Waltham Forest Council Reviews 66

Walthamforest council have been a life line for my family and I and I couldn’t be more greatful for all the work they do, they are under strain along with the rest of us and all in all I cannot complain about any of their services, even down to bin collections, they are always on time, always collect my bin and there has been occasion where I forgot to take my bin out and they still collected it . Thank you Walthamforest.

After an on going issue with my complaint I have had to contact the Housing Ombudsman, I have not received a response from them as yet after I completed my online complaint that I have had to escalate.

Waltham Forest Council have not resolved my issue after two online complaints and one official complaint.

Housing Ombudsman, not received a response after two weeks (ten working days)

The people responsible for not actioning my complaint at Waltham Forest Council are external contracts manager Terry Finney, his Bangladeshi sidekick Nisha and leader of Waltham Forest Council Grace Williams, neither of these people are fit to do their jobs while openly practising mal-administration and should be dismissed from their positions in Waltham Forest Council immediately.

I am going to keep on providing updates regarding my complaints about Waltham Forest Council until my issue is resolved to a satisfactory level.

Wish I could give no stars. My kids and I was left with a non fault eviction as we was homeless we contacted LBWF and they left us on the street for a night but when we was moved to a property it is full of dangerous individuals and my children and I are unsafe. The property didn't have a working toilet, bath, kitchen sink or cooker. Sewage odours rise from the drains if you run water. They refused to accept a formal complaint and palmed me off on Local Government Ombudsman. I am disabled and they said things like disabilities make it harder to house me in council properties so I will only be offered private rented once I return to work by the sounds of it.

I called them at 15:42 planning team, the answerphone kicked in with 200 options I finely was told to wait for a member of the team and I’ll be delt with after 56 mins I got a response that they go home at 16:00 and don’t answer the phone beyond 13:00 ! Surely it would be sensible to add this to the answer phone message…. I then waited to leave feedback only not to be put through. UTTER SHAMBLES !

Improve waste management.
Absolute rubbish.

My experience with London Borough of Waltham Forest Housing has been unacceptable and deeply distressing.

I have been kept in temporary accommodation for a prolonged period with little to no meaningful communication, no clear plan, and extremely limited bidding opportunities. Despite engaging fully with the process, progress feels deliberately stalled, leaving me in ongoing uncertainty.

I have also been placed out of borough, away from my support network, which has had a serious impact on my wellbeing and my child’s stability. Safeguarding responsibilities appear to be treated as an afterthought rather than a priority.

Responses are slow, inconsistent, and often require repeated chasing. There is a clear lack of accountability, transparency, and urgency in how housing cases are handled. This has caused unnecessary stress and emotional harm at a time when support should be strongest.

Housing pressures are not an excuse for poor practice. Families deserve dignity, timely communication, and fair access to housing options. My experience reflects a system that leaves vulnerable households ignored and stuck in limbo for far too long.

Dirty streets, fly tipping all the time, drugs, very poor looking trees, the playground is a joke, speeding cars, I addressed this all - nothing happened

1 Rubbish left by bin lorry every week
2 stopping 15 minutes parking, destroying local high street and older people wanting to shop for small things.
Over paid council heads.
Blocking roads off.
Worst council I’ve ever lived in.

Waltham Forest Council is a complete embarrassment. Bin collections are constantly missed with no explanation, no apology, and no accountability. Streets are left filthy for days (sometimes weeks), attracting pests and creating a health hazard — yet the council seems totally uninterested.
Trying to report a missed bin is an exercise in frustration. The online system is slow and unreliable, and when you finally give up and call, you’re met with rude, dismissive, and unhelpful telephone staff who clearly don’t care. Customer service is shockingly poor — abrupt, condescending, and sometimes downright hostile, as if residents are an inconvenience rather than people paying council tax for basic services.
Promises to “log the issue” or “send a crew” mean absolutely nothing. Bins still aren’t collected, complaints go nowhere, and follow-ups are ignored. There is zero communication and zero ownership of problems.
For the amount of council tax charged, the level of service is unacceptable. Regular bin collections are the bare minimum, yet Waltham Forest Council consistently fails to deliver even that. The attitude seems to be: take the money, provide the least possible service, and hope residents stop complaining.
This council needs a serious overhaul — from waste management to customer service training — because right now it is failing the people it’s supposed to serve.
Avoid if you can, and don’t expect help if something goes wrong.

Where do I start with this lovely young lady! Top tier service around my mother’s account. Simone was very thorough in fact I’ve been very fortunate to have her handle my telephone queries twice. She goes above and beyond and whilst no one likes to deal with council tax/queries with excellent customer services like Simone you’ll always feel assured, happy and satisfied. Thank you so much again! 💐

Absolutely the worst council in London. They charge for everything but contribute nothing. They change parking signs as they see fit, without informing anyone, and issue fines for everything. Stay away from this council. There's rubbish everywhere, they don't clean anything, but they take your money!

attend to loud alarm continuously going on in their since a week in no.2 Carnanton road E17 , person does not attend to back garden which full of nettles .

Extremely poor response times, practically zero contact, delayed response to complaints, complete disregard for landlords and tenants. A complete shambles. Absolutely non compliant to all service delivery standards and legislation.

Communication is useless, they send you standard templates instead of answering the actual query. I was sent a letter dated 12.06.2025 with the date of offence 14.05.2025 and then when queried the offence they said it was wrong date and offence was on 17.11.2024. Which is 207 days later and 6.8 months later. Asked to be shown the initial letter of the offence brought to my attention can not provide this and no cctv of parking ticket displayed on my car. Sasha Mastani and chris Georgiou have both been sending me irrelevant proof and not what I am asking for. Need more competent staff and actual address the concerns. Disgusting attitude

Parking enforcement is crap 2 cars blocking my garage 1 with fake number plates enforcement turned up but did not give them tickets what use are they

Useless council, nobody investigates noise complaints unless you log 6 separate instances! What about anti social behaviour that’s happening right then and there ? What are we paying our taxes for? reported anti social behaviour - noise nuisance music being played extremely loud it could be heard 3 streets away from stoneydown park, however, online form asks for 6 separate instances!? The music is being played now nit in the future! Residents fed up sack the lot of them useless people.

I followed up my email query with the OT team. I connected with Maxine who was absolutely fantastic. What started off for me as an extremely stressful query, Maxine, along with the OT team provided a fast, efficient first class service.
I was able to liaise with NRS and the whole process was completed the next day. Thank you so much Maxine for being the person who took my call. Much appreciated.

Refuse collection - a bunch of jobsworth. Will not empty bins unless by the gate and then only if immediately accessible. If it's behind another bin nooooooooo or a few feet from gate nooooooooo. So should I leave it on street when no space noooooo that's a hazard. They can when emptied scatter bins outside random streets on pavements. This is not a service. And I pay for it. Pathetic

Waltham Forest have not emptied black bin since end of April. Unable to report as their website just stated that they would be back! If they do collect next week, it will be a month and my bin is overflowing. Extremely poor service. I wouldn’t give any stars

Had to contact Waltham Forest Parking Services because of the usual problem of trying unsuccessfully to contact Ringo[just check out THEIR reviews]
Sophia and Katy were absolutely brilliant, friendly, patient couldn't have been more helpful in sorting out our problem and completely reassured us after the carnage of trying to deal with Ringo