Neighbours of an woman evicted from her home after 20 years over anti-social behaviour have spoken of their relief.

Residents living on the same hallway in Chartwell Court, Broomhill Walk, South Woodford say they are relieved and that they feel safer after housing association Home Group evicted the woman last Thursday.

The woman reportedly regularly abused people living in the block, left drug paraphernalia in communal areas and had visitors throughout the night.

Maria De Cruz, 26, said: “She used to bring boys back and hold parties which were very loud. Anti-social behaviour is a real problem in the building with people smoking and owning dogs when they are not supposed to, but this action goes some way to solving the problem.”

Kevin Colville, 53, said: “She was a general nuisance, police were called many times. She was a danger to people in the block and I feel safer now she is gone.”

Chatizo Karimberolijevo, 35, said: “The woman was very noisy late at night and I saw police in the hallway regularly. I like my neighbours but we were never friends, if she stayed something bad could have happened.”

Woodford Green MP Iain Duncan Smith also intervened on behalf of the residents and called for the woman to be evicted.

Nicki Burton, Home Group acting head of customer service, said: “We simply do not tolerate anti-social behaviour and we will always take action to tackle it. Our customers deserve to be able to live in peace and quiet and feel safe in their homes.

“The law quite rightly prevents landlords from simply evicting customers and for that reason we have to work through the courts to obtain an order. For the past 12 months we’ve been working closely with our customers to gather evidence and present a strong case to a judge.

“Court action always takes time and we’d like to thank our customers for working with us to provide statements and gather evidence.”

The council has not responded to Guardian following a request to know whether the woman has been rehoused.