Two of the largest structural pieces of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 are not yet asking anything of anyone. A national private rented sector database and a compulsory ombudsman for private landlords both sit in the Act, but neither has commenced as a duty. This guide explains what each is expected to require, why the timing is being staged rather than switched on at once, and what a landlord can usefully do now so that registration, when it arrives, is a morning of admin rather than a scramble.
Why these two are different from the rest of the Act
The tenancy reforms that came into force on 1 May 2026 changed the law by changing existing statute. Section 21 stopped working, fixed terms fell away, rent increases were funnelled into a single route. None of that needed new infrastructure to exist first.
The database and the ombudsman are different in kind. Each requires something to be built and operated before a duty can sensibly bite: a registration service that landlords can actually use, and a redress body with a scheme, a caseload process and funding. Government has therefore taken powers in the Act and is commencing them separately, which is why you will not find a single date in the Act that turns them on. For the database, the government has now published a regional timetable, starting on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands and running to 14 November 2027. For the ombudsman, treat any firm date as a projection until commencement regulations appear.
What the database is expected to require
The design is a national register covering both landlords and the properties they let. A landlord will need an entry for themselves and an entry for each let property, so a person with four flats is looking at one landlord record and four property records rather than a single line.
The register is intended to serve three audiences at once. Tenants and prospective tenants get somewhere to check who they are dealing with. Local housing authorities get a picture of the stock in their area, which is the missing piece in most enforcement work today. Government gets data on a sector that has never been mapped properly. Enforcement of the registration duties will sit with local authorities: up to £7,000 for breaching a registration requirement, and up to £40,000 where the conduct amounts to an offence under the database provisions. How councils impose penalties is explained in what happens if you get it wrong.
The precise fields will be prescribed in regulations. Rather than guessing at them, it is more useful to notice which records any plausible version of the scheme will draw on: ownership and contact details, the address and type of each let, and the safety and licensing paperwork a landlord should already hold.
What the ombudsman will do
The ombudsman scheme will be compulsory for private landlords in England, which is the significant word. Redress in this sector has historically been patchy: letting agents have been required to belong to a redress scheme, but a tenant renting directly from a landlord has generally had no equivalent route short of the council or a court.
The scheme will handle complaints from tenants about their landlord, and the powers contemplated are the familiar ombudsman toolkit. The Act allows the scheme to require a landlord to give an apology or explanation, to pay compensation, or to take other action in the tenant's interests. That is a different mechanism from local authority enforcement: it is complaint-led and outcome-focused rather than penalty-led, and it is aimed at the large body of disputes about service, repairs and communication that never reach a court.
None of this is available to a tenant yet. A tenant with a complaint today should follow the landlord or agent's own complaints process, then consider the local housing authority where the issue engages a statutory duty. The wider set of remedies currently available is in tenant rights under the Act.
Where each measure stands
| Measure | Status | Expected | Enforced by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenancy reforms (section 21, periodic tenancies, rent increases) | In force since 1 May 2026 | Already live | Courts and local housing authorities |
| Private rented sector database | Not a live duty yet | Regional rollout from 15 December 2026 to 14 November 2027 | Local housing authorities |
| Landlord ombudsman | Not a live duty | Expected 2028 | The scheme itself, once designated |
A worked example of getting ready
Take a landlord with four flats, two in one borough and two in a neighbouring one, all let on tenancies that began before 1 May 2026. Her live obligations were dealt with in the spring: the official Information Sheet went to all four tenants by 31 May 2026, and she kept the sent emails with the PDF attached rather than a link.
Her database preparation is a single afternoon in autumn 2026, before registration opens in her region. She builds one folder per property containing the address and Unique Property Reference Number, the tenancy start date, the current rent and rent period, the deposit scheme and reference number, the gas safety record, the electrical installation condition report, the energy performance certificate, and any licence held for that property. She adds a one-page landlord sheet with her own service address and contact details. When registration opens, each property record is a transcription exercise. If a field turns out not to be needed, nothing has been lost: every document in those folders is something a local authority could ask for anyway.
What is already enforceable while you wait
It is worth keeping the sequencing straight. The rules that bind a landlord today are the ones already in force: the written statement of terms, the Information Sheet for pre-existing written tenancies, the rent increase procedure, the pet request rules, and the advertising and advance rent rules. The chronological picture is in the landlord compliance timeline, and you can confirm which apply to a particular tenancy with the compliance checker.
When the database does commence, the practical risk is not the registration form. It is discovering, while filling it in, that a certificate expired eighteen months ago or that a deposit was protected under an old scheme reference. Registration will make those gaps visible to the authority best placed to act on them, which is rather the point of it. The preparation that matters is therefore ordinary record-keeping done early, not watching for a commencement date. Official updates for both measures will appear on the government guide to the Act.
Deal with the duties that are already live
Before worrying about what is coming, it is worth confirming that the duties already in force are covered. The compliance checker asks a few questions and tells you which of them apply to your tenancy and which deadlines have passed.
Check what applies todayFrequently asked questions
Do I need to register on the database yet?
Not yet. The government has announced that the "Register your rental property" service opens region by region from 15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands. Once your region opens you get a 3-month window to register, and every region is due to be covered by 14 November 2027. Until the duty applies in your region, nothing you do or fail to do can breach it.
When will the landlord ombudsman start taking complaints?
The government expects landlords to have to join the ombudsman scheme in 2028, later than the database. Until it is in force, tenant complaints run through the landlord or agent's own process, the local housing authority, an existing agent redress scheme where one applies, or the courts.
Will I have to register every property separately?
The design of the scheme is that landlords register themselves and each of the properties they let. Exactly what information each entry will require will be set out in regulations before the duty commences, so the sensible preparation is to have the underlying records in order rather than to guess at the fields.
What are the penalties likely to be for not registering?
The Act allows local housing authorities to impose a civil penalty of up to £7,000 for breaching a registration requirement, and up to £40,000 where the conduct amounts to an offence under the database provisions. The government's Housing Hub also says there will be an annual fee of £65 for each property registered.
Related guides
Based on the Renters' Rights Act 2025, SI 2026/421 and SI 2026/324, and official gov.uk guidance, verified September 2026. England only. This is general information, not legal advice - for advice on your own situation speak to a solicitor or a body such as Citizens Advice or Shelter. See the official government guide to the Act and the Act itself.