How to Avoid PRS Database Penalties: A Practical Guide

The PRS Database gives councils something they have never had: a list of every landlord and let property in their area. Not registering, or registering with out-of-date certificates, will be easy to spot. Here is how to stay clear.

The penalties

Councils can issue these civil penalties without going to court, and they can apply to each property. On top of the fine, once registration is required in your region a court cannot make a possession order for an unregistered property, except on the antisocial behaviour grounds. Since section 21 ended, that can leave you with no way to recover the property.

Five steps to stay clear

1. Know your deadline

Registration runs region by region from 15 December 2026, and each region has three months. The last window closes on 14 November 2027. The full timetable is in our PRS Database guide. Go by where the property is, not where you live.

2. Register every property, not just yourself

Each let property needs its own entry, with its own £65 annual fee.

3. Have in-date certificates before your window opens

You will be asked for the gas safety record, the EICR and the EPC. A gas record that lapses in the middle of your window is a problem twice over: a criminal offence in its own right, and a gap in your registration.

4. Keep your entry current

Registration is not one-off. When a certificate is renewed, the tenancy changes, or you sell, update the entry. An out-of-date entry is itself a breach.

5. Be accurate

False or misleading information is treated as a serious breach and can bring the higher penalty.

A simple routine

• Keep every certificate in one place, with its expiry date.
• Get a reminder at least a month before anything expires.
• After each renewal, upload the new certificate and update your database entry the same day.
• Watch for the next rules: the government plans to require registration before a property is marketed, with the registration number shown in adverts. That needs further legislation and has no date yet.

That routine is what ComplianceBot automates: it reads the expiry date from each certificate, reminds you at 30, 14 and 7 days, and shows which properties are missing something the database will ask for.