Landlord Database UK: How Letting Agents Find and Contact Portfolio Landlords

There is no landlord database in the UK that a letting agent can download and write to. The government's new register for private landlords in England opens on 15 December 2026, but it exists so tenants and councils can check compliance. It will not hand you a mailing list.

What you can build is your own landlord database, assembled from ownership records, company filings, listing history and council registers, then grouped by owner. Done that way, it points you at the landlords worth the most to a lettings book: the ones with several homes.

The English Private Landlord Survey 2024 puts a number on that. Landlords with five or more properties were 17% of landlords, and they held 49% of tenancies. So how do you find them, and how do you contact them without breaking the rules?

Is there a public landlord database in the UK?

No, not one you can market from. The Private Rented Sector Database, now branded the "Register your rental property" service, is a compliance register created by the Renters' Rights Act 2025. As of October 2026, the published timetable is:

Region	Registration requirement starts	Deadline to register
West Midlands	15 December 2026	14 March 2027
East of England	15 January 2027	14 April 2027
East Midlands	15 February 2027	14 May 2027
South East	15 March 2027	14 June 2027
Yorkshire and Humber	15 April 2027	14 July 2027
North West	15 May 2027	14 August 2027
North East	15 June 2027	14 September 2027
London	15 July 2027	14 October 2027
South West	15 August 2027	14 November 2027

Landlords will pay £65 a year for each property they register. Tenants will be able to check whether a landlord meets the main legal requirements, but the government says it will publish the list of information the public can see "at a later stage". Nothing published so far suggests it will be searchable as a list of landlords by area.

The register still matters to your pitch. An agent can upload some information on a landlord's behalf, but the landlord starts the registration and stays responsible for it. A landlord who is not registered cannot get a possession order, except on the serious anti-social behaviour grounds (Grounds 7A and 14). That is a compliance job many self-managing landlords will want someone else to own.

Our Renters' Rights Act guide sets out the other dates that land on the same landlords.

Where does landlord data come from?

Landlord data comes from several public sources, none of which says "landlord" on its own. You prove a property is let by combining them.

• HM Land Registry title registers. The register shows who owns a property. An online copy costs £7 per title. HMLR holds records for most property sold in England and Wales since 1993, so some long-held homes are not registered at all.

• UK and overseas company ownership (CCOD and OCOD). HMLR publishes monthly datasets of registered titles owned by UK companies and by overseas companies, with title number, tenure, address, proprietor name and company registration number. CCOD excludes private individuals and charities, so it covers company landlords only.

• Companies House. Once you have a company name from CCOD, Companies House shows its directors, registered office and other appointments. Filtering by SIC code 68209, "other letting and operating of own or leased real estate", narrows a list to companies that describe themselves as letting property.

• Listing history. A home advertised to rent on the portals in recent years is very likely a rental. This is the strongest single signal you have for privately owned homes, because individuals do not appear in CCOD.

• EPC records. The public EPC register can be searched by postcode or street. Landlords need a valid EPC to let, so a recent certificate on a home with rental history supports the picture.

• Council licensing registers. Councils must keep a register of HMO and selective licences in force, open to public inspection under section 232 of the Housing Act 2004. It names licensed properties and their licence holders.

Two of our guides go further on the ownership records: how to find out who owns a property in the UK covers title registers, and how to check whether a property is owned by a limited company covers CCOD.

Listing history carries most of the weight for individual owners. On 26 October 2026, 536 of the 936 homes listed to rent on Rightmove and Zoopla in LS6 (Headingley, Leeds), each counted once in Propalt's letting records, belonged to private individuals, none of whom would appear in CCOD.

"No single record says a property is let. Ownership, listing history and licensing together do."

How do you identify portfolio landlords?

You group properties by owner. A portfolio landlord is the same name, or the same company, appearing on several titles. In practice that means matching CCOD company numbers across addresses, and matching individual owners across titles where the name and correspondence address agree.

Three things trip agents up. Names are written inconsistently across records. One landlord can own homes personally and through a company, which shows up as two smaller portfolios. And a portfolio that looks local may include homes in other outcodes, which matters when you are pricing a management offer.

Propalt ran this grouping for LS6 (Headingley, Leeds) on 26 October 2026. It holds 771 landlord records with property in LS6, and 363 of them own five or more properties nationally. That portfolio count covers all their homes across England and Wales, not only those in LS6. That share is far higher than the national survey's 17%, which is what you would expect in a student-heavy outcode. It is also a reminder that the 17% figure describes landlords who registered tenancy deposits themselves, the survey's sample, not every landlord in England.

How can you contact landlords lawfully?

By post, under legitimate interests, with care. By email or phone, under PECR, with much more care.

The ICO's guidance lists postal marketing as not covered by PECR, with legitimate interests or consent as the likely lawful basis under UK GDPR. You still need a documented legitimate interests assessment, a privacy notice that tells landlords where you got their details, and a suppression list. The ICO is clear that you must stop sending marketing by post if the person asks you to.

Electronic marketing is different. For emails and texts to individual subscribers, which includes sole-trader landlords, PECR requires consent or the soft opt-in, and a cold landlord has given you neither. Live calls are allowed only to numbers not registered with the TPS or Corporate TPS, unless the subscriber has told you they do not object. Emails to limited company addresses fall outside that part of PECR, though UK GDPR still applies if the address identifies a person.

Channel	PECR rule (ICO)	Likely lawful basis
Letter	Not covered by PECR	Legitimate interests or consent
Email or text, individual landlord	Consent or soft opt-in	Consent or legitimate interests
Email, limited company landlord	Not covered by this part of PECR	Legitimate interests (UK GDPR still applies to a named person)
Live phone call	Screen against TPS and CTPS	Legitimate interests or consent

"Write first, call later. A letter needs no PECR consent."

For the letter itself, see how to write a letter that gets read.

What is the step-by-step method for building a landlord database?

1. Pick your patch. Choose the outcodes where you can manage homes profitably, then list every property in them.

2. Flag likely lets. Mark homes with rental listing history, company ownership in CCOD or a council licence.

3. Group by owner. Combine titles under one landlord, joining company and personal holdings where the evidence supports it.

4. Rank by portfolio size and status. Five or more homes, a landlord buying or selling, or a home sitting unlet all move a name up the list.

5. Write first. Send a letter that refers to something specific, such as the registration timetable for their region or a recent let nearby. For letter structure, see how to write a letter that gets read.

6. Follow up within the rules. Call only numbers that pass TPS screening, and email individuals only once they have opted in.

7. Record objections. Anyone who asks you to stop goes on a suppression list that every future campaign checks.

Propalt does steps 1 to 4 for you. My Prospects lists the landlords in an area with portfolio value, rental roll, yield and status (Active Seller, Active Buyer, No Recent Movement). Trace AI finds phone numbers and email addresses for owners; PECR still applies to every call and email you make with them.

What should you check before trusting a landlord database?

Ask any supplier three questions. How do they decide a property is let, and from which sources? How do they group titles into one portfolio, and do they join personal and company holdings? And how old is the ownership data, given that CCOD refreshes monthly and title registers change on every sale?

If a supplier cannot answer, you will be writing to owner-occupiers, missing portfolio landlords and paying postage on both.

📌 KEY TAKEAWAY

There is no public UK landlord database to market from, and nothing published so far suggests the PRS Database will become one. You build your own from HMLR titles, CCOD and OCOD, Companies House, listing history, EPCs and licensing registers, then group properties by owner to find the portfolio landlords who hold almost half of England's tenancies. Contact them by letter under legitimate interests, and treat phone and email as PECR-regulated follow-up. Propalt's My Prospects lists those landlords for your outcodes, with their status, so your team can spend its time on the letter.

SOURCES & DATA REFERENCES

1. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (5 December 2024). 'English Private Landlord Survey 2024: main report.' Landlords with 5+ properties are 17% of landlords and hold 49% of tenancies; sample is direct landlords who registered deposits. gov.uk/government/statistics/english-private-landlord-survey-2024-main-report

2. UK Government, Housing Hub (September 2026). 'Get ready: Register your rental property.' Regional rollout from 15 December 2026, £65 annual fee per property, public information list to follow, agent role. housinghub.campaign.gov.uk/renting-is-changing/get-ready-to-register

3. Mishcon de Reya (18 September 2026). 'Renters' Rights Act: Register your rental property service to launch in December 2026.' Confirms the 9 September 2026 announcement and timetable. mishcon.com/news

4. GOV.UK (archived guide, updated 6 November 2025). 'Guide to the Renters' Rights Act.' Unregistered landlords cannot obtain a possession order, except under Grounds 7A and 14. gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act

5. GOV.UK. 'Get information about property and land: search the register.' Title register shows the owner, £7 online copy, records for most property sold since 1993. gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/search-the-register

6. HM Land Registry. 'UK companies that own property in England and Wales (CCOD).' Monthly dataset fields; excludes private individuals, overseas companies and charities. use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/datasets/ccod

7. HM Land Registry. 'Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales (OCOD).' Equivalent dataset for overseas companies. use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/datasets/ocod

8. Companies House. 'Find and update company information.' Company, director and SIC code records. find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk

9. GOV.UK. 'Find an energy certificate.' Public EPC search by postcode, street or certificate number. gov.uk/find-energy-certificate

10. Housing Act 2004, section 232 (legislation.gov.uk). 'Register of licences and management orders.' Councils must keep a public register of HMO and selective licences. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/34/section/232

11. Information Commissioner's Office. 'Sending direct marketing: choosing your lawful basis.' Post not covered by PECR; consent or soft opt-in for email and texts to individuals; TPS and CTPS for live calls; corporate subscribers. ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications

12. Information Commissioner's Office. 'Marketing and data protection in detail.' Postal marketing must stop when the person asks. ico.org.uk/for-organisations/advice-for-small-organisations/direct-marketing-and-data-protection

13. Propalt (October 2026). Landlord records with property in LS6, all proprietor types: 771; owning five or more properties nationally (portfolio size counts the owner's properties across England and Wales, not only in LS6): 363. Retrieved 26 October 2026 from the Propalt landlords dataset.

14. Propalt (October 2026). Letting market activity, LS6 outcode (Headingley, Leeds), homes listed to rent on 26 October 2026: 936 in total, 536 with a private individual proprietor. Rightmove and Zoopla listings only, deduplicated by property. Propalt platform data.