A worried mum has been waiting weeks for a housing association to fix a leak which caused the ceiling in her front room to collapse.

Laura Jones, who lives in Boundary Road, Ramsgate, with her eight-year-old son and their dog, says the flat is now “freezing” and her heating bills are mounting.

She is also losing sleep as she has to “constantly” empty buckets of water which continue to fill up as the leak goes unfixed.

Bosses at Town & Country Housing have apologised for the distress caused and say they are committed to finding the “root cause” of the issue and repairing it as soon as possible.

But Ms Jones told KentOnline: “It’s not a safe environment for me and my child to be living in.”

Recalling the night the ceiling gave way, the 36-year-old said: “I’d just gone into the bedroom, and my son told me there was really bad dripping.

“I came into the front room, moved my TV out of the way, and the next thing I knew, the ceiling came down.

“If someone had been underneath it at the time, it could have seriously hurt them.”

After alerting Town & Country Housing, she was provided with buckets and tarpaulin.

Ms Jones said: “I’ve been asking for a paddling pool because the buckets can only catch so much water. I can’t go to bed because I’m constantly emptying them.

“It’s freezing cold in the flat now. I’m spending a fortune on heating bills, and every time it rains, more water comes through.

“The whole situation has been a nightmare.”

Ms Jones says the housing association has not offered to put her in a hotel - but admits this may be difficult because of her pet Staffordshire bull terrier Pandora.

The single mum, who moved into the property in December, says a carpenter was sent round on Tuesday to assess the damage.

However, she says he was unable to resolve the problem.

She added: “There’s no making it safe until they fix the actual issue.

“A couple of months ago they fixed the balcony above me and gave that all new flooring, but it’s still leaking.

“It’s nearly Christmas. I can’t decorate the front room for my boy and if it snows, I’m going to have real snow on the Christmas tree.”

A spokesperson for Town & Country Housing, which is based in Tunbridge Wells, said: “We understand the resident’s frustration with the ongoing leak in their living room and apologise for the disruption this has caused.”

They said the leak was reported on Friday, October 11, and was initially assessed as a routine repair.

When the ceiling collapsed on Monday, October 21, it was reclassified as an emergency and workers attended to contain the water and assess the damage.

They said that on Friday, November 8, and Saturday, November 9, extensive repairs were carried out on the balcony above Ms Jones's property, where they believed the leak was coming from. However, despite these efforts, the problem has persisted.

The spokesperson added: “Our team returned to the property on Tuesday to conduct further investigations and emergency repairs. We are committed to finding the root cause of the issue and fixing the leak as quickly as possible.

“Once we are confident that the leak has been permanently resolved we will repair the resident’s ceiling. We will continue to keep the resident updated on our progress and offer any support they need during this time.”

Ms Jones confirmed on Wednesday that water was continuing to come in through the ceiling.