The NRLA has slammed the upcoming private rented sector database as a “costly mess” which will only provide an extremely limited service to tenants and landlords.

It says the ‘Register your rental property’ database, which starts rolling out across England in December, will cost landlords a minimum of £327 million per year - almost seven times the figure ministers envisaged in the original assessment for the Renters’ Rights Bill and a cost that will ultimately be borne by renters.

The 2024 assessment suggested landlords would only have to re-register on the database every three years at a cost of £28.58 per property. However, it will now cost £65 per year for every rental property.

Replicates

The NRLA argues that much of the information being provided to the database simply replicates what landlords are already required to give to councils through licensing schemes. It adds that the government has no plans to digitise gas and electrical safety certificates in the same way as EPCs, meaning that manually scanning and uploading these onto the database will only add to the administrative costs of compliance.

Meanwhile the sector is still awaiting details of the cost to join the new private rented sector Ombudsman scheme, which most expect to be significantly more expensive, and is preparing for a tax hike on rental income from 2027, says chief executive Ben Beadle.

Compliance

“A well-designed database should make it easy for landlords to demonstrate compliance with their obligations; empower tenants; and be truly digital in every way. This looks likely to fail on every count. What we have on offer is a costly mess,” he adds.

“The mind boggles that landlords are to be forced to pay more to manually upload documents to a website than mechanics are permitted to charge to carry out an MOT check, which includes a comprehensive, hands-on examination of a car’s roadworthiness. Frankly, landlords and tenants are being ripped off in the name of consumer protection.”

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