Middlesbrough files HMO conversions at 5.5 times the national rate.
Middlesbrough submitted 600 planning applications to Middlesbrough Council in 2025 and the council approved 84.0% of those it decided, below the national rate of 87.6%. What sets the town apart is the mix: HMO conversions made up 6.7% of all applications, against a national average of 1.2%. Retrospective applications, work done before permission was sought, ran at 1.7 times the national rate. This is the planning signature of a town with a large shared-housing market.
The year in one line
Middlesbrough refuses planning applications at 16.0%, above the national 12.4%, files HMO conversions at 5.5 times the national rate, and sees retrospective work at 1.7 times the norm, the mark of a town built around shared housing.
What Middlesbrough Is Building
Extensions lead, but shared housing defines the mix.
Home extensions were the most common project, at 32.2% of all applications, above the national norm of 29.1%. The figures that set Middlesbrough apart come next: HMO conversions made up 6.7% of applications, against a national average of just 1.2%, and demolition another 10.3%, above the national share of 9.1%. This is the application mix of a town with a deep market in shared and rented housing.
Applications submitted to Middlesbrough Council in 2025, by project type (2024-2025 pooled counts).
The shared-housing effect
Middlesbrough files HMO conversions at 5.5 times the national rate and retrospective applications at 1.7 times. The town's planning desk handles far more conversions of homes into shared lets than the typical English town.
The council verdict
A tougher verdict than the national norm.
The council approved 84.0% of the applications it decided and refused 16.0%, about 1 in 6. Both measures sit outside the national norm of 87.6% approved and 12.4% refused. These are pooled 2024-2025 figures, drawn from 1,009 decided applications, making this a robust comparison.
About 1 in 6 Middlesbrough applications was turned down.
Middlesbrough applications are refused, against the national 1 in 8. The council's refusal rate of 16.0% is above the national 12.4%.
Middlesbrough vs The National Norm
A shared-housing town, by the numbers.
Set Middlesbrough's application mix against the national average and the shared-housing effect is clear. HMO conversions feature in 6.7% of applications here, 5.5 times the national share of 1.2%. Retrospective work runs at 1.7 times the national rate. Extensions are above the norm, while dormers are filed at half the national rate. The council also refuses more than the national average, at 1 in 6.
Middlesbrough files HMO conversions at more than five times the national rate. The town's planning workload is shaped by a large market in shared and rented housing.
Each bar is Middlesbrough's share of applications; the marker is the national share. HMO conversions are the town's defining outlier.
Meanwhile, the market
Prices sat alongside the building work.
The building work ran alongside a rising market: the average Middlesbrough home changed hands for more than it did a year earlier.
Middlesbrough's planning data tells a clear story. This is a town shaped by shared housing and a tougher-than-average planning environment. HMO conversions are filed at 5.5 times the national rate, retrospective work at 1.7 times, and the council refuses about 1 in 6 applications, above the national 1 in 8. The refusal rate and the HMO volume together point to a town where the planning system is under real pressure from a large rental market.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Middlesbrough Council in 2025, classified from each application's published description. Shares and rates are drawn from the pooled 2024-2025 window (1,009 decided applications) for stability.
Decision Rates
Approval rate is approvals as a share of approvals plus refusals. 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 Middlesbrough 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 Middlesbrough Council, from the HMO conversions that define the town to retrospective work and refused extensions. Open any one to see its full record.
21 Clifton Street TS1 4BY
A home was converted into a house in multiple occupation, the shared-housing change Middlesbrough files most often. The council granted it.
See this property's full record84 Ayresome Street TS1 4NJ
Permission was granted for another conversion of a home into a shared rental, one of the many HMO cases that set the town apart.
See this property's full record2 Jesmond Avenue TS5 5JY
A plan to change a house into a small children's home was turned down, one of the roughly 1 in 6 applications the council refused.
See this property's full record10 Thimbleby Close, Nunthorpe TS7 0PL
A garden room already built at the rear was refused after the fact, an example of the build-first, apply-later work Middlesbrough sees more of than most.
See this property's full record1 Ruskin Avenue TS5 8PJ
A single-storey rear extension, the most common project type in Middlesbrough, was approved with conditions.
See this property's full record29 Henry Taylor Court, Ormesby TS7 9AB
A single-storey rear extension extending 4 metres beyond the original house was refused at the prior-approval stage.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Middlesbrough?
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