A PROPERTY company is to repaint the red front doors of its houses in Middlesbrough over concerns they were "marking out" asylum seeker tenants for racism and vandalism.

The Home Office has ordered an urgent review of the homes after it emerged the properties owned by Jomast, a subcontractor of services company G4S, all have red doors.

The properties are mostly home to asylum seekers of all nationalities, some of whom said they had been plagued by vandals throwing eggs at their houses or arsonists setting fires in their yards.

There were also reports of one having a National Front logo written on their front door, and one said dog excrement had been smeared on their house.

But others did not report any problems and said they enjoyed living in Middlesbrough.

One Pakistani mother-of-three in the Gresham area, who fled her home country with her husband and children after they were threatened by a people trafficking gang, said: "It stigmatises us. I feel ashamed enough to be having to claim asylum and not being allowed to work, but to have a red front door marking us out makes it worse.

"Our drainpipes have been vandalised and I won't let the children play outside because other children swear at them and shout things."

One Iranian asylum seeker told how he had been plagued by youths throwing eggs and prostitutes banging on his windows.

Mohammed Bagher Bayzavi, 58, who lives in Union Street, said: "Everyone here knows the red colour is Jomast. Change the colour - anything but red."

G4S said in a statement: "There is categorically no policy to house asylum seekers behind red doors. Our subcontractor Jomast has used red paint across across many of its properties and it's grotesque to equate this with any form of discrimination."

Jomast managing director Stuart Monk said comparisons made to painting yellow stars on the homes of Jews during the Holocaust were "ludicrous and preposterous." However, Jomast has now agreed to repaint doors different colours. They were initially painted red because the paint was bought in bulk.

According to an investigation by The Times, of the 168 Jomast houses it identified in two of Middlesbrough's most deprived areas, 155 had red front doors.

The newspaper spoke to people living at 66 of the red-door houses. It said 62 were home to asylum seekers of 22 nationalities.

Former Stockton councillor Maureen Rigg, of Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary, said the issue has been raised previously with the Home Affairs committee, the National Audit Office and by former Redcar MP Ian Swales.

Middlesbrough MP, Labour's Andy McDonald said in an urgent Commons debate: "At the moment Jomast are saying that they are acknowledging it now and will do it over three to six months, I just suggest to you that that is simply not acceptable, this must be done as a matter of supreme urgency."