Register your rental property in the South East: dates and deadline

Landlords with property in the South East are fourth in line for the new landlord register, Register your rental property. Registration opens on 15 March 2027, and your deadline is 14 June 2027.

It costs £65 per property per year, and you don't have to wait: you can register any property from 15 December 2026. Our guide to the landlord register explains what you'll need and the penalties for missing the deadline.

Key dates

• Registration opens: 15 March 2027
• Deadline: 14 June 2027
• After the deadline: councils can start enforcing. Letting or marketing an unregistered property is a breach, and courts can't grant most possession orders until you register.

Which areas are covered

The South East region covers Kent, Surrey, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes, including Brighton and Hove, Southampton, Portsmouth, Reading, Oxford and Medway. Properties in the London boroughs follow the London dates instead.

Your deadline follows the property, not you. If you live in London and let a flat in Brighton, that flat is due by 14 June 2027, four months before London's deadline.

Local licensing

The register asks whether your property needs a licence. In Oxford, almost every privately rented home needs one: selective licensing covers the whole city until 31 August 2027, and a citywide scheme for smaller HMOs started on 25 June 2026. Brighton and Hove is extending selective licensing ward by ward, adding Regency and Central Hove from October 2026, alongside citywide licensing for smaller HMOs. Elsewhere in the region, check your council's website.

Your letting agent can't register for you

You have to start and finish the registration yourself. Your agent can supply property details, but the duty and the fines stay with you. If your certificates and tenancy records only live in your agent's system, ask for copies now. If you're switching agent, they're all on our handover checklist.

What to do before 15 March

1. Put 15 March and 14 June 2027 in your diary.
2. Check your gas safety, electrical and EPC certificates are in date.
3. Ask your agent for copies of your tenancy details and certificates.
4. Check with your council whether your property needs a licence.

This guide covers England and is general information, not legal advice.