A local, single mum of two says she feels "ignored" by Kingston Council after falling victim to a rental scam.

26-year-old Olivia Eiffort was advised by the council's housing team to find her own private property after living at a one-bedroom property that was riddled with damp and mould for four years, only to find that she was involved in a rental scam when finding a new property.

Eiffort moved into the Surbiton property on 8 November 2021 and first emailed her landlord and Kingston Council about the issue of damp and mould at the end of December 2021.

In an exclusive interview with Nub News, Eiffort said: "I wouldn't even say they [the council] necessarily did anything.

"I mean, between the landlord and themselves, they had to obviously involve the environmental health team, which I've seen so many, so many times."

She explained that while Kingston Council agreed that the mould was "obviously bad" it did not meet its criteria for sorting the issue.

"But they're just there to do their job and follow the criteria as they need to do," Eiffort said.

"And unfortunately, Kingston Council's policies make it very hard for Environmental Health to do anything about it, so it's kind of just pointless help - you can have mould all across your entire house, but it has to be even worse than that to meet the council's criteria."

The mum added: "It has to be something unimaginable for them to step in and do something. So, they've not done anything. They've ignored me."

Eiffort says that due to their living conditions, her children have contracted "deadly infections" and have been admitted to hospital with feeding tubes and oxygen.

She said: "It was awful. And this is all because of our living conditions. Nobody should have to stay in a home where it's making you ill."

After four years of living in the property without any resolution to the issue, Eiffort, who was previously living in a hostel, was advised by Kingston Council to find her own private accommodation, because, she says, "they're unable to help me unless I present as homeless".

The mum says that she spent the past four years searching across the country for somewhere new to live.

She said: "I've been all up and down the country over the past four years trying to find someone who will accept me because I just know that there is no help from the council to come."

Eventually, Eiffort found a property in Kingston from a "legitimate" website, Open Rent, but was scammed by a man posing to be a landlord.

She said that the man asked her to pay £2,125 upfront because, she says, "in the private sector, that's mainly what you get asked if you're on benefits when applying".

Eiffort says that the council's housing team carried out thorough checks on the property when she found it.

"They went through all the documentation and stuff like that, and everything was supposedly checked out," she said.

"And then, obviously, I found out that it wasn't, and it wasn't legitimate as hell."

Eiffort says that the scammer, who was going by the name Bishop, even invited her to view the property on 22 January of this year, but when the time came, he said that he would not be able to make it, so she would have to meet with his nephew instead.

She said: "So I went, and it was his nephew, which isn't anything unusual, a lot of landlords send a relative or something like that, if they're not there at the time.

"And he [Bishop] said he would accept me once I got back home."

Eiffort then got in contact with the council's tenant finder scheme, seeking a loan for the first payment.

"They said that they would be able to offer me a loan amount for the first month's rent and deposit," Eiffort explained.

"They just needed all this documentation to be sent over. So, I then presented their email to the supposed landlord.

"They were communicating back and forth, which I was aware of. I was still CC'd in every email as I'd asked. All the relevant checks were carried out, as you would expect from a landlord, and nothing was picked up."

She said that once her payment had gone through, all communication with the landlord "broke down drastically".

Eiffort added: "So I was obviously trying to remain in the loop with him as the property was still furnished, and I said I would want it unfurnished, and he kept saying he would get it done. But that never happened.

"I was driving down to the property quite often, and then my dad actually went down there and spoke to the neighbour underneath, and the neighbour came out and said, 'sorry, I don't know who that landlord is'."

Eiffort says that the neighbour gave her his landlord's contact details, so she called him only to find out that this landlord actually owned the property she was interested in and rents it out for AirBnB.

She said: "So, I went through with him dates and stuff like that. And the date I went to view the property was the date that these guys had booked the AirBnB. And that's when I found out I had been scammed."

Eiffort immediately contacted the police and her bank about what had happened.

She said: "I explained to the tenant finder team that the council had been scammed and so had I. And they just didn't look even half concerned and there was just no empathy there at all to begin with."

The mum says that the council advised her to look for another private property and "offered no help".

She said: "And I just thought, 'I've just endured something that's been actually really traumatic, I've got rid of so many things in order to get new things for a bigger space'. I've been stuck in this one-bed property with two young children. Our whole entire home is boxed up. There's nothing easily accessible."

Eiffort says that after paying the scammer, she contacted her five-year-old's school to inform it that her child might be late for school as the new property was a longer commute away than the Surbiton property.

 She said: "It entailed a lot of mental trauma as well as emotional. And there was just no help from the council. They didn't care. There was no accountability. And my main question to them was how a fraudulent ID had not been noticed."

Eiffort said that the woman from the council, Ada, with whom she was in contact, then said she would have to talk to her manager because she "did not feel comfortable" speaking with Eiffort anymore, as she felt that the mum "was becoming aggressive".

She added: "I said, 'I'm not being aggressive at all. I'm upset, you know, and there's just no care from you at all'. So, she completely shut down the conversation when I was asking her the relevant questions."

Eiffort then spoke to Ada's manager whom she says also did "nothing" to help.

She said: "So I then I went over the documentation that this landlord had given. And when I typed in the property number on the website, it wasn't even a number. So, if I can find that out, how can they not?"

Eiffort managed to get her money back and had the scammer removed from the Open Rent website but still remains in the Surbiton property.

She says that she has applied to the Housing Register for the fifth time but has been rejected again because her situation "doesn't meet its criteria".

The mum added: "Even though I've got three relevant areas that are within their criteria, that's relevant. I've got overcrowding, I've got medical needs, and I've got risk of homelessness as my tenancy here ends in May.

"And all they say is you just need to apply to be homeless, but they'll just chuck you in a hotel, or they'll put you in a hostel. They don't really care about you. There's just no adequate housing. There's nothing from them. They just generally don't care.

"I've just tried to do as much as possible my end, because I know for a fact of the little support I've, well, no support that I've had from the council, which actually owes me a duty of care, will not do anything."

Eiffort said that the police described the scamming situation as a "very common thing" and that a lady had reported a similar crime the day before she filed her report.

While she is still hoping to find a new property, as her tenancy finishes on 8 May, Eiffort says that she hopes with the new Awaab's Law starting on 1 May, she will be able to remain in the Surbiton property until she finds a new home.

However, as per Kingston Council's Housing Policy, Eiffort says that she is legally entitled to a two-bedroom home as her first child, who is turning five this year, is older than 12 months and her second is one-and-a-half years old.

"So, I'm still arguing with the council that I need a two-bed because I don't have a bed," she said.

"I sold my bed when I thought I was moving, so now I've just fully allocated the bedroom to the kids. And there's not a lot of flats, and I obviously have no trust in finding accommodation for myself because if the council and I were so easily scammed, it can most definitely happen again and to anyone."

"There were no genuine warning signs from this guy because it was just so well committed. And the fact that they're [Kingston Council] just trying to wash their hands with me and say, 'well, just continue looking', it's again proving they don't care."

Eiffort continued: "At the end of the day, when they lost their money, their financial department will deal with that. And they'll get that back essentially. But they didn't know whether I was getting my money back. I didn't know if I was going to get it back at the time, but they just didn't care."

Eiffort says, while she is not fussy on location as she drives, she still hopes to find a property in the Kingston area so that her eldest does not have to move schools.

She said: "There's only so much I can do on my end. I've been begging and fighting the council for the past four and a half years, and still nothing has happened.

"So, I guess I'm trying not to give up as my kids deserve better. We don't deserve to keep going into hospital and all of these things." 

Eiffort says that she wants to help make people aware of rental scams.

Nub News has contacted Kingston Council for comment but it is says it is unable to comment at this time.