The rule

The duty applies to a residential landlord: the landlord under a "relevant tenancy" of a home in England that isn't social housing. A relevant tenancy is an assured tenancy under the Housing Act 1988 or a regulated tenancy under the Rent Act 1977 (Renters' Rights Act 2025, s.63). Since 1 May 2026 almost all new private lets are assured periodic tenancies, so most private landlords are in.

Case by case

Situation	Must register?	Why
Buy-to-let flat or house let to a household	Yes	assured tenancy
HMO	Yes, with the licence number	assured tenancies; licence details are part of the entry
Empty property between tenants	Not yet	only let properties must be registered during the rollout; future rules will require registration before marketing
Lodger in your own home	Probably not	a resident-landlord letting isn't an assured tenancy; guidance doesn't yet confirm it
Holiday let	Probably not	holiday lettings aren't assured tenancies; not yet confirmed in guidance
Let to a company (company tenant)	Probably not	an assured tenancy needs an individual tenant; not yet confirmed
Social housing	No	excluded by s.63
Supported exempt accommodation	No	the one explicit exemption in the draft regulations

Sources: s.63, draft regulations, reg 3, GOV.UK Housing Hub. The "probably not" answers follow from how the Housing Act defines an assured tenancy; check official guidance when it's published before relying on them.

One landlord entry, one entry per property

You create one landlord entry for yourself, then one property entry for each home you let. A landlord with five flats makes one landlord entry and five property entries, paying the fee on each property.

Banned landlords

A person subject to a banning order can't be entered on the database, and their existing entries are deactivated (draft regulations, reg 4).

Not in England?

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own, separate landlord registers. See registration outside England.