£7,000 trap: miss 28 days and your landlord registration lapses

Registering on England’s new landlord database will not be a one-off job. Under the draft rules MPs and peers are due to debate on Wednesday 28 October, a property you have registered on time can drop off the register again if you miss one of several 28-day deadlines.

The draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 set those deadlines. They cover adding your certificates and tenancy details, updating anything that changes, and renewing every year. If a deadline is missed, the entry can become “inactive”. In law, an inactive entry counts the same as not being registered.

This applies to landlords of assured and regulated tenancies on homes in England only. Registration opens in the West Midlands on 15 December 2026, and the rest of England follows region by region until November 2027.

What the draft regulations say

The government laid the draft regulations before both Houses of Parliament on 9 September 2026. They fill in the detail of the database set up by Part 2, Chapter 3 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.

Because they are draft affirmative regulations, both Houses must vote to approve them. The Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments looked at them on 14 October and raised no concerns. On 20 October, the Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee drew them to the special attention of the House. Debates in both Houses are scheduled for 28 October, according to Parliament’s procedure record.

There are two kinds of entry. A landlord entry is for you, and a dwelling entry is for each property. You can only make a dwelling entry once you have an active landlord entry. You also have to pay the fee before the dwelling entry is accepted.

Property information comes in two parts. Part 1 is the basics: address, ownership, property type, bedrooms, whether it is let, and freeholder or managing agent contacts. Part 2 is the tenancy and safety detail: occupants and households, any HMO or other licence, the gas safety record, EICR, EPC, any MEES exemption, the rent, and whether the property is furnished. You can submit Part 1 first. The 28-day clock then runs for Part 2.

Every time limit in one table

Each time limit in the draft is written as a period “beginning with” a particular day. That day counts as day 1, so you get the trigger day plus 27 more days, not 28 clear days after it.

Registered vs “active”: why it matters

The Act talks about active entries. Under section 77(4), an entry is active from the time it is made until the regulations make it inactive. Section 82(3) says a residential landlord must ensure there is an active landlord entry and an active dwelling entry for each let property, and must comply with the update rules.

Having your name on the database is therefore not enough. Under the draft, an entry can become inactive in four ways:

• You do not add Part 2 within 28 days of registering a property that is already let.
• You do not renew by the renewal date.
• Your landlord entry has no property added within 3 months, or every property linked to it becomes inactive.
• The database operator or a council deactivates it in certain banning-order cases.

You can reactivate an entry. If it went inactive because Part 2 was missing, you have to supply Part 2 first. You may also have to pay another fee if you reactivate after the renewal date has passed. If you own more than one property, all your dwelling entries share the same renewal date as your existing ones.

The explanatory memorandum sets out what this means in practice. If an entry is inactive, the property “cannot be advertised or marketed for let, or let under a residential tenancy”.

What happens if your entry goes inactive

The draft regulations do not contain any penalties themselves. The penalties are in the Act, and councils enforce them:

• Up to £7,000 civil penalty for breaching section 82. The breaches are marketing without active entries, leaving the landlord and property identifiers out of a written advert, and failing to keep entries active and up to date (s.91).
• Up to £40,000 civil penalty or prosecution for a section 92 offence. These offences are knowingly or recklessly giving false or misleading information, carrying on a breach more than 28 days after a penalty, and breaching again within five years of a penalty. On conviction, the Act sets no upper limit on the fine.
• No possession order while you are in breach of the duty to have active entries, except on Ground 7A or Ground 14 (s.90).
• Rent repayment orders are extended to cover giving false information and continuing to fail to register after a penalty. The government’s guide to the Act says the maximum RRO doubles from 12 to 24 months’ rent.

When your region goes live

Your deadline depends on where the property is, not where you live. The government says each region gets a three-month window, and all landlords letting property must be registered by 14 November 2027.

At first, only properties that are let, or become let during the rollout, have to be registered. The government says future legislation will require empty properties to be registered before they are marketed. The fee is pro-rated during the rollout, so landlords who register early do not pay more.

Check your deadline: calculator and worked examples

Pick what happened and enter the date. The calculator works out your deadline using the draft’s “beginning with” counting rule, tells you how many days you have left, and shows the most you could be fined.

Here is how the counting works in three common situations:

• New tenancy: A flat in Leicester (East Midlands) was registered while empty, and a tenancy starts on 1 March 2027. The 28 days begin on 1 March, so Part 2 must be added by 28 March 2027.
• Rent change: The rent on a registered house in Reading goes from £1,350 to £1,425 a month on 1 April 2027. The new rent must be on the database by 28 April 2027.
• Renewal: A landlord makes an entry on 15 December 2026. The renewal date is 14 December 2027. If they have not renewed and paid by then, the entry becomes inactive on 15 December. At £65 a property, renewing four homes costs £260.

What to do now: step-by-step checklist

The safest approach is to treat registration and Part 2 as one job. That way, the 28-day clock never matters.

• Find out which region each of your properties is in and when its window opens and closes. Your own address does not matter.
• Set up a GOV.UK One Login before your window opens.
• For every property, gather: the gas safety record and its issue date, the EICR or EIC and its expiry date, the EPC, any MEES exemption, licence details, the number of occupants and households, the rent and how often it is paid, and the furnishing status.
• Upload Part 1 and Part 2 together on the same day so the 28-day trigger never starts.
• If you can only do Part 1, put the 28-day deadline in your diary. Day 1 is the day you made the entry.
• After every gas check, EICR, EPC, rent review or licence change, update the database within 28 days.
• Put the renewal date in your diary, with a reminder a month before, and renew on or before that day.
• Before advertising a property, check both entries are active and put the landlord and property identifiers in every written advert.
• If your letting agent uploads details for you, check that they have done it. The landlord is still legally responsible.
• Before serving notice or issuing possession proceedings, confirm both entries are active.

FAQ

When do I have to register on the landlord database?

It depends on the region your property is in. You have three months from your region’s start date. The first deadline is 14 March 2027 in the West Midlands, London’s is 14 October 2027, and the last is 14 November 2027 in the South West. These dates assume Parliament approves the draft regulations.

What is the 28-day rule on the PRS Database?

Several deadlines in the draft regulations are 28 days long. You have 28 days to add certificates and tenancy details after registering a home that is already let, or after a new tenancy starts, and 28 days to update any detail that goes out of date. Each period begins with the trigger day itself.

Can my landlord registration lapse even if I registered on time?

Yes. It lapses if you register a home that is already let and do not add the Part 2 details within 28 days, or if you do not renew by the annual renewal date. In both cases the entry becomes inactive, and the Act treats that the same as not being registered.

What is the fine for not registering as a landlord in England?

A council can impose a civil penalty of up to £7,000 for a breach. For offences, the cap is £40,000, or the council can prosecute instead. Offences include giving false information or carrying on a breach more than 28 days after being fined. On conviction, the Act sets no upper limit on the fine.

Can I evict a tenant if I am not on the database?

Generally not. While you are in breach of the duty to have active entries, the court cannot make a possession order. The exceptions are Ground 7A and Ground 14, the antisocial behaviour grounds. Once your entries are active again, you can proceed.

Does the PRS Database apply in Wales or Scotland?

No. The regional timetable and the duty to register on this database cover rented homes in England only. Separate rules apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.