Contents
Status at 4 November 2026: fee in GOV.UK guidance, not in the Regulations
The £65 fee and the pro-rating formula are in GOV.UK’s guidance for landlords, published on 29 October 2026. The draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 do not set the fee: the database operator sets it, and the explanatory memorandum says that lets it change, for example for inflation. The Regulations are still a draft on legislation.gov.uk.
The short version
- £65 a year for each property. Not subject to VAT. (GOV.UK guidance for landlords.)
- Registering yourself as a landlord is free, and so is every update to your landlord or property records.
- The first year is cheaper. During the rollout the fee is pro-rated to disregard any days before 15 November 2027. Registering on 15 December 2026 costs £5.34 for a property, according to GOV.UK’s example.
- The fee is tax-deductible, says GOV.UK, which tells you to check HMRC’s guidance when you do your tax return.
- Not published: what it costs to reactivate a lapsed registration.
GOV.UK’s formula
GOV.UK gives this formula: (fee / year_length) x (remaining_days - free_days), where:
- fee is £65;
- year_length is the days between the previous renewal date and the next renewal date, 365 or 366;
- remaining_days is the days until the next renewal date;
- free_days is the days until charging starts, which during the rollout means any days before 15 November 2027.
If the answer has more than two decimal places it is always rounded down. GOV.UK says the fee is “adjusted to disregard any days before 15 November 2027, the date from which all landlords will be required to be registered”.
Its two worked examples:
| You register on | Renewal date | Year length | Free days | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 December 2026 | 15 December 2027 | 365 | 335 | £5.34 |
| 25 June 2027 | 25 June 2028 | 366 | 143 | £39.60 |
What each month costs
The table below is our calculation, not GOV.UK’s. We applied GOV.UK’s formula to the 15th of each month, using the days from the registration date to the same date a year later as the year length, which reproduces both GOV.UK examples exactly. Treat it as an estimate: the service has not been published, and GOV.UK’s own figures win.
| Register on | Fee for one property |
|---|---|
| 15 December 2026 | £5.34 |
| 15 January 2027 | £10.86 |
| 15 February 2027 | £16.38 |
| 15 March 2027 | £21.48 |
| 15 April 2027 | £26.99 |
| 15 May 2027 | £32.32 |
| 15 June 2027 | £37.82 |
| 15 July 2027 | £43.15 |
| 15 August 2027 | £48.66 |
| 15 September 2027 | £54.16 |
| 15 October 2027 | £59.49 |
| 15 November 2027 | £65.00 |
Registering on the last day of the rollout, 14 November 2027, comes to £64.82 on the same method because one free day remains.
Two things to notice. Everyone in a region has the same deadline whichever month they register in, so registering early in your window is cheaper, but not by much: a West Midlands landlord who registers on 14 March 2027 pays about £21 rather than £5. On our reading of the formula the reduction applies to the first period only, because there are no free days after 15 November 2027.
Several properties
The fee is “for one property”, according to Housing Hub: you pay it each time you register a different property. On our reading, registering three West Midlands properties on 15 December 2026 would cost £5.34 for each, using GOV.UK’s example. All your properties renew on the same date, one year after you registered your first, and GOV.UK’s guidance says a second property registered two months after the first takes the same renewal date. GOV.UK does not say how the fee for a later property is worked out against that shared date, and we have not calculated it.
What it costs after the first year
GOV.UK says you pay the annual service fee of £65 per property when you register each property and then annually. After 15 November 2027 there are no free days left in the formula. The Regulations let the database operator set the fee by reference to its costs, and the explanatory memorandum says it is left out of the Regulations so it can change, so do not assume next year costs the same.
What you do not pay for
- Your landlord registration.
- Any update to your landlord or property records.
- VAT: GOV.UK says the fee is not subject to VAT.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to register as a landlord in England?
£65 a year for each property, with a lower first-year amount during the rollout. Registering yourself is free.
Is the landlord register fee tax-deductible?
GOV.UK’s guidance for landlords says “The service fee is tax-deductible, you should review the relevant HMRC guidance when you submit your tax return”. HMRC’s page on working out rental income says expenses must be “wholly and exclusively” for renting out the property.
Do I pay per landlord or per property?
Per property. Joint landlords each register themselves, but the property is registered once.
Is there a penalty if I register late?
The penalties are separate from the fee. See our penalties guide.
Sources
Last checked 4 November 2026.
- Register your rental property service: guidance for landlords, GOV.UK, 29 October 2026
- Get ready: ‘Register your rental property’ service, Housing Hub, GOV.UK
- The Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 (draft), legislation.gov.uk
- Explanatory Memorandum to the draft Regulations, legislation.gov.uk
- Work out your rental income when you let property, HM Revenue and Customs, GOV.UK
Changes to this guide
- 4 November 2026: Published. Written on 3 November 2026 and re-checked against the primary sources on 4 November 2026: no source had changed.
This guide is general information written from the official sources listed above and checked on 4 November 2026. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and Plainfiles is not endorsed by any government body. Rules change, so check the linked official pages for your own situation. Written and designed by Plainfiles with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, then checked against the official legislation and guidance listed in the sources. How we write and check our guides.