A local resident says she feels "ignored" by Kingston Council which has left her waiting nine years for a safe property for her disabled daughter. 

The woman - who asked not to be named and will be referred to as Ms B - has a daughter born with autism spectrum disorder and Medication resistant Epilepsy alongside many other health issues.

Ms B says she has repeatedly tried to contact the council for support but has been "ignored" repeatedly claiming nobody gives a 'flying s***' about her family.

Ms B told Kingston Nub News: "The council spent several years ignoring my medical needs applications and even lost an occupational therapy report that they themselves instructed.

"Since my daughter turned six – she is now 14, we have been battling with the council for safer and appropriate accommodation for our child."

Ms B's daughter suffers several seizures a day and is currently awaiting neurosurgery.

She has been sharing a room with her younger brother, who is 13, "since they were small."

Ms B and her family had their end-of-tenancy check in March 2024 and were told by their housing officer "to get packing and to get rid of [their] laminate flooring ready to move at the end of April last year".

The laminate flooring the family had in their property was to protect Ms B's daughter when having seizures.

The family removed the flooring immediately after the inspection.

Ms B said: "We filled in multiple applications over the space of nine years to amend our housing needs.

"These have been lost/misplaced/never received by the council or ignored for several years.

"Medical forms completed have been disregarded without any housing needs awarded."

She continued: "The same thing happened when the council refused to install a shower without an occupational therapy report.

"They arranged this report, and we waited nearly two years for this to be actioned."

Ms B reports that the occupational therapist report she provided to the council was "misplaced" after the family's shower was "finally installed".

She said: "We actually have a shower at each end of our bath because the council's workmen messed up the first one and couldn't be bothered to remove it, so they just stuck another one at the opposite end of the bath.

"I suspect that the occupational therapist report was "misplaced" due to the fact that the council deemed our property to be unfit and unsafe for our disabled child."

Ms B says that her daughter has suffered "so many injuries whilst seizing in this property".

She said: "My daughter has had seizures and fallen down the concrete stairwell.

"She has seized several times in our tiny toilet and wedged herself in, resulting in the door having to be ripped off.

"Her brother has suffered with his mental health and from trauma from watching his sister seizing in the night.

"We are constantly being kept awake all night by a lunatic neighbour that lives above us.

"This causes more seizures and nonattendance at school for my daughter."

Ms B says that the issues with her neighbour have been going on for several years and that the police are now involved.

She said: "But still my housing officer does absolutely nothing.

"On my sixth attempt at getting our housing needs reassessed with medical evidence, I was finally listened to."

 Ms B's family were offered to be placed in a Band two home with Band two medical needs, but Ms B says she disagreed with this as her daughter does not require level access, wet room or wheelchair access.

She said: "We missed out on Ribble House in 2023 because the three-bed properties were not mobility category two and were told that the council had misplaced our medical evidence yet again.

"Cumberland House then came up and we had the same issue. I fought and fought with allocations over this for weeks until finally a councillor took a look at our file and realised that indeed the medical banding was in fact incorrect and should be category three not two.

"So, we were awarded a first-floor, three-bed property with a lift at Cumberland House."

Ms B says that this was "excellent news at long last", however, Cumberland House is not yet completed nor open to tenants.

Not knowing this at the time, Ms B's family accepted the offer and was ready to be moved in April 2024.

Yet, nearly a year later, Cumberland House has still not opened, and the family have not been told why or when they can move in.

After the family's end-of-residency check in March 2024, Ms B says that she and her family were "completely left in the dark until we were called to view the property in June/July."

She said: "Fast forward to September, we received a letter informing us that the five-month delay was due to a utility issue. No details. No timescale. Nothing.

"I have had contact with local MP's regarding this and we were told by an MP that the utility issue was rectified in early November, but the council denied this.

"Each time I have asked the council for an update I get the same simple reply of "sorry no update".

"The council has shown no regard for how we are living at all.

"We have had no laminate flooring for almost a year now after we got rid of it in March.

"Our daughter's health has massively declined further and this property we live in is extremely unsafe.

"Due to seizures, lack of sleep and injury from seizing in this flat, her attendance is now below 60% at her special needs school and she is on a reduced timetable."

Ms B continued: "There has been zero update on the move for the last five months.

"Nobody could give a flying s*** about us. Allocations and our housing officer just ignore us.

"The police asked our housing officer last November to get an official statement from us against the neighbour upstairs.

"The housing officer arranged and then cancelled this appointment and has been ignoring me since December. The police are trying to press charges on this neighbour, but they need the support of the council."

Ms B says that the last seven years have been a "complete nightmare" for the family.

She said: "The sheer incompetence and lack of support from the council has been atrocious.

"I am sick to death of the council not telling us what on earth is going on with our new flat.

"They expect us to believe that the building company won't tell them why they haven't signed the property over.

"I'm tired of being treated like a moron. We are a hardworking family, and I refuse to be treated as some sort of second-class citizen that doesn't matter."

Earlier this week, Kingston Council contacted Ms B offering to help but are yet to provide this.

A Kingston Council spokesperson said: "We are committed to doing all we can to provide quality housing for residents and ensure people in the borough have a safe and comfortable place to live.

"The national housing crisis is a critical situation and the need for council homes is far greater than the number of properties available."

"We acknowledge the level of service provided to this family falls short of what we want to deliver, and we are working with them to move them into a more suitable home as quickly as possible."