Bath approves 96% of planning applications and files HMO conversions at nearly 3 times the national rate.
Bath Council received 4,007 planning applications submitted in 2025, up 4% on the 3,852 submitted in 2024. Of the 3,113 applications that have been decided, 96.1% were approved and just 3.9% refused, about 1 in 26. That refusal rate is less than a third of the 12.4% national figure. HMO conversions made up 3.6% of all applications against a national share of 1.2%, nearly 3 times the rate found elsewhere.
The year in one line
Bath Council approved 96.1% of the applications it decided, refusing just 1 in 26, while HMO conversions were submitted at nearly three times the national rate and retrospective applications ran at roughly half it.
What Bath Is Building
Extensions lead the mix, but HMO conversions are the city's defining outlier.
Home extensions were the most common project type in applications submitted to Bath Council in 2025, at 21.7% of all applications, below the national share of 29.1%. The figure that sets Bath apart sits further down the list: HMO conversions made up 3.6% of applications against a national average of 1.2%, nearly three times the rate. Change of use to residential also ran above the national rate at 3.4% vs 2.2%, and basement digs at 1.9% vs 1.0%.
Planning applications submitted to Bath Council in 2025, by project type.
The rental effect
Bath files HMO conversions at 2.9 times the national rate. Change of use to residential applications and basement digs also run above the national norm, reflecting demand to extract more from existing buildings in a constrained housing market.
The council verdict
One of the easiest places in the country to win permission.
Of the 3,113 decided applications in the analysed sample, Bath Council approved 2,993 (96.1%) and refused 120 (3.9%), about 1 in 26. The national refusal rate is 12.4%, more than three times Bath's. Retrospective applications, where building work is carried out before consent is sought, came in at 1.9% of applications, roughly half the 3.7% national rate.
About 1 in 26 Bath applications was turned down.
applications were refused, a 3.9% refusal rate against a national figure of 12.4%. Bath is among the most permissive planning authorities in the country.
Bath vs The National Norm
An unusually permissive authority with a strong rental conversion signal.
Set Bath's application mix against the national average and two patterns emerge. First, the council says yes far more often: a 96.1% approval rate against the national 87.6% puts Bath among the most permissive authorities in England. Second, HMO conversions feature in 3.6% of applications here, 2.9 times the national share of 1.2%. Bath also files fewer home extensions than average (21.7% vs 29.1% nationally) and fewer retrospective applications (1.9% vs 3.7% nationally).
Bath files HMO conversions at nearly three times the national rate. It is the clearest planning signal of a city with a large and active market for shared rented housing.
Each bar is Bath's share of applications submitted to Bath Council in 2025; the marker is the national share. HMO conversions are the city's defining outlier.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices held up alongside the building work.
Permission may be easier to win here, but buying is not: Bath remains one of the more expensive places in the country to own a home.
Bath's planning data is striking in two ways. The council refuses just 1 in 26 applications, a refusal rate less than a third of the national figure, making it one of the most permissive authorities in the country. At the same time, HMO conversions appear at nearly three times the national rate, a clear signal of sustained demand for shared rented housing. Anyone planning a project in Bath should find the process more straightforward than in most places. The bigger question is what that rental demand says about the supply of homes available to buy.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Bath Council in 2025, with decision rates computed over the analysed sample of 2025 applications. Categories are classified from each application's published description. Shares are each category as a percentage of all applications in scope.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals, computed over decided applications only. The national benchmarks are computed the same way across all decided applications in England and Wales.
Sales Data
HM Land Registry Price Paid Data for the Bath area, the latest full year's completions, with growth measured against the previous year.
The Real Applications
Open the planning applications behind the numbers.
These are real applications submitted in Bath, from HMO conversions and change-of-use requests to extensions and refusals. Open any one to see its full record.
58 Rosewarn Close BA2 1PB
A dwellinghouse was converted into a small house in multiple occupation, the category Bath submits at nearly three times the national rate.
See this property's full record157 High Street, Twerton BA2 1BY
Permission was granted to convert a three-bed house into a five-bed shared rental, one of the larger HMO applications in the year.
See this property's full record95 Sydney Place BA2 6NE
A change-of-use application to convert two flats back into a single dwelling was permitted, reflecting the active residential conversion activity in the area.
See this property's full record43 Oriel Grove BA2 1JE
A single storey side extension and first floor alterations were refused, one of the roughly 1 in 26 applications the council turned down.
See this property's full record6 Hockley Court Weston Park West BA1 4AR
A proposed change of use from a home to an HMO was withdrawn before the council reached a decision.
See this property's full record7 Greenacres BA1 4NP
A single-storey rear extension, the most common project type in Bath's mix, was approved.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Bath?
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