Plymouth files HMO conversions at four times the national rate.
Plymouth Council received 1,504 planning applications in 2025. Of the applications decided across 2024-2025, 94.3% were approved, well above the 87.6% national rate. Refusals ran at just 1 in 17, far below the national 1 in 8. The category that sets the city apart is HMO conversions: 5.0% of all applications submitted to Plymouth Council, against 1.2% nationally. It is the planning signature of a large university city where family homes are converted into shared housing.
The year in one line
Plymouth Council approved 94.3% of decisions in 2024-2025, refused just 1 in 17 applications, and filed HMO conversions at four times the national rate, the clearest mark of a large student city.
What Plymouth Is Building
Extensions lead, but shared housing sets the city apart.
Home extensions were the most common application submitted to Plymouth Council in 2025, at 19.2% of the total, well below the 29.1% national share. The figure that stands out is HMO conversions: 5.0% of all applications, against 1.2% nationally. Retrospective applications, where the work was done first and consent sought after, made up 4.3% of the mix. This is the application profile of a large university city with a substantial private rented sector.
Applications submitted to Plymouth Council in 2025, by project type.
The HMO effect
Plymouth files HMO conversion applications at 4.1 times the national rate. In a city with a large student population, converting family homes into shared housing is a defining feature of the planning workload.
The council verdict
An easy yes.
Of the applications decided across 2024-2025, Plymouth Council approved 94.3% and refused 5.7%, both substantially better for applicants than the national average of 87.6% approved. Getting permission in Plymouth is more likely than almost anywhere else in England and Wales.
About 1 in 17 Plymouth applications was turned down.
applications refused, well below the national rate of 1 in 8. Plymouth Council approved 94.3% of decisions, against the 87.6% national norm.
Plymouth vs The National Norm
A student city, by the numbers.
Set Plymouth's application mix against the national average and shared housing is the clear outlier. HMO conversions feature in 5.0% of applications submitted to Plymouth Council, four times the national share. Extensions, dormers and outbuildings, the staples of owner-occupier upgrading, all sit well below their national shares, pointing to a city where the private rented sector dominates the planning workload.
Plymouth files HMO conversion applications at four times the national rate. Converting family homes into shared housing is a defining feature of a large student city's planning workload.
Each bar is Plymouth's share of applications submitted in 2025; 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 more likely to win here, but the cost of owning a home in the city kept climbing through the year.
Plymouth's planning data tells a clear story. This is a city shaped by its student population, where converting homes into shared housing is a far larger part of the workload than almost anywhere else. The council approved 94.3% of decisions across 2024-2025 and refused just 1 in 17, making it one of the most permissive planning authorities in the country. For anyone buying here, the shared-housing trade is the backdrop to plan around.
Where the numbers come from
Planning Data
Applications submitted to Plymouth Council in 2025 (volume) and decisions recorded across 2024-2025 (rates), 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 Plymouth 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 Plymouth Council, from the HMO conversions that set the city apart to extensions, a loft conversion and a pair of refusals. Open any one to see its full record.
31 Tothill Road PL4 9HU
Consent was granted to expand a six-bed house in multiple occupation into a seven-bed one, the shared-housing change Plymouth files most.
See this property's full record58 60 Ocean Street PL2 2DL
A plan to convert a shared house into a nine-person HMO with bike and bin stores was turned down, one of the roughly 1 in 17 applications the council refused.
See this property's full record1 Harbour View PL9 9TA
A proposal to clad the upper floors of a home was refused, among the minority of applications the council declined.
See this property's full record16 Collaford Close PL7 1XR
A front porch and a two-storey side extension, the most common project type in the city, were approved with conditions.
See this property's full record15 Row Lane PL5 2EE
A loft conversion with a rear dormer was granted, adding space within the existing roof.
See this property's full record1 Bowden Farm Bowden Hill, Yealmpton PL8 2JX
Listed-building consent was given to replace ground and first-floor windows and restore a side window on a protected property.
See this property's full recordCurious about a home in Plymouth?
UK Property Looker turns the UK's public property data into clear, free insight: sale history, energy ratings, planning activity and more for every address in England and Wales.