FAMILIES on a rundown housing estate claim they have been abandoned by a Teesside council.

Their homes on an estate east of Raby Road, Hartlepool, where Hartlepool Borough Council has acquired 62 of more than 200 homes ahead of a major redevelopment under the North Central Hartlepool Regeneration Scheme.

However, the families claim the council should be using Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers from the first phase instead of acquiring properties by agreement with individual owners.

Chartered surveyor Paul Stevenson said home owners are being denied protection and assistance they are entitled too.

"Rather than acting in the best interests of owner-occupiers, landlords and tenants, the council is sitting tight and hoping there will be a natural leakage - in other words, tenants will walk away amid worsening living conditions and landlords, unable to find new tenants, will be forced to sell on the cheap," he said.

Residents claim there lives are being made a misery.

Mother-of-two Lesley Ann Smith said: "We are so angry. We have been left in limbo and while the council dilly-dallies and does nothing our homes are crumbling around us. It’s a disgrace.

"We have problems with damp and, quite literally, rats gnawing at our back door.

"On top of that, we are surrounded by unsightly, boarded-up houses and feel unsafe, threatened and ignored."

She added: "They clearly hope that by leaving us in terrible conditions that we will simply disappear, but we can’t afford to just walk away - the compensation is my only hope of finding a deposit on a new home for my family."

A £30m scheme to demolish 267 properties and replace them with 173 new homes is taking place on an adjacent estate.

If a CPO was applied, it would mean property owners would be untitled to market value of their homes along with assistance and advice.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that in Hurworth Street, two properties close to each other were acquired by the council for £14,000 and £48,500.

Mr Stevenson said: "I haven’t inspected the properties but on the face of it they are extreme variations in anyone’s judgement.

A spokesman for Hartlepool Borough Council said: "Hartlepool Borough Council is working closely with other key organisations to replace some of the worst areas of poor quality, low demand housing with new, modern homes of a high standard.

"To ensure value for public money and to provide fair compensation for owners, properties are acquired at market value as assessed by an independent valuer."