rents of a 12-bedroom HMO	£6,000	£12,000, increased	The agent received the rents, so it controlled the property
BIR/00FY/HNA/2022/0014	Letting agent (franchise branch)	£3,870	£1,788.20	Offence proved; reduced for safe certificates and later compliance, plus the agent’s 10% commission taken back

• Councils pursue whoever controls the property, and that includes an agent receiving the rent.
• A tribunal can raise a penalty as well as cut it.
• Penalties are worked out from the council’s published policy, so a clean record and fast compliance do reduce them.

Cases are First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) decisions published on gov.uk. Each turns on its own facts; read the full decision before relying on one.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Where Abide.Rent fits

Abide.Rent does not file the registration. PRS Database tracking shows each property’s region, window and deadline, stores the numbers you enter, and flags adverts that would go out without them.

Abide.Rent tracks this for every property you manage. Free for a month, no card.

Not legal advice.