Derby files HMO conversions at 9.3 times the national rate, and approves 93% of everything it decides.
Derby City Council received 1,798 planning applications in 2025, up 5% on 2024. Of the applications with a decision, 93.4% were approved, well above the national average of 87.6%. Refusals are rare: just 1 in 15 applications was turned down, against roughly 1 in 8 nationally. The defining feature is house shares: HMO conversions made up 11.4% of all applications submitted to Derby in 2025, against 1.2% nationally, nine times the national share.
The year in one line
Derby approves planning applications more readily than the country as a whole, refusing just 1 in 15, and submits HMO conversions at nine times the national rate.
What Derby Is Building
Extensions lead, but house shares define the city.
Home extensions were the most common project type, at 35.8% of all applications submitted to Derby in 2025, above the national share of 29.1%. The figure that defines Derby is house shares: HMO conversions made up 11.4% of applications, against a national average of just 1.2%. Change of use to residential added a further 5.6%, more than double the national share. This is the application mix of a city with a large and active rental market.
Applications submitted to Derby (Derby City Council) in 2025, by project type.
The house-share effect
Derby submits HMO conversions at 9.3 times the national rate and change-of-use-to-residential applications at 2.5 times. Converting a home into shared rented rooms almost always needs formal planning consent, which is why these cases show up so strongly here.
The council verdict
An easy yes.
The council approved 93.4% of the applications it decided and refused just 6.6%, both better for applicants than the national norm of 87.6% approved and 12.4% refused. Getting permission in Derby is unusually likely.
About 1 in 15 Derby applications was turned down.
applications were refused, against about 1 in 8 nationally. Derby's 93.4% approval rate sits well above the 87.6% national norm.
Derby vs The National Norm
A rental city, by the numbers.
Set Derby's application mix against the national average and house shares dominate the picture. HMO conversions feature in more than 1 in 9 applications here, nine times the national share. Change of use to residential and retrospective applications both run well above the norm too. Demolition is the one category below the national share, while home extensions are noticeably higher here than elsewhere.
Derby submits HMO conversions at nine times the national rate. Splitting a home into shared rented rooms needs planning consent, and the city files these cases far more often than the country as a whole.
Each bar is Derby's share of applications; the marker is the national share. HMO conversions are the city's defining outlier.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices rose alongside the building work.
Permission may be unusually easy to win here, but prices have not stood still: the average Derby home gained ground over the year.
Derby's planning data tells a clear story. This is a rental city, marked by the conversion of homes into shared houses at nine times the national rate. Permission is unusually easy to get here: the council approves more than 93% of what it decides and refuses just 1 in 15 applications, well below the national refusal rate. For anyone buying to let, Derby is one of the more permission-friendly markets in the country.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Derby City Council in 2025, 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 the pooled 2024-2025 window for stability. 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 Derby 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 Derby City Council in 2025, from the HMO conversions that define the city to extensions and a notable change of use. Open any one to see its full record.
42a High Street, Kegworth DE74 2DA
Permission was granted to change a house into a small HMO for up to four people, the rental conversion Derby submits most.
See this property's full record27 Church Street, Ockbrook DE72 3RB
A single-storey rear extension with new render was approved, the kind of home extension that tops Derby's application mix.
See this property's full record24 Kingsley Street, Sinfin DE24 9GR
A two-storey rear and single-storey front and rear extension adding a porch, lounge, kitchen and bedroom was approved.
See this property's full record10 St Marys Avenue, Draycott DE72 3NQ
Consent was given for a detached log cabin outbuilding to be used as a hairdressers.
See this property's full record50 Kiwi Drive, Alvaston DE24 8NN
A two-storey side extension with a double garage and garage alterations was turned down, one of the roughly 1 in 15 applications the council refused.
See this property's full record7a Yates Avenue, Aston On Trent DE72 2BG
A plan to relocate the garden fence line and install a new fence was refused.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Derby?
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