Croydon refuses 1 in 5 home projects. That is a significantly tougher council than the national norm.
Croydon Council received 3,545 planning applications in 2025 and refused 20.5% of those it decided, against a national refusal rate of 12.4%. That is roughly 1 in 5 applications turned down, well above the national figure. Dormers are filed at 2.3 times the national rate and HMO conversions at 2.5 times. This is the planning signature of a dense outer-London borough where permission is harder to win than in most of the country.
The year in one line
Croydon refused about 1 in 5 applications it decided, well above the national rate of 1 in 8, and filed HMO conversions and dormers at more than double the national share, the mark of a dense, contested outer-London borough.
What Croydon Is Building
Extensions lead, but demolitions and dormers set the borough apart.
Home extensions were the most common application submitted to Croydon in 2025, at 39.2% of the total, above the national share of 29.1%. The figures that mark Croydon out are demolitions and loft work: demolition applications made up 17.5% of the mix, almost twice the national share, and dormers made up 13.6%, more than double the national rate. HMO conversions feature at 2.5 times the national share. This is the application mix of a dense outer-London borough under sustained housing pressure.
Applications submitted to Croydon in 2025, by project type.
The conversion effect
Croydon files HMO conversions at 2.5 times the national rate and dormers at 2.3 times. In a dense borough under housing pressure, expanding upwards and dividing existing buildings is a defining feature of the planning load.
The council verdict
A tougher yes than most.
The council approved 79.5% of the applications it decided and refused 20.5%, a refusal rate well above the national 12.4%. About 1 in 5 applications submitted to Croydon was turned down, compared with about 1 in 8 nationally.
About 1 in 5 Croydon applications was turned down.
of decided applications were refused, against a national rate of 12.4%. About 1 in 5 Croydon applications was turned down.
Croydon vs The National Norm
A borough that demolishes, extends upwards, and divides.
Set Croydon's application mix against the national average and the scale of conversion and loft work stands out. HMO conversions feature at 2.5 times the national share, dormers at 2.3 times, and demolition applications at 1.9 times. Listed-building works are far rarer here than nationally, at 0.1% against 2.4%, a sign of a borough with relatively little protected building stock.
Croydon files HMO conversions at more than twice the national rate. In a dense borough under housing pressure, dividing existing homes is a defining feature of the planning load.
Each bar is Croydon's share of applications submitted in 2025; the marker is the national share. HMO conversions are the borough's defining outlier.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices held up alongside the building work.
Permission may be harder to win here, but Croydon homes held their value through the year of building work.
Croydon's planning data tells a clear story. This is a borough where permission is harder to win than in most of the country, with a refusal rate of 1 in 5 against the national figure of roughly 1 in 8. The work being put forward leans heavily towards demolition, loft extensions and HMO conversions rather than heritage-led change. For anyone buying here, getting consent is the constraint to plan around.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Croydon Council in 2025, classified from each application's published description. Shares and decision rates are computed over the analysed sample of 2025 applications.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals, across 3,270 decided applications. 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 Croydon post town, 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 to Croydon in 2025, from HMO conversions and dormers to the refusals that give the borough its tougher reputation. Open any one to see its full record.
87 Mitcham Road CR0 3NA
A plan for a two-storey side extension and a one and two-storey rear extension was turned down, one of the roughly 1 in 5 applications the council refused.
See this property's full record61 Cedar Road CR0 6UJ
A bid to change a family home into a small residential children's home was refused, one of the change-of-use proposals Croydon weighs more often than most places.
See this property's full record16 Elgin Road CR0 6XA
Two maisonettes were converted into a seven-person house in multiple occupation, the rental change Croydon files at more than twice the national rate, granted with a legal agreement.
See this property's full record6 Bisenden Road CR0 6UN
A single-storey rear extension, the most common project type in Croydon, was approved after the old rear extension was demolished.
See this property's full record31 Northampton Road CR0 7HD
A hip-to-gable roof extension with a rear dormer was confirmed lawful, the loft work Croydon files at 2.3 times the national rate.
See this property's full record92 Northway Road CR0 6JF
An application to certify alterations to a rear outbuilding as lawful was refused, another of the borough's turned-down filings.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Croydon?
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