London landlords must register themselves and each rented home on the government’s new “Register your rental property” service between 15 July and 14 October 2027, at £65 per property per year (GOV.UK). The register opens region by region from 15 December 2026, starting with the West Midlands; that date is not a London deadline. Separately, most London boroughs run licensing schemes that have their own rules, and the table below lists them borough by borough. This guide covers private lets in England.
When London landlords have to register
GOV.UK’s guidance, published on 29 October 2026, gives each region a three-month window. London’s starts on 15 July 2027 and ends before midnight on 14 October 2027 (GOV.UK: Register your rental property). The first window, for the West Midlands, opens on 15 December 2026, and London is the eighth of nine regions (GOV.UK Housing Hub).
You can register before your region’s window opens, but you don’t have to: for a London property, nothing in the guidance requires you to act before 15 July 2027.
The regulations behind the service were still in draft when this was checked on 6 November 2026. Parliament’s record lists the draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 under the draft affirmative procedure (UK Parliament procedure record), and no made regulations appeared on legislation.gov.uk. The dates here come from GOV.UK’s published guidance, so check that page again before you rely on them.
Who has to register, and what it costs
The duty falls on private landlords in England with a home occupied by tenants on an assured or regulated tenancy. Organisations acting as landlords count. Joint landlords must each register. The guidance does not mention lodgers, so if you let a room in your own home, check before assuming either way.
- Fee: £65 per property per year, pro-rated for the first payment during the rollout (GOV.UK guidance). Registering yourself as a landlord and updating your records are free.
- What you need: a GOV.UK One Login (or a paper application), property details, a correspondence address in England or Wales, and contact details for any managing agent, superior landlord or freeholder.
- What follows within 28 days: gas and electrical safety certificates, the Energy Performance Certificate, tenancy details including the rent, and any licence such as an HMO licence. If you don’t provide these, the registration may be deactivated.
Failing to register can bring a penalty of up to £7,000. Knowingly or recklessly giving false or misleading information, or continuing or repeated breaches, can bring up to £40,000. Tenants can also apply for rent repayment orders in some cases, such as false information given to the service, once the registration period for the property’s area has opened.
What is still to come
Two further rules are planned, with no date set. Empty homes will have to be registered before they are marketed or advertised, and adverts will have to show landlord and property registration numbers. You may show the numbers now, but no rule requires it during the rollout. Details on the register are not public at present; GOV.UK says some may be in future. Once the duty applies to you, a court can’t make a possession order while you are unregistered, except on the anti-social behaviour grounds, 7A and 14 (Renters’ Rights Act 2025, section 90).
How licensing differs from the register
Registering does not replace a council licence, and a licence does not replace registering: you may need both. There are three kinds of licence:
- Mandatory HMO licence: applies in every borough to a home shared by 5 or more people from 2 or more households.
- Additional HMO licence: a council scheme, usually covering smaller shares of 3 or 4 people from 2 or more households.
- Selective licence: a council scheme covering rented homes in named areas that don’t need an HMO licence. An HMO that needs an HMO licence doesn’t also need a selective one (Housing Act 2004, section 85).
Letting without a licence you need can bring a civil penalty of up to £40,000 for offences since 1 May 2026, and a rent repayment order. Our guide to HMO licensing in London explains the rules and room sizes.
Licensing schemes in each London borough
This table shows the additional and selective schemes we found for each borough from 4 to 6 November 2026, and the source we read: the council’s own page or notice, or London Property Licensing’s borough guide (a third-party site). It is a starting point, not an answer for one address: schemes vary by ward and street, have exemptions, and end or change. Follow the borough’s name to its council page and check your property there. “None found” means only that: it doesn’t mean no licence is needed, and mandatory HMO licensing applies everywhere.
| Borough | Additional HMO licensing | Selective licensing | Source read, 4 to 6 Nov 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, all wards | Listing guide |
| Barnet | Yes, borough-wide | None found; a ten-ward scheme was consulted on to 15 Sep 2026 | Listing guide |
| Bexley | None found | Yes, Belvedere ward | Council |
| Brent | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, every ward except Wembley Park | Council |
| Bromley | None found | None found | Listing guide |
| Camden | Yes, borough-wide | None found | Listing guide |
| City of London | None found | None found | Listing guide |
| Croydon | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, 14 of 28 wards | Council |
| Ealing | Yes, borough-wide; a renewal was consulted on to 24 Sep 2026 | Yes, some wards | Council (consultation); listing guide |
| Enfield | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, some wards | Listing guide |
| Greenwich | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, parts of some wards; a larger scheme was consulted on to 12 Oct 2026 | Listing guide |
| Hackney | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, 17 wards | Council |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, named streets | Listing guide |
| Haringey | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, some wards | Listing guide |
| Harrow | Ended 5 Aug 2026; a new scheme is due on 6 Jan 2027 | Yes, some wards | Council |
| Havering | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, 7 wards | Council |
| Hillingdon | Yes, borough-wide | None found | Council |
| Hounslow | Yes, borough-wide | None found | Council |
| Islington | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, 3 wards; 7 more due from 23 Nov 2026 | Listing guide |
| Kensington and Chelsea | Yes | None found | Council |
| Kingston upon Thames | None found | None found | Council (HMO page); listing guide |
| Lambeth | Yes, borough-wide, to 8 Dec 2026; no renewal found | Yes, every ward except Vauxhall and Waterloo & South Bank | Council (selective); listing guide |
| Lewisham | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, most of the borough | Listing guide |
| Merton | Yes, 7 wards | Yes, 4 wards | Council |
| Newham | Yes, most wards | Yes, most wards | Listing guide |
| Redbridge | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, some wards | Listing guide |
| Richmond upon Thames | None found | None found | Listing guide |
| Southwark | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, some wards | Listing guide |
| Sutton | Yes, borough-wide | None found | Council notice; listing guide |
| Tower Hamlets | Yes, borough-wide | Ended 30 Sep 2026; none found since | Council |
| Waltham Forest | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, most wards | Listing guide |
| Wandsworth | Yes, borough-wide | Yes, some wards | Listing guide |
| Westminster | Yes, renewed from 31 Aug 2026 | Yes, 15 wards | Council |
Several schemes end in 2027, including those in Ealing, Southwark, Lewisham and Hammersmith and Fulham, so a date here can go out of date. Lambeth’s additional scheme is due to end on 8 December 2026 and Harrow’s new one is due on 6 January 2027: check both councils’ pages if you let there.
What to do now
- Check each property on its council’s licensing page, using the links above, and apply if a scheme covers it.
- Put the certificates the register asks for in one place: gas safety, electrical safety and the Energy Performance Certificate.
- Note London’s window, 15 July to 14 October 2027, and check GOV.UK’s guidance nearer the time.
For the wider rules, see our complete guide for London landlords and our guide to the Renters’ Rights Act.
General information for landlords in England, checked 6 November 2026. It isn’t legal advice, so check with your council. FTR London is a listing site: it doesn’t check registration or licences, and listing here doesn’t meet either duty.
If you have a home to let, you can list it free on FTR London, and renters contact you directly.
How we researched this: register dates, fees and penalties from GOV.UK’s Register your rental property guidance (published 29 October 2026) and the Housing Hub; the regulations’ status from UK Parliament’s procedure record and legislation.gov.uk, all checked on 6 November 2026; licensing schemes from council pages and London Property Licensing’s borough pages, read from 4 to 6 November 2026.
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