Loft conversion planning trends
The loft conversion planning index stands at 110: a share of all applications 10% above 2016, but 9% below three years earlier.
Loft conversion applications since 2016
Loft conversion applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredA 2022 peak, then a slide
Loft conversions' share of applications peaked in the 12 months to June 2022. Yearly counts fell from 22,310 in 2021 to 14,441 in 2024 and 14,247 in 2025. ONS recorded private housing repair and maintenance down 3.5% in the final quarter of 2022.
London and the East of England lead
From 2023 to 2025, loft conversions made up 570 in every 10,000 applications in London and 500 in the East of England, against 323 across the UK. Scotland was lowest at 48. Redbridge has received 8,952 since 2016, the most of any council.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 3,049 loft conversion applications in Q3 2026: 297 in every 10,000 applications, against 287 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 3% higher than a year earlier.
Loft conversion applications each quarter
3,049 in Q3 2026, against 3,143 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 297 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 287 a year earlier.
Where loft conversion applications concentrate
By region
Loft conversion applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Redbridge
London · 2,175 in every 10,000 8,952 -
Bromley
London · 1,299 in every 10,000 5,346 -
Havering
London · 1,661 in every 10,000 4,936 -
Hillingdon
London · 1,416 in every 10,000 4,554 -
Sutton
London · 1,702 in every 10,000 3,580 -
St Albans
East of England · 1,319 in every 10,000 3,559 -
Newham
London · 1,453 in every 10,000 3,230 -
Barking and Dagenham
London · 1,661 in every 10,000 2,839 -
Royal Borough of Greenwich
London · 1,078 in every 10,000 2,723 -
Brent
London · 696 in every 10,000 2,717
Latest loft conversion applications
- 122 Tufnell Park Road, London Proposed loft conversion with rear dormer and conversion to 7 bedroom HMO to upper flat.
- 5 Holmcote Gardens, London Erection of rear dormer extension to extend existing attic conversion.
- 1 Prospect Crescent Twickenham The proposal is to convert the loft into a habitable space providing two bedrooms and a bathroom.
- 17, Fairfax Road, Teddington Rear dormer loft conversion and installation of two front roof lights
- Greenside The Green Long Itchington Southam Expansion and conversion of the loft, including raising of the roof ridge and installation of dormers and rooflights, a single-storey front extension, and fenestration replacement and alterations to the existing dwelling.
- 11 Copthorne Drive, Alfreton, Derbyshire Extension over garage & loft conversion
How often are they refused?
Of 139,971 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 14.0% were refused, close to the 11.3% for all applications.
Refusal rate by year
Decisions, applications received 2016 to 2024
- Approved or refused139,971
- Refused14.0%
- Withdrawn before a decision7,253
- All applications11.3% refused
Questions
How many loft conversion planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 180,850 since January 2016, 13,587 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to June 2022.
Which councils receive the most loft conversion applications?
Redbridge, Bromley and Havering have received the most since 2016.
How often are loft conversion applications refused?
Of 139,971 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 14.0% were refused, close to the 11.3% for all applications.
Does every loft conversion need planning permission?
In England, permitted development allows a roof enlargement up to 40 cubic metres on a terraced house and 50 on other houses, with no dormer on a principal elevation facing a highway. Flats and designated land are excluded. These figures count applications, not conversions.
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
What needs an application
In England most loft conversions are permitted development and need no planning application. These figures count those that seek planning permission or a lawful development certificate.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names loft conversions or a close variant of the words, by the date each council received them. These are planning applications, not completed schemes; the largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- How matches are checked: we read the 200 most recent loft conversion applications and 20 from every year since 2016 to confirm each one belongs.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- A share is the number out of every 10,000 applications over the previous 12 months. Each topic is a number in every 10,000 planning applications, so trends compare when overall planning activity changes; the share still moves when either the topic's count or the total does. The loft conversion planning index sets the 2016 share at 100, so 200 means twice as common as in 2016.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Refusals: applications received 2016 to 2024 and decided, at councils whose published decisions pass our checks against their decision notices. Approvals and refusals count; withdrawals do not. "All applications" means every decision of that kind at the same councils over the same years. Applications received from 2025 are added once most are decided.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- Permitted development allows roof enlargements of up to 40 cubic metres on terraced houses and 50 on other houses, bans principal-elevation dormers facing a highway, and excludes flats and designated land. gov.uk
- A lawful development certificate under section 192 confirms that proposed works are lawful. gov.uk
- Private housing repair and maintenance fell 3.5% in the final quarter of 2022. ons.gov.uk