CONSULTATION to decide who should manage 12,300 council houses has begun.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council tenants have received newsletters asking them to help decide the future of their homes.

The document, called Your Home, Your Future, Your Choice, invites people to choose between a new independent housing organisation set up by the council, and an existing housing association, as a potential manager.

The results of the survey will be used in further consultations to determine if the transfer should go ahead.

Plans for a new landlord were drawn up after councillors decided they could not afford to guarantee rent levels, or carry out the £56m improvements needed to bring the housing stock up to standard.

Iain Sim, the council's director of housing, said a transfer was the best option available.

"We have looked at all the options, and transferring the ownership and management is the only way we can give tenants the homes they deserve," he said.

As the council's preferred option, the independent housing organisation would comprise of 15 volunteers.

There would be five councillors, five elected tenants, and five independent members, who would be experts in such fields as management and accounting. Mr Sim said this option would keep management locally-based.

He said: "The company would have its head office in Redcar and Cleveland, whereas if we transferred housing stock to a national organisation, any branch that was set up here would be a subsidiary.

"Who is to say that the voice of Redcar and Cleveland would not be lost?"

To act as insurance against a poor response to the newsletter, which asks for replies by January 15, a research company has been drafted in to conduct a telephone survey.

While staff employed by the council would be transferred along with the housing stock, Mr Sim reassured them that their terms and conditions would remain.

He said tenants' interests would also be protected.

"There are a range of safety nets, and the council will still have considerable influence," he said