Data Protection Registration for Landlords Explained

Suppose you are a private landlord who keeps personal data about renters to print tenancy agreements, carry out credit checks, and take references. In that case, you should register for data protection.

But you do not have to register if you use a letting agent to handle your buy-to-let admin and only receive a monthly statement of account with a rent payment.

Instead, an accounts and records exemption allows landlords to keep records without processing tenant data.

Personal information is a broad category that includes:

• Keeping personal information on tenants
• Tracking rent or bill payments
• Monitoring maintenance requests
• Making decisions about suppliers
• Controlling budgets
• Resolving disputes between residents
• Recording CCTV for crime prevention
• Taking meeting notes

These tasks are considered property management, so no accounting exemption applies.

Running a letting business, even if the landlord is a person renting out a single property, is the same as running any other small business, so registering for data protection is a priority task.

Registering for data protection

Data protection laws are regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Landlords can register, pay fees and manage their accounts on the ICO website.

Besides registration and payments, the website has detailed data protection guidance and checklists on applying the rules.

The ICO costs start at £40 and can reach as high as £2,900, depending on the size and type of the business applying for registration. Most landlords pay between £40 and £60 a year.

Failing to register can attract a fine of up to £4,350.

Individuals, partnerships and companies must register if they process any personal data.

You do not need to register if a letting business manually processes data - without help from a computer or other technology.

Check out if you need to register

Landlords can determine if they must register for data protection with self-help tools on the ICO website.

To sign up, letting businesses need to describe what sort of property business they are.

The most popular choices include:

• Land and Property Services, Property Management, Property Management
• Land and Property Services, Property Management, HIP Providers (House Info Pack)
• Land and Property Services, Estate Agency/ Letting Agency, Estate Agents
• Land and Property Services, Estate Agency/ Letting Agency, Letting Agents
• Land and Property Services, Housing Association, Housing Association
• General Business, Business Advice and Consultancy, Consultant
• General Business, Supplier of Services, Other

Do I register if I only rent to my family?

You do not need to register for data protection if you are not running a business. For example, processing personal or family information is OK, as no commercial or professional activity is involved.

Should dormant companies register?

A company does not pay to register for data protection if it is not trading and no personal data is electronically processed. However, some trades and professionals must keep personal data for some time after ceasing trading, and therefore, they should pay a fee.

Must not-for-profits register?

Running a not-for-profit organisation is not the same as a business making a loss.

To claim the not-for-profit exemption, the company should declare the company is not-for-profit from the outset and only hold or process limited data about individuals.

Businesses monitoring CCTV, providing extra services, trading, or sharing personal data are not covered by the not-for-profit exemption.

Businesses making a loss cannot claim the not-for-profit exemption.

Data protection and CCTV

Landlords with CCTV on a property for crime prevention purposes must register with ICO if crime prevention is not the purpose of the business.

For example, a landlord who monitors common areas of a block of flats or a house-in-multiple-occupation (HMO) and captures images of a burglar must register with ICO as the primary business is letting, not crime prevention. The same applies to a commercial property landlord.

Credit checks and data protection

Landlords checking a tenant against a credit reference agency should register with ICO because they are processing and sharing personal information with a third party.

Letting agents and data protection

Letting agents processing data on behalf of landlords must register with ICO.

Data protection and dashcams

Landlords with a dashcam on a vehicle used for business are capturing and processing the personal data of other road users, so they need to register with ICO.

More information

The ICO website contains information and tools to help landlords decide whether to register for data protection.