Legislation – Renters’ Rights Act 2025

Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. At the current time any known changes or effects made by subsequent legislation have been applied to the text of the legislation you are viewing by the editorial team. Please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for details regarding the timescales for which new effects are identified and recorded on this site.

Part 2Residential landlords

Chapter 3The Private Rented Sector Database

Landlord and dwelling entries

77Making entries in the database

(1)

The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision about the making of landlord and dwelling entries in the database.

(2)

The regulations may, in particular—

(a)

provide for how, and by whom, a landlord or dwelling entry is to be made,

(b)

require information or documents to be provided,

(c)

impose other requirements, including requirements for the payment of fees, and

(d)

allow an entry to be made before all of the requirements imposed by the regulations have been complied with, provided that any requirements not complied with by that time are complied with before the end of a period specified in the regulations.

(3)

The period specified as mentioned in subsection (2)(d) must not exceed the period of 28 days beginning with the day on which the entry is made.

(4)

A landlord or dwelling entry made in accordance with the regulations is an active entry from the time it is made until it becomes an inactive entry in accordance with regulations under section 79.

(5)

See section 86 for the power to make regulations specifying the information contained in active landlord and dwelling entries that is to be made available to the public by the database operator.

78Requirement to keep active entries up-to-date

(1)

The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision requiring active landlord and dwelling entries in the database to be kept up-to-date.

(2)

The regulations may, in particular—

(a)

provide for how, and by whom, an active landlord or dwelling entry is to be kept up-to-date,

(b)

require information or documents to be provided,

(c)

impose other requirements, and

(d)

specify the time by which the requirements must be complied with.

(3)

The requirements that may be imposed by regulations under this section do not include requirements for the payment of fees.

79Circumstances in which active entries become inactive and vice versa

(1)

The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision about the circumstances in which an active landlord or dwelling entry in the database is to become an inactive entry, and vice versa.

(2)

The regulations may, in particular—

(a)

provide for an active landlord or dwelling entry to become inactive after a period specified in or determined in accordance with the regulations if requirements specified in the regulations are not met,

(b)

provide for an active landlord or dwelling entry to become inactive in circumstances in which an active entry is no longer required in respect of the landlord or dwelling, and

(c)

specify requirements that must be met for an inactive landlord or dwelling entry to become an active entry.

(3)

The requirements that may be imposed by regulations under this section include requirements for the payment of fees.

80Verification, correction and removal of entries

(1)

The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision about—

(a)

the verification of landlord and dwelling entries in the database,

(b)

the correction of errors in such entries, and

(c)

the removal of such entries from the database.

(2)

The regulations may, in particular—

(a)

require a proportion of landlord and dwelling entries, and of anything required to be provided by regulations under section 77, 78 or 79, specified in or determined in accordance with the regulations to be verified by local housing authorities or others,

(b)

make provision about how that verification is to be carried out,

(c)

authorise the correction of errors in landlord and dwelling entries and specify by whom such corrections may be made, and

(d)

authorise the removal from the database of landlord and dwelling entries that appear to a person specified in the regulations not to meet requirements imposed by or under this Chapter for inclusion in the database.

81Fees for landlord and dwelling entries

(1)

This section applies where regulations under section 77 or 79 require payment of a fee.

(2)

The regulations must—

(a)

specify the amount or amounts of the fee, or

(b)

provide for the amount or amounts of the fee to be determined by the database operator by reference to such of the relevant costs as may be specified in the regulations.

(3)

The amount or amounts specified in the regulations under subsection (2)(a) may be calculated by reference to the relevant costs.

(4)

The “relevant costs” are the costs (whether or not connected with a fee-payer) that are incurred in or associated with, or likely to be incurred in or associated with—

(a)

the establishment and operation of the database;

(b)

the enforcement of requirements imposed by or under this Chapter;

(c)

the performance of any other functions under this Chapter;

(d)

the enforcement of any other requirements imposed by or under this Act or otherwise in relation to the private rented sector.

(5)

The amount or amounts specified in the regulations under subsection (2)(a) or determined in accordance with subsection (2)(b) may, in the case of a fee charged for an entry in the database to become active again after becoming inactive as a result of provision made by virtue of section 79(2)(a), be higher than the fee that would otherwise be charged had the entry remained active.

(6)

The fees are to be payable to the database operator by such persons and in such circumstances as the regulations may provide.

(7)

The Secretary of State may direct the database operator to pay to local housing authorities or into the Consolidated Fund the amount it receives in respect of the fees it charges, or any part of that amount.

(8)

If the Secretary of State is the database operator—

(a)

subsection (7) does not apply, and

(b)

the Secretary of State may pay to local housing authorities the amount it receives in respect of fees it charges, or any part of that amount.

(9)

For the purposes of this section—

requirements “in relation to the private rented sector” means requirements relating to—

(a)

residential premises in England that are let, or intended to be let, under a tenancy;

(b)

the common parts of such premises;

(c)

the activities of a landlord under a tenancy of residential premises in England;

(d)

the activities of a superior landlord in relation to such a tenancy;

(e)

the activities of a person carrying on English letting agency work within the meaning of section 54 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 in relation to such premises;

(f)

the activities of a person carrying on English property management work within the meaning of section 55 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 in relation to such premises;

“residential premises” has the meaning given by section 1 of the Housing Act 2004 except that it does not include social housing within the meaning of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008;

“tenancy” includes a licence to occupy.