A DATE has been set for the transfer of 7,900 council houses to a non-profit making company which will spend £99m upgrading the properties.

The move has been agreed by Hartlepool Borough Council and is expected to go ahead on Monday.

But a plan to demolish homes at the Dyke House area of Hartlepool is expected to continue. The council will consult with tenants on the estate. The homes, most of which are empty, would eventually be transferred back to the authority for demolition if the council decides to go ahead with the scheme.

There was shock at the council recently when it was revealed that more than 1,500 homes, many privately owned and in the town centre, are currently derelict in Hartlepool.

The organisation which will take over the running of the council houses has been set up by the council and is called Housing Hartlepool.

Tenants backed the idea to transfer the houses to the company in a poll held last July by 4,818 votes to 1,574 from a 71 per cent turn out.

Residents were told their rent would increase at normal rates and their tenancy agreements will remain the same.

Housing Hartlepool will invest more than £99m in the homes, which are worth about £19m, in the first six years and also deliver service improvements which tenants have prioritised during the consultations.

Some Independent councillors had voiced concerns that the transfer was effectively a privatisation of housing and that improvement works would eventually be passed on to the tenants.

However, Hartlepool Mayor Stuart Drummond, speaking at a cabinet meeting on Monday, said the transfer would benefit the residents involved.

Speaking after the members of the cabinet unanimously voted in favour of the transfer, he said: "This has been a very long and detailed process and staff have worked very hard on it.

"I'm happy with this and, judging by the reaction of the cabinet I guess everybody else is too."

The council will receive more than £3m from Hartlepool Housing when the transfer takes place.