ICO Registration for Landlords

ICO registration for landlords refers to registering with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are a landlord who handles tenants’ personal data. In the UK, the ICO is the regulator for data protection (GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

Do landlords need to register?

Most landlords do need to register and pay the ICO data protection fee because they:

• Collect and store tenants’ personal information (name, email, phone, ID documents)

• Run reference checks

• Use letting agents who share data with them

• Handle financial details such as rent payments

• Use CCTV (if applicable)

Are there exemptions?

A landlord might be exempt only if they:

• Use a letting agent for all data processing

• Do not receive or store any tenant data themselves

This is uncommon—most landlords hold at least some data (e.g., tenancy agreements, emails), so they must register.

How much does it cost?

The ICO fee is normally:

• £40 or £60 per year for most landlords(depending on business size – almost all small landlords fall into the lowest tier)

  
  

What happens if I don’t register?

The ICO can issue fines for failing to pay the data protection fee.

Where do I register?

You can register on the ICO website under “Data protection fee – pay or renew.”

What do I serve the tenant with?

If you need to be ICO registered, and its highly likely that you do.

You need to produce and serve a privacy policy to you're tenants explaining how you process their data.

You can also serve them with a copy of your ICO registration certificate which contains you're registration number

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