The landlord database and Ombudsman are coming. Be the agent who explains them

The parts of the Renters' Rights Act that landed on 1 May were the ones that changed daily practice: no more Section 21, periodic tenancies as standard, and a fixed advertised rent. The next phase is quieter but arguably bigger for the relationship between a landlord and their agent. It is also two separate things on two separate timetables, which is where most summaries of it go wrong.

What is coming

Two things, and they are years apart. First, a database of private landlords and their properties, intended to give councils and tenants a clearer picture of who is letting what. That one now has dates: registration opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands and moves region by region across England over the following twelve months, each area getting a three month window once it is called forward, with every landlord actively letting required to be registered by 14 November 2027. Second, an Ombudsman scheme giving tenants a route to redress without going to court. That follows the database, and the government still expects it to be ready in 2028, which is an expectation rather than a date. Between them they add registration and accountability to a sector where, until now, a landlord could largely get on with it unobserved.

One piece of it lands on the website rather than in the landlord's paperwork. Once the public side of the register is running, landlords and agents will need to show registration numbers on adverts, which makes it a listing field and a feed question. Worth asking your web company about early, while it is still a small job.

Keeping the two dates apart matters more than it sounds. Until the Ombudsman opens it is not a route anyone can be pointed at, and a page that offers it as one is sending a tenant to a body that does not yet exist. Today the live routes are the local authority for disrepair, the First-tier Tribunal for a rent increase, and your own redress scheme for a complaint about you.

The detail is still settling, and any agent claiming to know exactly how it will work is guessing. That is worth saying plainly on your own website too, because landlords have long memories for confident advice that turned out wrong.

Why this is an opportunity, not just admin

Every landlord in your book is about to have the same handful of questions. Do I need to register? What does it cost? What happens if I don't? Does my agent handle this for me? They will ask someone. If your website answers plainly, you are the someone. If it does not, they will find an answer on a competitor's site, or on a landlord forum, and start wondering what else their agent has not mentioned.

This is the same pattern we saw with the tenant fees ban and with the electrical safety regulations. The agents who wrote a calm, factual page early were treated as the safe pair of hands for years afterwards. The ones who waited until the deadline were answering the phone instead.

What a good page looks like

Short, current and honest about uncertainty. Say what is confirmed, say what is still expected, and date the page so a reader knows how fresh it is. Set out what you will do on the landlord's behalf and what remains theirs, because that boundary is where disputes start. Avoid scare tactics: a landlord who feels frightened into action rarely thanks the person who frightened them, and the regulations are not frightening if you are already running things properly.

Then keep it updated as the detail firms up. A compliance page that still describes last year's rules does more harm than no page at all, which is why we wrote separately about keeping this material current without needing a solicitor on retainer.

The bigger point

Regulation keeps arriving, and it keeps arriving faster than most agency websites are updated. That is a nuisance if you think of your site as a brochure. It is an advantage if you think of it as the place your landlords go for answers, because every new rule is another reason for them to visit, and another chance to look like the professional in the relationship.

Our letting agent websites are built with landlord pages that are straightforward to keep current, and if you would like a view on what yours is missing, a free site review is the place to start.