Legislation – Renters’ Rights Act 2025

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Part 2Residential landlords

Chapter 3The Private Rented Sector Database

Access to and use of information in database

86Access to the database

(1)

The Secretary of State may by regulations—

(a)

specify the information contained in active landlord and dwelling entries in the database, and in entries made in the database under section 83, which the database operator is to make available to the public,

(b)

make provision requiring an active landlord entry and an entry made under section 83 in respect of the same person to be linked,

(c)

in the case of an entry made by a local housing authority in respect of a person under section 83—

(i)

specify the period after which information contained in the entry is to be made available to the public, which must be no less than 21 days beginning with the day on which the entry is made,

(ii)

make provision for the person to be notified by the local housing authority of the period for the purpose of making representations to the authority about any errors in information contained in the entry, and

(iii)

specify the circumstances in which information contained in such an entry is to cease to be available to the public, and

(d)

specify the manner and form in which information is to be made available to the public by the database operator under the regulations.

(2)

The database operator must give access to information in the database to the following—

(a)

lead enforcement authorities,

(b)

local housing authorities,

(c)

local weights and measures authorities in England,

(d)

mayoral combined authorities, as defined by section 107A (8) of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, and

(e)

the Greater London Authority.

(3)

If the Secretary of State is not the database operator, the database operator must give access to information in the database to the Secretary of State.

87Disclosure by database operator etc

(1)

The database operator must not disclose restricted information from the database except—

(a)

in accordance with section 86(2) or (3), or

(b)

where authorised by regulations under this section.

(2)

The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision authorising the disclosure from the database of restricted information where the disclosure is necessary—

(a)

to enable or facilitate compliance with a statutory requirement specified in the regulations,

(b)

to enable or facilitate compliance with a requirement of a rule of law specified in the regulations, or

(c)

to facilitate the exercise of statutory functions specified in the regulations.

(3)

The regulations may—

(a)

specify the manner and form in which the information may be disclosed, and

(b)

impose restrictions on the use and further disclosure of information disclosed under the regulations.

(4)

A disclosure authorised by the regulations does not breach—

(a)

any obligation of confidence owed by the database operator, or

(b)

any other restriction on the disclosure of information (however imposed).

(5)

Nothing in this section or the regulations authorises the making of a disclosure that would contravene the data protection legislation (but in determining whether a disclosure would do so, take into account the powers conferred by this section and the regulations).

(6)

A person commits an offence if the person knowingly or recklessly discloses restricted information in contravention of—

(a)

subsection (1), or

(b)

a restriction on further disclosure imposed by regulations under this section.

(7)

A person guilty of an offence under subsection (6) is liable on summary conviction to a fine.

(8)

In this section—

“data protection legislation” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3 of that Act);

“restricted information” means information that—

(a)

is not made available to the public by virtue of regulations under section 86, and

(b)

relates to and identifies a particular person (including a body corporate).

(9)

For the purposes of subsection (8) information identifies a particular person if the identity of that person—

(a)

is specified in the information,

(b)

can be deduced from the information, or

(c)

can be deduced from the information taken together with any other information.

88Use of information from the database

(1)

A lead enforcement authority may only use information obtained from the database for purposes connected with the authority’s functions under the provisions of the landlord legislation for which it is responsible.

(2)

A local housing authority may only use information obtained from the database for purposes connected with the authority’s functions relating to housing, residential landlords or residential tenancies.

(3)

A local weights and measures authority may only use information obtained from the database for purposes connected with the authority’s functions of enforcing standards relating to housing.

(4)

A mayoral combined authority and the Greater London Authority may only use information obtained from the database for purposes connected with the authority’s functions relating to housing.