TENANTS are being warned about a possible scam involving the discounted sale of council homes.

During the past few months, Durham City Council has received several complaints relating to the Right to Buy scheme, under which long-standing tenants can buy their authority-owned homes at a discount price.

A number of tenants have reported receiving callers who advised them the scheme will end in March 2004, after which they will have to pay the full market price.

The callers have then persuaded tenants to sign up for the Right to Buy scheme, producing forms for them to fill out.

Several tenants were left with the false impression that the callers were council employees and in some cases they have accepted signatures from any member of the household - including one tenant's son.

Lesley Blackie, the council's director of legal services, said: "It is obviously of great concern to us that our tenants are being pressurised in this way.

"Any employee of the council will have identification.

"We would also confirm that although the Right to Buy discounts have been reduced in some areas of the country, in Durham the discounts remain the same, and we are not aware of any Government plans to scrap the Right to Buy discount in the foreseeable future."

Ms Blackie said she suspected the companies were trying to make money from the scam.

"Presumably, they charge tenants for the assistance they offer," she said. "They supply forms and things like that, but tenants can get these forms from us free of charge.

"There will be some genuine folk out there who assist tenants in filling in Right to Buy forms, but we give that assistance in house without charge."

Ms Blackie said the council was warning people of the scam through tenants newsletters.

She said Government legislation could soon require companies to state the cost of their services from the outset.

In the meantime, though, Ms Blackie urged people to check th credentials of all callers.

A Durham Police spokesman said that while the force had received no complaints, anyone with concerns about callers should report them.