Dean Jones | England’s landlord register raises questions for Jamaica

England will begin registering private landlords and their rental properties on a national database from December 15, introducing a system intended to give tenants, councils and responsible property owners clearer information about the homes being rented.

The first landlords will be enrolled in the West Midlands before the programme is extended across England. Those operating in each region will receive three months to register, with all actively rented private properties expected to be entered by November 14, 2027.

It is an English reform, not a Jamaican one. Yet the announcement raises an uncomfortable question for Jamaica: if rented premises are already required to be registered here, how much does the country truly know about its private rental market?