Havering Residents Top Five Complaints.

Yesterday, we asked our readers if they were the Leader of the Council for the day, what changes would they make? The list of changes residents wanted to make were endless and included improving policing, repairing roads and potholes, removing the borough from the ULEZ zone and removing parking charges across the borough.

However, there are five key points that residents complain about the most are:

1. Cleanliness of Streets and Public Spaces — In Havering’s 2025 Cabinet paper, “cleanliness of streets, parks and local area” came out as one of the top three concerns across all age groups.
2. Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) — ASB remains a major worry, with the same survey putting it in residents’ top concerns. The borough’s 2025 JSNA report also notes a 16% increase in ASB incidents in 2023 compared to 2022.
3. Fear of Crime / Community Safety — Despite data showing Havering as “one of the safest boroughs,” fear of crime remains high, according to its crime summit.
4. Housing Quality & HMOs — Complaints are growing over HMOs (houses in multiple occupation), especially around issues like overcrowding, noise, fly-tipping, and poor property management.
5. Poor Complaints Handling by the Council — According to Havering’s Housing Complaints Report, the Council has a 78% maladministration rate according to the Housing Ombudsman — one of the highest among comparable local authorities.

Residents have many complaints, but street cleanliness and crime and anti social behaviour top the list. Most want to see more police officers walking our streets. They also would like anti social behaviour tackled swiftly.

HMO’s are also a serious complaint for those living near them, especially illegal HMO’s. The complaints range from noise created, fly tipping and general over-crowding of the property.

Poor quality housing is also another problem for Havering residents, as complaints of damp, mould and over crowding increase.

These five points topped the list of complaints by Havering residents.

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