Planning consents for build-to-rent (BTR) homes in London are taking an average of 15 months to secure, 150% longer than the statutory time limit, research from the British Property Federation (BPF) has revealed.
According to the analysis, carried out in partnership with Savills, the time it takes to secure planning consent for BTR schemes has doubled in the capital over the past six years, from an average of eight months to 15 months.
The BPF discovered a similar slowdown in BTR consents across the country, with applications taking up to 14 months to determine.
At the same time, the number of homes under construction has fallen for the ninth consecutive quarter, down 17% on the year to 49,984 homes nationwide. In London, the number of homes under construction fell 29% to 12,134, as the impact of delays at the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) added to the woes of the construction sector.
The number of BTR homes in the planning process has increased by 6% in the capital, from 36,559 in Q1 2025 to 41,968 in Q1 2026, but the number of schemes at the detailed application stage fell 17% between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026.
The findings also revealed that around 8% of all new homes were in the BTR sector, while viability challenges have led to an increase in the average size of BTR developments, with 80% of the total BTR pipeline being for schemes over 100 homes.
The BPF recently called on government to revise the National Planning Policy Framework to help streamline decision making for BTR and boost planning resources. It estimates that 3,000 additional planners are required to boost capacity.
In January, the BPF revealed constructions starts for BTR in London also fell by 80% in 2025 to just 613 homes, amid wave a regulatory and viability challenges, such as gateway 2 safety approval delays.
BPF director of policy Danny Pinder said that despite BTR’s contribution to the overall housing supply, the rental market “continues to come under intense pressure, with supply constrained and development challenging”, a situation “exacerbated by entirely avoidable impacts of the incoming Renters’ Rights Act and renewed discussion of rent controls”.
Pinder added: “Planning reforms to date have been helpful, but they are not sufficient to turn the tide on development. We need to see the government go further to reform tax barriers to new homes and to offset the increasing costs of construction with a reduction in Section 106 and CIL requirements.”
Jacqui Daly, director of Savills residential research, said: “With the UK facing a housing shortage, BTR is playing an increasingly important role in boosting overall supply, now accounting for close to one in 10 new homes delivered.
“If BTR is to realise its full potential as a scalable and reliable source of new homes, it needs a more supportive operating environment, one that improves planning efficiency, provides regulatory certainty and enables schemes to progress quicker from consent to construction.”
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