Can an accountant or letting agent register landlords on the PRS database?

Not fully. Under draft rules for England's landlord database, opening 15 December 2026, you normally create your own entries. A letting agent you appoint can supply and update tenancy and safety details. Accountants have no set role.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 creates a national database of private landlords and the homes they let in England, run as the "Register your rental property" service. The Act leaves it to regulations to say how, and by whom, an entry is made. Those are the draft Private Rented Sector Database Regulations 2026. They were laid before Parliament on 9 September 2026 and, on 26 October 2026, had not yet been approved or made, so the detail could still change. This page is general information for landlords in England. For your own case, check GOV.UK or get help from a solicitor or housing adviser.

Who can do what

Government guidance on the Housing Hub says landlords "are responsible for starting and ending the registration process". If you use a letting agent, "you'll still need to start the registration process yourself", and the agent can upload certain information for you. Whatever they enter, "you as a landlord will remain responsible for providing all required information".

What a letting agent can do

The draft regulations let a letting agent or property manager appointed by you supply the second half of each property entry for you. That covers the number of occupants and households, any house in multiple occupation (HMO), selective or additional licence, the gas safety record, the electrical safety report, the energy performance certificate (EPC) and any energy efficiency exemption, the rent and how often it is paid, bills included, and whether the home is furnished. Your agent can also keep those details up to date, along with whether the property is currently let.

If you let as an individual, what an agent cannot do, on the draft rules, is create your landlord entry or a property entry just because they are your agent. The exceptions are someone acting in a listed capacity, such as under your power of attorney, and an agent appointed by a mortgage lender that needs vacant possession to sell the property. A company or other organisation that lets property instead names the individual who makes its entries, and the draft does not limit who that is.

The government has said it will publish guidance for letting agents and property managers before the service opens. On 19 October 2026 we found none on GOV.UK, so the exact way an agent links to your account is not yet known.

Where an accountant fits

Neither the draft regulations nor the Housing Hub guidance mention accountants. If you let as an individual, an accountant, like anyone else, can make entries for you only if they act in one of the listed capacities. These include holding a power of attorney, acting as a court-appointed deputy or guardian, a personal representative of a deceased landlord's estate, a receiver, a trustee in bankruptcy, a liquidator or an administrator. Whoever acts must give their name and contact details and a certified or sealed copy of the document that gives them authority, such as the power of attorney or grant of probate.

If the landlord is a company or other organisation, the draft asks for the name and contact details of the individual making the entry on its behalf and does not limit who that is, so someone it authorises, such as its accountant, may be able to do it.

What this means for you

If you let in your own name, plan to do the registration yourself, even if an agent manages your lets. Say you let 2 flats through an agent. Online, you set up your One Login, create your landlord entry, add each flat with its address, type, bedrooms and ownership, and pay the fee for each. Your agent can then add the tenancy, rent and certificate details within the 28 days the draft rules allow for a property that is already let.

Check those details before your deadline. The Act puts the duty to have active entries on you as the residential landlord. When the rules come into force, councils will be able to fine up to £7,000 for breaking the database rules, or up to £40,000 where the conduct is an offence, and courts will not make possession orders while you lack active entries, except on the anti-social behaviour grounds 7A and 14. These parts are waiting for further commencement regulations.

Your deadline depends on where the property is. Registration opens in the West Midlands on 15 December 2026, and all landlords actively letting should be registered by 14 November 2027. The planned fee is £65 a year per property. That figure is in guidance, not law: the draft regulations leave the amount to the database operator.

Steps to take with your agent

1. Find each property's region and deadline with the register deadline checker.
2. Set up your own GOV.UK One Login to use the online service. The Housing Hub says offline routes will be available for those who need them.
3. Ask your agent in writing whether they will supply the tenancy and safety details, and by when.
4. Create your landlord entry and each property entry when the service opens, and pay the fee.
5. Let your agent add the tenancy, rent and certificate details within 28 days.
6. Check what they entered, and ask them to tell you when anything changes, as entries must be kept up to date.

For the full list of documents, see how to register your rental property on the PRS database. The landlord section has more guides on the Renters' Rights Act.