PRS Database Exempt Properties: Who Doesn't Need to Register

Who Must Register

The default rule: every private landlord letting residential property in England under an assured or regulated tenancy (which now includes all former Assured Shorthold Tenancies converted under Phase 1 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025) must register on the PRS Database, subject to the exclusions below. The obligation extends to individual owners, joint owners, limited companies, SPVs, and trusts.

The registration duty covers the full range of private residential lettings — single-family houses, flats, individual units within HMOs, and properties under regulated (Rent Act 1977) tenancies.

The Exemptions

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 and the published draft PRS Database Regulations 2026 identify specific categories that fall outside the registration requirement.

Resident Landlord Lettings (Lodgers)

If you live in the property as your sole or principal home and share living space with lodgers, those arrangements are excluded tenancies or licences under the Housing Act 1988. The PRS Database does not apply.

The key test is shared occupation: you live there, and the lodger occupies part of the same dwelling. A self-contained annex or separate flat in the same building would not qualify — that's a separate dwelling with its own tenancy, and it needs registration.

Supported Exempt Accommodation

Tenancies meeting the definition under Section 12 of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 are explicitly exempted. These are specialist housing arrangements with support services, typically run by charities or housing associations for vulnerable groups.

Social Housing

Lettings by Registered Providers of Social Housing — housing associations and local authorities operating under social housing allocations — are exempt. This covers council housing and housing association properties allocated through the social housing system.

Non-Residential Arrangements

Three categories fall outside the scope entirely:

• Commercial tenancies — business leases, shops, offices, and industrial units
• Holiday lets — short-term vacation rentals, Airbnb-style lettings where there's no assured tenancy
• Non-assured company lets — where a company is the tenant and the tenancy doesn't fall within the Housing Act 1988 assured tenancy framework

Grey Areas

Properties between tenancies: Under current GOV.UK guidance, you do not yet need to register an unoccupied property. The government says a future requirement will require registration before marketing; it will publish further guidance ahead of that change.

Mixed-use properties: If a property has both residential and commercial elements, the residential letting portion requires registration. The commercial part doesn't.

Short lets vs holiday lets: A property let on rolling short-term tenancies (one month, three months) is still a residential letting under an assured tenancy if the tenant uses it as their home. The holiday let exemption covers genuine vacation accommodation, not short tenancy terms.

If your arrangement falls close to one of these boundaries, the safest approach is to register. The £65 annual fee is trivial compared to a £7,000 penalty if a council decides the exemption doesn't apply.

The PRS Database Registration Guide maps every exemption against the statutory tests and includes a decision flowchart for borderline cases.

See more England guides →