Letting agent software in the UK: what you need after the Renters' Rights Act

What does letting agent software do?

• Lettings CRM: Track landlords, applicants and tenants, and match applicants to properties.
• Listings and viewings: Send properties to the portals and book viewings into your diary.
• Tenancy progression: Run referencing, contracts, deposits and move-in.
• Property management: Track maintenance, inspections, renewals and safety certificates such as gas, electrical and EPC.
• Client accounting: Collect rent, pay landlords, deduct fees and send statements from a separate client account.
• Portals: Give landlords, tenants and contractors their own logins.
• Reports: Show arrears, voids, compliance gaps and branch performance.

What does the Renters' Rights Act mean for letting agent software?

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. The government is bringing it in over three phases. These dates apply to England.

Phase 1: the tenancy changes from 1 May 2026

From 1 May 2026, the government roadmap says:

• Section 21 is gone: Landlords can no longer use "no fault" evictions.
• Periodic tenancies: Most tenancies become assured periodic tenancies, and tenants can end them with two months' notice.
• Rent increases: Rent can go up once a year, using the section 13 process with at least two months' notice.
• No rental bidding: Agents cannot ask for, encourage or accept offers above the advertised rent.
• Rent in advance: Agents and landlords cannot ask for more than one month's rent up front.
• No discrimination: You cannot turn down renters because they have children or receive benefits.
• Pets: Landlords must consider a pet request within 28 days and give a valid reason if they refuse.

Landlords with existing written tenancies had to give tenants the government's information sheet by 31 May 2026.

Phase 2: the landlord database and the ombudsman

The government has named the landlord database "Register your rental property". It opens on 15 December 2026 in the West Midlands. Each region then follows a month apart, and each gets three months to register. The West Midlands deadline is 14 March 2027, and the last region, the South West, has until 14 November 2027. The deadline depends on where the property is, so an agent with lets in several regions will work to several dates.

The fee is £65 a property a year. Landlords must start their own registration, but agents can upload some details for them. The government says later rules will require registration before an empty property is marketed, and landlord and property numbers on adverts. Those parts are not in force yet.

The roadmap also plans a PRS Landlord Ombudsman, with landlord membership expected to become mandatory in 2028.

Phase 3: standards still to come

In January 2026, the government confirmed that a new Decent Homes Standard will apply to private rentals from 2035. The date for extending Awaab's Law to the sector still depends on consultation.

What your software must now handle

Each change becomes a field, a date or a rule in your system. Check that yours can:

• Tenancy type: Mark every tenancy as an assured periodic tenancy and drop fixed-term renewal reminders.
• Rent review dates: Track the last increase on each tenancy, block a second one inside 12 months and produce the section 13 notice.
• Offers: Refuse offers above the advertised rent, and record each applicant's offer.
• Upfront rent: Cap the amount asked for at one month's rent.
• Pet requests: Log each request and count down the 28 days.
• Registration: Store each property's region, deadline, registration number and yearly fee date.
• Evidence: Keep proof that each tenant received the information sheet.

Ask each vendor to show you these screens working.

What other UK rules affect your systems?

Client money protection

The Client Money Protection Schemes for Property Agents Regulations 2019 cover agents in England. Any agent that holds client money must belong to an approved or designated scheme. Your client accounting module must keep that money separate and easy to reconcile.

Making Tax Digital for landlords

Many of your landlords now fall under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 had to start from 6 April 2026. The threshold falls to £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and £20,000 from 6 April 2028. Clear digital rent statements from your system make their quarterly updates easier.

UK GDPR

Your system holds ID documents, references, bank details and income for every applicant, and all of it is personal data under UK GDPR. The ICO says organisations that use personal information need to pay a data protection fee unless they are exempt. Give each staff member their own login, limit who sees ID and financial records, and delete applicant data you no longer need.

Which letting agent software do UK agents use?

Most lettings systems price by quote. Any prices below come from each vendor's own site in October 2026.

Reapit

Reapit covers a lettings CRM, property management, client accounts and online viewing bookings. Its site lists AI property descriptions and instant applicant matching. Reapit does not publish prices, so you book a demo.

Street

Street offers a lettings CRM, property management for maintenance, compliance and renewals, and client accounting. It says a client app is included at no extra cost. Pricing is not published, so you book a demo.

Arthur Online

Arthur Online publishes prices by unit, meaning each thing you let, such as a house or a room. Standard costs £82.50 a month and includes 55 units, with extra units at £1.50 each. Professional costs £96 a month for 60 units, and Enterprise costs £126 a month for 70 units. Its FAQ says billing is yearly, and it does not say whether VAT is added. Every plan includes tenant, contractor and owner portals and compliance tracking. Xero is listed among integrations that may cost extra, and portal listings need your own subscription with each portal.

Fixflo

Fixflo handles repair reporting and maintenance, and many agents use it alongside their main CRM. Tenants report repairs with photos, in several languages. Prices are on request, with a minimum of 50 properties, and exclude VAT. Training, data migration and setup cost extra.

How do they compare?

Product	Price (Oct 2026)	Main job	Good fit for
Reapit	By quote	Lettings and sales CRM with accounts	Multi-branch agencies
Street	By quote	Lettings CRM with accounts and client app	Agencies that want one modern system
Arthur Online	From £82.50 a month for 55 units, billed yearly	Property management and portals	Small agencies and portfolio landlords
Fixflo	By quote, minimum 50 properties	Repairs and maintenance	Agencies with a heavy repair workload

How can AI help a letting agent?

• Enquiry handling: AI answers portal enquiries and calls, asks the qualifying questions and books viewings into your diary. My property management answering service guide covers phone options.
• Repair triage: A tenant sends a photo of a leak. AI sorts it by urgency, suggests the right trade and drafts the job for a person to approve.
• Deadline watching: AI checks every tenancy each morning and lists rent reviews, certificates and pet requests that are coming due.

Keep a trained person in charge of anything that affects a tenancy, such as rent changes, refusals and notices. My guide to AI for estate agents covers more uses.

When does custom letting agent software make sense?

Most agencies should buy one of the systems above. They hold client money safely and update for new law across thousands of agents. Extra software helps in these situations.

• Your vendor is slow on the new rules: You need rent review checks or database tracking now, and your CRM has not built them.
• Too many tools: Your team uses a CRM, a repair tool, a referencing tool, an e-signing tool and spreadsheets, and staff copy data between them.
• You want a better landlord app: You want landlords to see statements, compliance and repairs in one branded app.
• You run a special model: You run HMOs, student lets or rent-to-rent, and the screens do not match how you work.

Often the right answer is a small tool that links to your main system through its API, which lets two systems share data. Before any build, ask your vendor what data it shares and what it charges for access. My real estate CRM guide covers the sales side.

When does the new landlord database actually start, and what does it cost?

Beyond the tenancy changes, the Renters' Rights Act also creates a new Private Rented Sector Database (PRSD), and landlords and agents need to know exactly when it applies to them, not just that it is coming.

The database launches region by region from 15 December 2026, starting with the West Midlands, and rolls out across England over the following year. Each region gets a three-month window to register once its start date arrives.

Region	Registration window opens
West Midlands	15 December 2026
East of England	15 January 2027
East Midlands	15 February 2027
South East	15 March 2027
Yorkshire and the Humber	15 April 2027
North West	15 May 2027
North East	15 June 2027
London	15 July 2027
South West	15 August 2027

Landlords must register themselves and each property, and there is an annual fee of £65 per property. Once a region's window opens, landlords have three months to register before enforcement action and fines become possible. Build this regional timeline into your software's compliance calendar now, not when the first region's window opens, since the registration record will need to connect to the same system that already tracks your gas, electrical and EPC certificates.

How would Blur Studio approach this for a letting agent?

I start by tracing one tenancy from the first enquiry to the third rent statement, including a rent review under the new rules. That shows where your current system leaves gaps. If Reapit, Street or Arthur Online covers it, I will say so. If there is a real gap, I build the missing piece and connect it to your system. The code and every account stay in your agency's name. I'm a one-person studio based in Dubai, and I work with letting agents across the UK remotely, and look after the tool after launch.