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Section 87: Disclosure by database operator etc

Renters' Rights Act 2025 · 2025 c. 26View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 2: Residential landlords — Chapter 3: The Private Rented Sector Database

The database operator must not disclose restricted information from the database except—

in accordance with section 86(2) or (3), or
where authorised by regulations under this section.

The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision authorising the disclosure from the database of restricted information where the disclosure is necessary—

to enable or facilitate compliance with a statutory requirement specified in the regulations,
to enable or facilitate compliance with a requirement of a rule of law specified in the regulations, or
to facilitate the exercise of statutory functions specified in the regulations.

The regulations may—

specify the manner and form in which the information may be disclosed, and
impose restrictions on the use and further disclosure of information disclosed under the regulations.

A disclosure authorised by the regulations does not breach—

any obligation of confidence owed by the database operator, or
any other restriction on the disclosure of information (however imposed).

Nothing in this section or the regulations authorises the making of a disclosure that would contravene the data protection legislation (but in determining whether a disclosure would do so, take into account the powers conferred by this section and the regulations).

A person commits an offence if the person knowingly or recklessly discloses restricted information in contravention of—

subsection (1), or
a restriction on further disclosure imposed by regulations under this section.

A person guilty of an offence under subsection (6) is liable on summary conviction to a fine.

In this section—

  • "data protection legislation" has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3 of that Act);

  • "restricted information" means information that— is not made available to the public by virtue of regulations under section 86, and relates to and identifies a particular person (including a body corporate).

For the purposes of subsection (8) information identifies a particular person if the identity of that person—

is specified in the information,
can be deduced from the information, or
can be deduced from the information taken together with any other information.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.