TENANTS have been promised repairs and improvements after their council landlord gave up control of their homes.

Labour-run Sunderland City Council has completed the transfer of its 36,800 houses, flats and bungalows - worth £200m - to a specially-formed, non-profit making company.

The transfer, which affects about 100,000 people, is the biggest in the country so far.

The council says that the move, backed in a ballot by 88 per cent of tenants who voted, will lead to a £1.27 billion investment programme over the next 30 years.

The council built up a huge backlog of repairs and improvements that it could not fund, because of Government financial restrictions.

The new company, the Sunderland Housing Group, will not be constrained by the rules on public sector borrowing.

Council chief executive Colin Sinclair said: "We saw that the housing transfer was the only way forward if we were to secure the levels of investment needed to give our tenants the house improvements and service standards they had come to expect.

"We said all along that the transfer would only go ahead if it was what tenants wanted, and we were delighted when a staggering 88 per cent of those who took part in the ballot voted in favour.

"The transfer is not only good news for Sunderland Council and its former tenants.

"We hope it will also serve as an example to other councils of what can be achieved in a relatively short period of time.''

The council, which will get £30m for frontline services, said that tenants will also benefit from guaranteed rent levels, protected rights and a greater say in how the housing stock is managed.

The main local government union, Unison, backed the sell-off, which was first mooted two years ago, although some local officials feared rents would rise, tenants rights would be weakened, and jobs would be shed.