Landlord registration in Wales and Scotland
Both nations require landlords to register; England does not yet.
Last reviewed 30 September 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Wales
Rent Smart Wales registers private landlords and licenses anyone who does letting or management work, which includes letting agents and landlords who manage their own properties. Its public register can be searched by property address, landlord name, agent name, or registration or licence number, so you can check whether a landlord is registered and whether a landlord or agent is licensed. Note its own warning: the search covers every postal address in Wales, so finding an address is no indication that the property is, or has ever been, rented.
Scotland
The Scottish Landlord Register records landlords across all 32 local authorities, searchable by registration number or property address. Landlords in Scotland must include their landlord registration number in any written advert for a property to rent, or the words “landlord registration pending” if their application has not yet been decided.
England
England has no landlord register in operation yet. Registration on the Private Rented Sector Database, created by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, is due to open on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands and reach every English region by 15 August 2027; the regulations are still in draft and need Parliament’s approval. The government says every landlord letting property must be registered by 14 November 2027. Tenants will not be able to search the register at first: the government says further legislation will add a public part later.