Landlords Rental Property database – is it a Witch Hunt? Please read and decide

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 04/11/2026 – 09:37
Government does not have to justify anything. Landlords have to justify everything.

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 04/11/2026 – 09:37
… you mean £325,000,000 (£325 million) not £32,500,000 (£32.5 million). It’s the latest job creation scheme for those who wouldn’t last five minutes in the private sector.

… private landlords are now the most efficient—and most heavily regulated—housing and anti-social behaviour officers local councils could ever have managed to recruit. Employment regulations protect incompetent council officers; but this new breed of private officer—private in name only—can instead be fined so heavily that a single regulatory failure can destroy an entire business. If anything remains, it can then be confiscated or taxed away.

And, just for good measure, the unincorporated landlord is still treated as a passive investor for tax purposes. Incorporate the business and the extraction simply shifts to employment taxes, while future capital values are ring-fenced for later plucking.

It has all been done in plain sight, under both Conservative and Labour administrations and the supposed protection of organisations that feasted on membership fees to protect members interests.

Welcome to this country’s new economic model: not one designed to encourage enterprise and build businesses, but one designed to regulate, appropriate and ultimately extract the value created through decades of work, investment and risk.

It’s not justified. It’s simply a money-making scheme with no real purpose.

Reply to the comment left by Jon Landlord at 03/11/2026 – 14:18
Jon, I reported on what happened and it was explained this exercise was research and not finalised…. so how can you say what I was shown is not being actively considered as options? Clearly, I prefer a databse where the properties listed and safe and compliant. If the property is not listed, then it’s dodgy, letting agents should not be advertising it and potential renters could also be identified as assisting criminal activity…. as is knowingly buying stolen goods… ? Over to you if you wish to reply?

Reply to the comment left by Sally Robinson at 04/11/2026 – 10:32
“I reported on what happened and it was explained this exercise was research and not finalised…. so how can you say what I was shown is not being actively considered as options?”

Because the consideration has ended, the government have decided want they want to do, and the draft regulations have been published.

“If the property is not listed, then it’s dodgy, letting agents should not be advertising it”

Yes, that’s correct. (Renters’ Rights Act 2025, section 82(1).)

Link to draft regulations: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2026/9780348286861/contents

Reply to the comment left by Jon Landlord at 04/11/2026 – 11:38
Then why were Ministry of Housing people doing this interview the end of last week? Could they be planning ’round 1′, followed by ’round 2 ‘?

Reply to the comment left by Northernpleb at 04/11/2026 – 08:01
So far we have been unable to get any specifics from the NRLA. They say they are trying to help but nothing has come from it at all. Might be a good idea to ask them yourself and see if you can get any specific details from them?

https://www.nrla.org.uk/

Some people will have to sell up if this scheme goes ahead, such as some women are unable to put their names online at all for various safety reasons. So if nothing else, the NRLA will be losing members. Maybe if more people contact them, then they will try and sort this out.

Reply to the comment left by james at 05/11/2026 – 02:12
The NRLA are very good for advice and traning BUT their business plan seems to bae make as much money as possible. They are now a multi million pound organisation – and a profit making one as well. So about time they funded test court cases

I agree that the proposed national landlord database does not appear to have been fully thought through.

Many local authorities already operate their own property licensing schemes, which can cost landlords several hundred pounds — often £500–£600 — to register and license a property. If a national database is introduced on top of these existing schemes, what is the purpose of having two separate systems?

Surely there should be one effective, consistent system rather than multiple layers of registration and additional costs for landlords.

I also believe landlords’ personal information and contact details must be properly protected. Most professional landlords take their legal responsibilities and property standards very seriously. Unfortunately, there will always be a minority who do not meet the required standards, and enforcement should be targeted at those landlords and properties rather than creating another system that could become an expensive exercise in administration and penalties for responsible landlords.

The priority should be improving standards and removing genuinely poor or unsafe properties from the rental market — not unnecessarily penalising landlords who are already complying with the rules.

Reply to the comment left by Sandeep Patel at 06/11/2026 – 07:57
Very well said. Thank you