FORMER Bolton council tenants who bought their homes in the 1980s are unable to sell them.

Some are on the market for as low as £12,000 -- others are being snapped up by private landlords who are charging extortionate rents for people to live in them.

The details were revealed to councillors at a housing committee meeting. They were told that the Government is now trying to offer local councils cash incentives to buy them back.

Labour Cllr Martin McLoughlin hit out: "These people were conned into buying these homes by the Tories in the 1980s.

"They were told that everything would be wonderful, but they were not told how much the repairs would cost and that they would not be able to afford to maintain them properly.

"They are now blighting our council estates. You can spot them a mile off. We have updated our properties over the years and carried out repairs, but they have not been able to do it and their homes have fallen into disrepair."

The Government's buy-back plan would offer a lifeline for former tenants who have fallen into financial difficulties and are finding it impossible to sell their homes.

Housing chiefs say they would like to be in a position to buy back the homes and help out former tenants, but they fear that the proposals put forward at the moment could leave the council with a financial liability.

The proposals would allow councils to claim back 25pc of the money they pay out, but Bolton's housing chiefs fear they could still end up out of pocket as they may have to pay for expensive repairs on the houses.

In addition, the council would have to pay out a huge sum of money before it is entitled to any back.

George Caswell, director of housing, said: "If the Government came up with a decent scheme, then we would be interested."

"But this is not a very good scheme, in fact it is a rubbish scheme." The Government has issued a consultation paper which if it came into force would offer local authorities a cash incentive to buy back former council homes.

"We would like to buy back these homes, but why should we pay more than the market price?

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