The PRS Database for Letting Agents: What You Can Do for Landlords

A letting agent cannot create a landlord's PRS Database entries. Under the draft PRS Database Regulations 2026, only the landlord, or someone with legal authority such as an attorney, can make them. Once the landlord has started, an appointed letting agent or property manager can provide and update the tenancy and safety information, including certificates. The landlord stays legally responsible.

This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Agents should seek independent legal advice for their specific circumstances. It describes the position in England at the time of writing, based on draft regulations that may change before they are approved.

Can a letting agent register a property on the PRS Database?

Not on the landlord's behalf, under the draft regulations as laid. Regulations 4(2) and 4(4) of the draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026 allow a landlord or dwelling entry to be made only by a person who is, or intends to become, the residential landlord, or by someone acting in a listed legal capacity: an attorney, a personal representative, a court appointed deputy, a guardian, a receiver, a trustee in bankruptcy, a liquidator or administrator, or a mortgagee in specified circumstances. A letting agent is not on that list.

The government's Get ready guidance says the same in plain terms: landlords are responsible for starting and ending the registration process, and remain responsible for providing all the required information even where an agent helps. Propertymark has publicly criticised the decision to limit active registration to landlords as not reflecting how managed lettings work. Guidance for agents is promised before launch but had not been published at the time of writing.

What can an agent do on the PRS Database?

Once the landlord has created the entries, an appointed letting agent or property manager can supply and maintain the information most agents already hold. The draft regulations draw the line by Schedule 3:

"Letting agent" and "property manager" take their meanings from sections 83 and 84 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, so the definitions match the redress scheme rules agents already work under. The explanatory memorandum to the regulations describes the agent route as a way for landlords to reduce their administrative burden.

Which PRS Database duties fall on agents directly?

The marketing duties in section 82 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 apply to "a person", not just the landlord, so they reach agents. Once commenced:

• Section 82(1): a person must not market a dwelling for the purpose of creating a residential tenancy unless there are active landlord and dwelling entries for it.
• Section 82(2): anyone advertising such a dwelling must include the landlord's and the property's unique identifiers in any written advertisement.

Section 99 defines marketing to include advertising a property as available and, in the course of lettings agency work, telling anyone it is available. A breach of either duty can attract a civil penalty of up to £7,000 under section 91, with escalation to offences for repeat or continuing breaches under section 92.

The timing matters. The government's guidance says unoccupied properties will only need registering before marketing, and identifiers will only be required on adverts, once future legislation brings in the public interface. The draft regulations' explanatory memorandum also says a separate Commencement No. 4 Regulations will bring the database provisions of the Act into force; that instrument had not been made at the time of writing. Agents should build the process now but check the commencement position before treating these duties as live.

What are the deadlines for an agent's client base?

Each property's deadline depends on its region, not the landlord's or the agent's address. GOV.UK says registration opens to all landlords on 15 December 2026; under the draft regulations the requirement starts region by region, with a three month window in the government's guidance.

Our PRS Database launch timeline tracks each stage of the rollout.

The 28 day rules agents will run into

Most of the risk for a managed portfolio sits in three 28 day windows, all of which involve information the agent normally holds.

1. New entries: a dwelling entry for a let property can be created without the Part 2 information, but it becomes inactive if that information is not added within 28 days (regulations 6(2) and 11(2)(a)).
2. Changes: when Part 2 information goes out of date, such as a new gas safety record, a new EICR, a rent change or a change in occupants, the entry must be updated within 28 days (regulation 9(4)).
3. New tenancies: where a property was registered before it was let, Part 2 must be added within 28 days of the tenancy starting (regulation 9(1)).

An inactive entry does not satisfy the landlord's duty. Once the possession restriction in section 90 is commenced, it would stop a court making a possession order on most grounds, which is likely to land on the agent's desk as a client complaint.

A practical process for agencies

1. Audit the client base by region. Sort managed and let only properties by their PRS Database deadline.
2. Confirm the documents. Check every property has a current gas safety record, EICR, and, where required, EPC, plus licence numbers. The draft regulations ask for copies, not just dates.
3. Agree the arrangement in writing. Update terms of business to say whether the agency will supply and maintain Part 2 information, and that the landlord must create the entries and pay the fee.
4. Brief landlords. Send each landlord their deadline, the One Login step, and what they need to do first.
5. Diarise the 28 day updates. Tie certificate renewals, rent reviews and tenancy changes to a database update task.
6. Track renewals. Entries renew every 12 months; a missed renewal makes the entry inactive.
7. Prepare adverts. Build a field for the landlord and property identifiers into listings, ready for when the advert requirement is commenced.

The explanatory memorandum expects the database to create demand for agents' support with registration and record maintenance. Our letting agent compliance checklist covers the wider agency duties, and our article on who is liable when a certificate lapses explains where agent liability sits.

Does this change agent liability?

The registration duty in section 82(3) sits with the landlord, but an agent who agrees to maintain Part 2 information takes on a contractual obligation to do it properly. If an entry lapses because an agreed update was missed, the landlord's exposure to penalties and to the possession restriction may become a claim against the agency. Once commenced, section 92(1) also makes it an offence for any person to knowingly or recklessly provide information to the database operator that is false or misleading in a material respect, in purported compliance with the regulations. That applies to an agent uploading information as much as to the landlord, and a council can impose a civil penalty of up to £40,000 instead of prosecuting.

That makes the evidence trail important: what was uploaded, when, and on whose instruction. Our article on how a letting agent proves compliance to a landlord client covers how to record it.

LLCR's Agency plan holds every client property's certificates with expiry alerts, so the gas safety records, EICRs and EPCs the database asks for are current before upload and flagged before the 28 day update windows. Role-based permissions let staff work across a client base while each landlord keeps visibility of their own records. See LLCR for agents.