Councils forced to ask for transfer a second time

Councils struggling to meet the decent homes standard could be forced to re-ballot tenants who have rejected stock transfer.

Under the Communities Plan, all councils with stock have to carry out full options appraisals by 2005. Those facing funding shortfalls may have to reconsider all options as the government steps up the pressure ahead of the 2010 decent homes standard deadline.

Nigel Minto, special projects manager at the National Housing Federation, said: "Re-balloting tenants could become a trend. With the decent homes deadline closing in, councils may have to look again at transfer, as their needs will not have changed."

Last week, Cherwell in Oxfordshire became the latest council to win a second tenant ballot, roughly seven years after transfer had been narrowly rejected.

The council's 3800 homes are expected to transfer to Charter Community Housing Group within the next six months.

Other councils rumoured to be reconsidering stock transfer include Merton in south-west London, which had its transfer plans rejected by tenants last July.

Merton, which owns almost 7000 homes and needs £30m to meet the decent homes target, has agreed a new strategy that will allow neighbourhood areas to decide on the future of their homes. The tenants' views will be fed into the council's overall options appraisal in 2005.

A source at the council said: "Tenants will have a chance to appraise options on an estate-by-estate basis. They could go for stock transfer in some places."

It is also understood that Birmingham – whose tenants rejected transfer last April – may have to reconsider at least partial transfer.

Last year's independent commission into the future of the city's housing, chaired by professor Anne Power of the London School of Economics, concluded that up to 27,000 homes, one-third of the council's stock, would miss the decency target unless transferred.

The rules on re-ballots are extremely relaxed – a council can hold a second ballot the day after the first.

However, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said: "Obviously, though, we would prefer they work through the issues with the tenants before attempting another ballot."