The government has published guidance for landlords on the information required for the new mandatory Private Rental Sector Database. Rollout begins in two months, with landlords required to pay a £65 per-property registration fee and provide further details within 28 days or risk deactivation of their property registration.
Lancaster Council is hosting a landlord forum to brief the private rented sector on the Government’s new rental property registration scheme under the Renters Rights Act. The article says landlords in the North West will need to register properties from 15 May 2027, with a deadline of 14 August 2027 and an annual fee of £65 per property.
A company responsible for Solihull Heights has been fined £240,000 after failing to comply with a Birmingham City Council Improvement Notice requiring fire detection upgrades across three tower blocks. The council says the case is intended as a warning to landlords and notes that 26 other developments in the city are currently subject to enforcement action.
Southend Council has opened a consultation on a replacement selective licensing scheme for privately rented homes, with the current five-year scheme due to expire on 30 November. The council is considering expanding the scheme’s coverage, with implementation expected from April next year, leaving a three-month period in which no licensing will apply.
A council has issued what it says is its first fine for serving an unlawful Section 21 notice after the Renters Rights Act removed that route to possession. The landlord was penalised by Gateshead council after serving the notice after 1 May, with the authority indicating that further cases are under consideration.
A London landlord, Nirpaul Riat, has reportedly been stripped of his OBE following a successful prosecution and lobbying by Hounslow Council. The case involved unlawful conversion of houses into flats and the letting of outbuildings in poor conditions to vulnerable occupants, with earlier enforcement action also recorded in 2009.
A survey of 276 landlords suggests awareness of the Renters Rights Act is relatively high in broad terms, but knowledge of the new private rented sector database and landlord ombudsman is much lower. The article argues that this gap in understanding could leave landlords exposed to penalties once registration becomes mandatory in England.
East Staffordshire Council has approved a new selective licensing scheme for 16 streets in Burton upon Trent, due to start on New Year’s Day and run until 31 December 2031. The scheme is intended to improve housing conditions and management standards in an area with a high concentration of privately rented homes, and will require affected landlords to obtain a licence and meet mandatory conditions.
