If you thought Brexit was taking a long time, spare a thought for Sarah Jopson.

In April last year, in the middle of the night, arsonists set fire to the waste bins in a storage pen next to her housing association home in Strachan Close, Maidstone.

The flames spread and damaged the cladding on the side of her home.

To ensure the blaze was properly out and not continuing inside the frame of the property, Kent Fire and Rescue Service had to knock a 5m hole in her wall.

The heat also cracked two windows on the first floor.

Now, nine months later, her landlord, Golding Homes, has still not completed repairs.

Mrs Jopson, 44, said: “It’s been a disaster from the start.

"At the beginning, I had a gaping hole in the wall, and they would not even send someone out to temporarily cover it up - I had to pay £175 to get someone out to do an emergency repair myself.”

Since then she has been in frequent contact with Golding Homes and had several "inspection" visits.

Finally contractors filled in the hole in September, but neither Mrs Jopson nor Golding Homes was happy with the quality of the work, and she is still waiting for a return visit for the repair to be finished properly.

"It's appalling... there's been almost no communication at all and I've had to chase them [Golding Homes] at every turn" - Sarah Jopson

She said: “They’ve still done nothing to the damaged windows on the first floor, or repaired the bin shed.”

Mrs Jopson, who lives in the property with her three children Ben 19, Lewis 15, and eight-year-old Mia, is unhappy with the service from Golding Homes.

She said: “It’s appalling. There’s been almost no communication at all and I’ve had to chase them at every turn.”

But she is even more angry about the vandals who set the blaze.

She said: “I can’t tell you what I think of them. We were all asleep and our neighbours had to bang on the door and call out to wake us up and get us out.

"We could have been killed.”

The police investigated the incident but made no arrests.

A spokesman for Golding Homes said: "We are working closely with the contractors on this repair work and have been in contact with the resident, keeping them informed as to the progress.

"A window has been ordered, and this will be installed once the cladding works have finished."