Flats to Rent in Newham

Renting in Newham

Newham is the east London borough between the River Lea and Barking, running from Stratford and Forest Gate in the north down to the Royal Docks and the Thames at Silvertown and North Woolwich. Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs are across the Lea in Tower Hamlets. On the ONS measure in the table above, Newham's average rent is well below the London average and below neighbouring Tower Hamlets and Hackney. Council tax is also below average: Band D is £1,944.23 in 2026/27, against a London average of £2,068 (MHCLG).

Newham's population grew by 14% between the 2011 and 2021 censuses, to about 351,000, almost twice London's rate. In 2021, 38.5% of its households rented privately, more than owned their home (30.8%) or rented from a council or housing association (28.0%).

Licensing

Most privately rented homes in Newham need a council licence. Selective licensing covers 22 of the borough's 24 wards, every ward except Royal Victoria and Stratford Olympic Park, from 1 June 2023 to 31 May 2028. An additional licensing scheme for shared homes, where three or more people from two or more households live together, covers the same 22 wards from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2027. Larger HMOs need a mandatory licence in every ward.

The neighbourhoods

Stratford and the Olympic Park

Stratford station has the Central, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines, the DLR, the Mildmay line (London Overground) and Greater Anglia trains. Stratford International, a separate station about 600 metres to the north-west, has Southeastern high-speed trains to St Pancras and Kent and a DLR station; Eurostar trains do not stop there. Westfield Stratford City and the older Stratford Centre are next to the station, and the Theatre Royal Stratford East, where Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop was based, opened in 1884.

The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park spans four boroughs. Newham's part has the London Stadium, home of West Ham United since 2016, the London Aquatics Centre and East Bank, where Sadler's Wells East, the BBC's new music studios, UAL's London College of Fashion, UCL East and the V&A East Museum (opened April 2026) sit together; Hackney Wick, across the Lea, is in Hackney. East Village, the former 2012 athletes' village, is now flats, many let by Get Living. It is in Stratford Olympic Park ward, outside the selective and additional licensing schemes.

Forest Gate and Maryland

Forest Gate station, on Woodgrange Road, the main shopping street, is on the Elizabeth line, with Maryland one stop towards Stratford; Wanstead Park station, on the Overground's Suffragette line, is a short walk away. The Woodgrange Estate conservation area has double-fronted Victorian houses built between 1877 and 1892. Wanstead Flats, the southern tip of Epping Forest, starts just over the northern boundary, in Redbridge and Waltham Forest.

Manor Park and Little Ilford

Manor Park's Elizabeth line station is the next stop east from Forest Gate, and Woodgrange Park, nearby, is on the Suffragette line. The City of London Cemetery, opened in 1856 and still run by the City of London Corporation, is on the northern edge: a Grade I registered park, open every day of the year.

Upton Park and Green Street

Green Street runs from Romford Road down to Barking Road, past Upton Park station (District and Hammersmith & City lines), and is known for South Asian food, jewellery, fabric and fashion shops. Queen's Market, next to the station, is run by the council and trades on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. West Ham United left the Boleyn Ground, at the Barking Road end of Green Street, in 2016, and the site has been redeveloped for housing.

East Ham

East Ham's shopping street is High Street North, near East Ham station (District and Hammersmith & City lines). St Mary Magdalene, towards the south of the district, is a Grade I listed Norman church whose body dates from about 1130, and its large churchyard is managed by the council as East Ham Nature Reserve.

West Ham, Plaistow and Canning Town

West Ham station has the Jubilee, District and Hammersmith & City lines, the DLR and c2c trains to Fenchurch Street; it has no Elizabeth line. Plaistow, to the east, is on the District and Hammersmith & City lines. Canning Town, by the Lea, has the Jubilee line and is where the DLR's Beckton, Woolwich Arsenal and Stratford International routes meet. Canning Town and Custom House are part-way through a long regeneration that is replacing council estates with new blocks, so expect building work near some homes.

The Royal Docks, Silvertown, Beckton and North Woolwich

The Royal Victoria, Royal Albert and King George V docks closed to shipping in 1981. ExCeL now stands on Royal Victoria Dock, London City Airport between the Albert and King George V docks, and the University of East London has a campus on the Albert Dock. Custom House, for ExCeL, is on the DLR and on the Elizabeth line one stop from Canary Wharf; the DLR's Beckton branch runs along the north side of the docks and its Woolwich Arsenal branch along the south, through City Airport. The London Cable Car, known as the IFS Cloud Cable Car until March 2026, crosses the Thames from its Royal Docks terminal, by Royal Victoria DLR station, to Greenwich Peninsula.

Silvertown still has the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery on the river, and a scheme around Millennium Mills, a flour mill built in 1905 and rebuilt in 1933, plans more than 6,000 homes. The Silvertown Tunnel to Greenwich Peninsula opened on 7 April 2025; drivers pay to use it or the Blackwall Tunnel between 06:00 and 22:00. At North Woolwich the Woolwich Ferry crosses the river free. Most homes around the docks are in purpose-built blocks of flats (90% of households in Royal Victoria ward and 78% in Royal Albert, Census 2021), and Royal Victoria ward, which includes ExCeL, is outside the selective and additional licensing schemes.

Getting around

The Elizabeth line runs through Newham twice: Stratford, Maryland, Forest Gate and Manor Park are on the Shenfield branch, and Custom House is on the Abbey Wood branch. The Jubilee line runs from Stratford, West Ham and Canning Town to Canary Wharf and London Bridge, and the District and Hammersmith & City lines cross the middle of the borough through Plaistow, Upton Park and East Ham. The DLR covers the south. Check a specific commute on the TfL Journey Planner before you sign.

Schools

State secondaries include Brampton Manor Academy, Sarah Bonnell School, School 21, Chobham Academy, Forest Gate Community School, St Angela's Ursuline School, St Bonaventure's RC School, Plashet, City of London Academy, Lister Community School, Rokeby School and Kingsford Community School. For students aged 16 to 18 there are the London Academy of Excellence, Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre and Newham Sixth Form College. Academies, free schools and faith schools set their own admissions rules, and popular primaries can have small distance catchments, so read each school's admissions criteria and its latest Ofsted report before choosing a street for a school.

Parks and open space

The Olympic Park's lawns, wetlands and waterways run along the Lea on Newham's western edge. West Ham Park has been owned and run by the City of London Corporation since 1874. The Greenway, a footpath and cycle path on top of Bazalgette's Northern Outfall Sewer, runs from Victoria Park, near Hackney Wick, across the borough to Beckton; Thames Water has closed the section between Channelsea Path and Upper Road for sewer repairs, which the council says will continue through 2028. In the south are Thames Barrier Park, opened in 2000 beside the barrier, and Beckton District Park.

Safety

Reported crime varies from street to street. The police's crime map at police.uk shows reported crime month by month for any street, so compare the one you are considering with the streets around it.

Who it suits

Newham suits people who want a lower rent than Tower Hamlets or Hackney and a short trip to the City, Canary Wharf or the West End from Stratford, Canning Town or an Elizabeth line station, and people who work at ExCeL, City Airport or the Olympic Park. It suits people less well if they want a finished neighbourhood: around Stratford, Canning Town and the docks, building work is likely to continue for years.

Useful links

Newham Council: newham.gov.uk (council tax, property licensing, school admissions)
Crime by street: police.uk
Journeys: tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park: queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk

The listings above are homes and rooms advertised by their landlords in Newham now. Ask each landlord for the property's licence number (in Royal Victoria and Stratford Olympic Park wards only larger shared houses need one), and check which line the nearest station is on.