Rent Smart Wales: The Register, Registration & Licences

The short answer: every private landlord with a rental home in Wales must register with Rent Smart Wales (£60 online, valid for 5 years). A landlord licence (£254 online, plus approved training) is only needed if you do the letting or management work yourself. If a licensed agent does all of that work, you need registration only.

Anyone can check a landlord, an agent or a rental property on the Rent Smart Wales public register, searching by postcode, full name, or registration or licence number. Morgan Jones holds a Rent Smart Wales agent licence and manages rented homes across South Wales for 10% + VAT, with no setup fee and no exit fee, so landlords who instruct us for full management need registration only. To talk it through, call Morgan Jones on 01792 651311.

Do I need to register with Rent Smart Wales, and do I need a licence too?

Yes to registration: every private landlord letting a home in Wales must register, whether you own one flat or fifty. The Act's only exceptions are narrow ones, such as social landlords. (Housing (Wales) Act 2014, ss.4 and 5)

A licence is a separate, second requirement that only applies if you carry out the letting or property-management work yourself (Housing (Wales) Act 2014, ss.6–7). If a Rent Smart Wales-licensed agent handles all of that for you, you only need to register, because the agent's licence covers the activity.

What's the difference between registration and a licence?

Registration is a record of who you are and which Welsh properties you own. Every private landlord needs it, whether you self-manage or use an agent. It's renewed every 5 years and costs the same whether your portfolio is one property or twenty.

A licence is tied to doing the letting or management work yourself. The Act lists the activities that need one:

• Letting work: arranging or conducting viewings, checking a prospective contract-holder's suitability (references, credit checks, interviews), preparing the contract, and preparing the inventory or schedule of condition.
• Management work: collecting rent, being the contract-holder's main point of contact, arranging repairs or maintenance, arranging access to the property, checking its contents or condition, and serving notice to end the contract.

Do any of that yourself and you need a licence on top of registration. Hand it all to a licensed agent and you don't. (Housing (Wales) Act 2014, ss.6(2) and 7(2))

Do I need my own licence if I use a letting agent?

No, not if the agent is Rent Smart Wales-licensed and handles all your letting and management activity, which is how we work. Only landlords who self-manage need the full landlord licence on top of registration. The agent carries the licensing obligation for the work they do on your behalf. We hold our own Rent Smart Wales agent licence, so a landlord who instructs us for full management never needs to touch the landlord-licence process at all.

The Act sets out a few narrow exceptions (Housing (Wales) Act 2014, s.8). Outside those, self-manage even part of the work and you need the licence yourself. Say you do your own viewings while an agent collects rent. The licensing test is about who carries out the activity, not who does most of it.

How to search the Rent Smart Wales public register

The public register is the official record of registered landlords, licensed landlords and licensed agents in Wales. You search it on the Rent Smart Wales website, and you can check a landlord or agent anonymously.

1. Go to the Rent Smart Wales public register.
2. Choose how to search: Property Address, Landlord, Agent or Reference Number.
3. For an address, enter the postcode on its own. Rent Smart Wales says this gives the best result.
4. For a landlord or agent, enter their full name. For a reference, enter the registration number (RN) or the licence number (LR).
5. Open the result to see the registration and licence status for that landlord, agent or property.

What the register shows

The law sets out what Rent Smart Wales must tell you for each type of search (Housing (Wales) Act 2014, Schedule 1, paras 3–5):

In practice the results also show expiry dates, which is the quickest way to spot a registration or licence that is about to run out.

How to read the results

A few results look alarming but have an ordinary explanation. Rent Smart Wales explains each of these on its register page and in its FAQs:

• The address appears but you're not sure it's rented. The address search covers every postal address in Wales, so finding an address does not mean it is, or ever was, rented.
• A name search gives no result. A partial or misspelt name can return nothing even when the person is registered or licensed. Search by the property address instead, or use the full, accurate name.
• "Please search on this agent's name separately". The landlord has linked an agent to the property, but the agent has not yet accepted it in their Rent Smart Wales account.
• "Licensed" but the expiry date has passed. A renewal is probably being processed. The licence holder stays licensed while Rent Smart Wales considers the application.
• The landlord's name shows, but the property is unregistered. The property is likely on a registration that is only part complete, for example because of missing information or an unpaid fee.
• A property's expiry date is less than 5 years away. A property added partway through a registration shares that registration's expiry date.

If you are a contract-holder who has received a notice and the register doesn't show enough, Rent Smart Wales can provide a position statement confirming whether the property was correctly registered and licensed on the date the notice was served.

Check your own entry as a landlord

It takes two minutes. Do it before you renew a contract or serve any notice.

1. Search the postcode of each rental and confirm it shows as registered under your name.
2. Check your registration expiry date. Apply to renew within the 84 days before it expires and you pay the renewal fee (£48 online); let it lapse and you pay the new-registration fee (£60 online).
3. Check the agent line. If it says to search the agent's name separately, your agent hasn't accepted the link yet: ask them to accept it.
4. If you self-manage, check that your landlord licence shows as current.

Fix anything you find before you serve a notice. Rent Smart Wales says a landlord must be registered, and either licensed or using a licensed agent, at the time a section 173 notice is served.

Check a letting agent before you instruct them

Every letting or managing agent in Wales needs a Rent Smart Wales agent licence. Ask the agent for their licence number and search it on the register, or search their full trading name.

When you link a property to Morgan Jones in your Rent Smart Wales account and we accept it, a search on that address shows us as your appointed agent, along with our licence status. That is the record that lets you, your contract-holder and anyone checking the register see that the property is managed by a licensed agent.

How much does Rent Smart Wales cost in 2026?

Registration starts at £60 online (£102 by paper application); a landlord licence (only needed if you self-manage) starts at £254 online (£327 paper). Both are valid for 5 years. Fees checked against rentsmart.gov.wales on 10/10/2026 (Rent Smart Wales Fee Policy, effective April 2025). Rent Smart Wales can change its fees, so check the live portal before you pay.

*The "early compliance reward": a 10% discount if you apply to renew 42–84 days before your licence expires. (Rent Smart Wales, Fee Policy, effective 1 April 2025)

Registering and getting licensed yourself adds up to roughly £314 (£60 registration + £254 licence, both online) before the approved training a licence application requires. Rent Smart Wales lists its own online landlord course at £35 (about 5 hours) and its classroom course at £100. Use a licensed agent for full management instead and your only Rent Smart Wales cost is the £60 registration, because the agent's licence covers the rest.

What happens if you don't register or get licensed?

If you aren't registered for the property, you can't serve a section 173 notice to end a standard occupation contract. The same goes if you aren't licensed and haven't appointed a licensed agent to do all the property management work (Housing (Wales) Act 2014, s.44(1)). The same bar applies to a landlord's notice at the end of a fixed term (section 186) and a landlord's break-clause notice (section 194) under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (Housing (Wales) Act 2014, s.44(1A)). Rent Smart Wales compliance sits alongside other bars on a section 173 notice, such as a missing written statement or an unprotected deposit. Serve a notice anyway while non-compliant and it can be challenged as invalid.

Failing to register, and letting or managing without a licence when you need one, are both criminal offences under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014. Letting or managing without a licence carries an unlimited fine on conviction (ss.6–7). Rent Smart Wales can offer a fixed penalty notice instead of prosecution: £150, or £250 where the offence carries an unlimited fine (s.29). It can also apply for rent stopping orders and rent repayment orders (ss.30 and 32). And because the register is public, anyone can check whether a landlord is properly registered.

How do I register with Rent Smart Wales?

You register online, and you do it yourself. Rent Smart Wales says a letting agent should not register on a landlord's behalf, because the person registering confirms the information is true and is responsible for the record (the exceptions are power of attorney and executors).

1. Go to rentsmart.gov.wales and create an account.
2. Complete the landlord registration form with your details (and any joint owners' details).
3. Add every rental property you own in Wales.
4. Add your letting or managing agent's details, if you use one.
5. Pay the £60 fee online.
6. You'll get email confirmation once it's processed.

If you're self-managing rather than using a licensed agent, you'll also need to complete Rent Smart Wales-approved training before you can apply for the landlord licence itself, and declare that you're a "fit and proper person": Rent Smart Wales looks at things like unspent relevant convictions and any history of housing-law breaches or of breaking earlier licence conditions.

Common situations

I've just bought a rental property in Wales

Register before you let it. If you're instructing a licensed agent for full management, that's the only step you need to take yourself, since the agent's licence covers the letting and management activity.

I live in England but own a rental property in Wales

The property's location decides which rules apply, not where you live. A Welsh rental property needs Rent Smart Wales registration regardless of where its landlord is based.

I want to switch from self-managing to using a licensed agent

You can do this at any point. Once a licensed agent takes over all letting and management activity, you stop needing your own landlord licence: you keep your registration going, nothing more.

I'm changing letting agent

Your registration carries on as it is. You link each property to the new agent in your Rent Smart Wales account, and the new agent accepts the link. Until they accept, the register tells anyone searching to check the agent's name separately, so it's worth confirming the change has gone through.

How we handle Rent Smart Wales compliance

We hold our own Rent Smart Wales agent licence, so landlords who instruct us for full management only need the £60 registration. You never need the separate landlord licence, the training or the fit-and-proper declaration. You register yourself and link your properties to us; we accept the link and carry out the letting and management work from there. Before we serve any notice, we check your registration is in date and that the other bars on a section 173 notice are cleared.

Related reading: our guide to the Renting Homes (Wales) Act and occupation contracts, The Landlord's Guide to Renting in Wales, or the full Welsh landlord compliance hub.

What to do next

• Not registered yet? Register at rentsmart.gov.wales before you let. You'll need your details, your property addresses and your agent's details.
• Not sure your entry is right? Search your postcode on the public register and run the four checks above.
• Want to skip the licence and the training? Instruct a licensed agent for all the letting and management work. Morgan Jones manages rented homes for 10% + VAT of the rent collected, with no setup fee, no exit fee and no minimum term. Every new landlord gets their first three months of management free.
• Talk to us: call our Swansea office on 01792 651311, or get a quote (it takes about a minute). We're at Mount Pleasant Business Centre, Swansea SA1 6ED.