Rent Smart Wales Fees 2025: Registration and Licensing Costs
Every registration, landlord licence and agent-tier fee from Rent Smart Wales's official Fee Policy, effective 1 April 2025 — who must register, who also needs a licence, and what's deductible.
The short answer
Every private landlord letting a home in Wales must register with Rent Smart Wales — £102 standard or £60 online. A separate, more expensive landlord licence is only needed if you (or your agent) actually do the letting or management work yourself, not just own the property.
Effective from 1 April 2025
Rent Smart Wales's Fee Policy states it was “revised with effect from the 1st of April 2025.” RSW describes itself as a non-profit, self-funding service, and the fees below are set out “for activities delivered under the provisions of Part 1 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 from the 1st of April 2025.”
Registration vs licensing — who needs which
The policy draws a clear line between the two duties. On registration: “Under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, all landlords with privately rented property let out on a domestic tenancy in Wales are legally required to register with Rent Smart Wales to comply with the law.” Registration is universal — every landlord letting in Wales needs it, however the letting is managed. Licensing is narrower: “Landlords who undertake letting and/or management work at rental properties are legally required to have a Rent Smart Wales licence, ensuring that they are fit and proper and appropriately trained in their rights and obligations.” If you use a licensed agent to handle all the letting and management, the licence duty sits with the agent, not you — but you still have to register. Agents are defined separately: “someone who undertakes letting and/or management work at rental properties for which they are not the landlord.”
Registration fees
| Registration | Standard fee | Online |
|---|---|---|
| New registration | £102.00 | £60.00 |
| Registration renewal | £87.00 | £48.00 |
A registration lasts 5 years: “A registration will be revoked after five years unless an application to renew is submitted with the relevant fee.” The renewal discount only applies if you apply in time — “the landlord must apply for renewal within the 84 days before the registration expires.” Miss that window and the registration lapses: “If a registration is allowed to expire, the new registration fee will apply, not the renewal fee.” A change of ownership also resets the clock — a new registration and fee are required if the property moves from one legal owner to another.
Landlord licence fees
| Landlord licence | Standard fee | Online |
|---|---|---|
| Paid in full | £327.00 | £302.00 |
Two ways to soften that: RSW allows the fee to be split into two payments (part on application, part before the licence is issued), with an extra £48.00 administration charge for choosing that route — the exact two-part breakdown differs by fee type and isn't reproduced here because the source table doesn't map unambiguously from the standard/online full figures above; ask RSW for your split amount at application. Separately, a 10% early compliance reward applies if you submit a renewal application between 42 and 84 days before your current licence expires. A landlord licence is valid for 5 years, and, as with registration, applying within the 84-day window before expiry protects your original anniversary date.
Agent licence fees — by number of managed properties
Agent licence fees scale with the number of properties an agent lets and/or manages:
| Managed properties | Standard fee | Online |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | £368.00 | £299.00 |
| 5–10 | £471.00 | £368.00 |
| 11–20 | £540.00 | £471.00 |
| 21–50 | £3,850.00 | £2,730.00 |
| 51–100 | £4,880.00 | £3,590.00 |
| 101–500 | £6,170.00 | £4,670.00 |
| 501–1000 | £7,890.00 | £6,100.00 |
| 1001+ | £9,010.00 | £7,050.00 |
These are the “no professional body membership” figures. RSW's policy gives a discounted rate at 21+ properties for members of ARLA, NAEA, RICS, safeagent or UKALA. “Let only” agents (letting work only, no management) pay the same 0–20 tier fee as above, and the same 21+ scale with the same professional-membership discount. Agents managing between 21 and 100 properties can also pay by instalments over the 5-year term, if a Direct Debit is set up and there's no history of missed payments.
Training course fees
A licence application needs evidence of approved training. RSW's own courses: the landlord licence course is £100 classroom or £35 online; the agent licence course is £140 classroom or £60 online. Re-licensing courses are priced the same as first-time courses.
Tax: registration and licence fees are deductible
Registration, licence and training fees paid to Rent Smart Wales are a normal cost of running a letting business in Wales, deductible from rental income in the year you pay them — see the full allowable expenses list and run your figures through the rental income tax calculator.
Rent Smart Wales: Fee Policy, effective 1 April 2025, read verbatim 5 Sep 2026. The landlord licence split-fee Part 1/Part 2 amounts and the Early Compliance Reward split figures are not printed on this page — the source table's columns don't reconstruct unambiguously from the extracted text, so we're not guessing at them.
Quick answers
Registration: £102 standard / £60 online for a new registration, £87 / £48 to renew, lasting 5 years. Landlord licence: £327 standard / £302 online, also 5 years. Agent licence fees scale with the number of managed properties, from £368 standard for 0–4 properties up to £9,010 standard for 1001 or more, effective 1 April 2025.
A landlord licence is £327.00 paid in full standard, or £302.00 online — valid for 5 years. A two-part payment option is available with an extra £48 administration charge, and a 10% early compliance reward applies if you renew 42–84 days before your current licence expires.
Yes, if you let a home in Wales on a domestic tenancy — the Fee Policy states registration is required of “all landlords with privately rented property let out on a domestic tenancy in Wales.” This applies regardless of whether you manage the letting yourself or through an agent. A separate, additional landlord licence is only required if you personally undertake the letting or management work.
5 years, for both the landlord licence and a standard registration. Applying to renew within the 84 days before expiry protects your original anniversary date; leave it to expire and the new-registration or new-licence fee applies instead of the cheaper renewal fee.
Sources
The primary documents this page is built from. Links checked 5 September 2026.
- Rent Smart Wales — Welsh Government / Cardiff Council