Register your rental property service: guidance for third parties
How you can use the Register your rental property service, which has been introduced as part of the Renters’ Rights Act, to register or manage entries on behalf of landlords.
Applies to England
Some third parties can register a landlord and their property if they have legal authority to manage the landlord’s rental property.
This is allowed in certain cases, including where:
- a landlord lacks capacity
- a possession restriction is in place when a mortgage provider requires court-order possession of an unregistered property
The landlord remains legally responsible for registering and updating information on the service and there is no statutory duty on you as a third party to make an entry for a landlord. The exception is when the third party has become the legal landlord in their place, for example when they are the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate or a trustee in bankruptcy.
Who can act as a third party
You can register on the service on behalf of a landlord, or if you have taken over as the landlord, if you are:
- a donee of a power of attorney
- a personal representative of a deceased person’s estate
- a court appointed deputy
- a guardian
- a receiver
- a trustee in bankruptcy
- a liquidator or provisional liquidator
- an administrator
- an administrative receiver
- a person acting in a similar or corresponding capacity to the above under the law of a country or territory outside England and Wales
- a mortgagee or a person appointed by the mortgagee to act on their behalf
Information you will have to provide
As a third party you will need to provide information about the landlord, yourself and the rental property.
You are not required to provide tenancy and health and safety information about the property. This reflects that this may be prohibitively difficult to access this information if you have not previously been involved in managing the property.
The duty remains on the landlord to provide this information. If you have become the legal landlord then you will need to provide that information when you update the entry.
Required evidence of authority
To register you must provide a certified or sealed copy (as appropriate) of the relevant evidence of authority to act on a landlord’s behalf, or as landlord to the property.
Accepted forms of evidence are:
- the document granting the power of attorney
- the grant of probate or grant of letters of administration
- the deed, certificate, notice or instrument of appointment
- the mortgage deed
- a court order
- a bankruptcy order
- a document issued under the law of a country or territory outside England and Wales which is similar to, or corresponds to, a document listed above
How to register as a third party
To register on behalf of a landlord, you will need to contact us. We’ll guide you through the process.
We are considering an online journey for third parties and will provide notice if this becomes available.
Court proceedings to gain possession
From Winter 2027 a property and its landlord must be registered on the service before a court can issue a possession order, this is known as the possession restriction.
The possession restriction will be inserted into section 7 of the Housing Act 1988.
As a third party you may need to make an entry for a landlord and property if they have not been registered to allow you to take court proceedings to gain possession of the property.
We will provide further guidance before the possession restriction is brought into force.