A family are facing homelessness after ending their contract for a council house contaminated with asbestos.

After eight years on Epping Forest District Council's house waiting list, Kelly Wright's family were overjoyed when they were told a property had come up.

While the house on Thorn Terrace in Epping was smaller than they had hoped and £850 a month, the mum of three accepted the offer to avoid dropping to the bottom of the list.

Mrs Wright triggered the break clause on her contract after she was advised to be ready to move in within a week, only for the council's officer to cancel an arranged meet-up five times and push the move in date back.

The 33 year-old said: "We had been told initially that we would have to move quickly and so we arranged with our present landlord to let us leave the property early which she agreed to and found another tenant to move in.

"After us moving the date several times the landlord, who we have had a very good relationship with for the past five years, had no option but to issue us with an eviction notice as her new tenants had given up their property to move in here."

The family was then told that the move-in date for Thorn Terrace had been postponed indefinitely because, amongst other issues, asbestos had been found in the soil.

A ray of hope came on July 16, when a council worker rang Mrs Wright to offer a three bedroom home on Centre Drive in Epping.

The 33 year-old said: "We were relieved and thankful.

"However, half an hour later they rang back and told me they had made a mistake and there was someone else in front of us for this property.

"Once again the council has let us down."

Now the family - which includes three young children, their dad Tom Wright and grandmother Debbie Cranfield, whose mother suffered from asbestosis - are facing homelessness.

They have no where to move into and must be out of their house by the end of September.

Mrs Wright said: "The whole episode has left us stressed and anxious.

"Even though we know the eviction process will take a while we do not want to go through this.

"I have three children, the youngest only 10 months old, I work full time and I am so stressed.

"I am struggling to cope not knowing where we will end up."

An Epping Forest District Council spokesperson said: "The circumstances around the Thorn Terrace property are exceptional and we are sorry for the  uncertainty, inconvenience and frustration this has caused for Mrs Wright and her family.

"Mrs Wright was quite within her rights to bid for another property when the first one became unavailable.

"However, given the problems surrounding the Centre Drive property - which appear to have been caused by a computer malfunction - Mrs Wright is not seen as having refused either properties, so does not fall within our policy that any applicant who refuses two offers of properties will have their application deferred (so will be unable to place bids) for a period of two years.

"We don’t have a definite date for the handover of the Thorn Terrace yet, but Mrs Wright’s current privately rented tenancy does not end until October and we have offered to contact her landlord to see whether they can extend the tenancy.

"In the meantime we are encouraging Mrs Wright to continue to bid for other properties and we will do our very best to accommodate her."