CRUMBLING council homes in Monmouthshire could be transferred out of the local authority's responsibility - but tenants will be balloted first, housing chiefs say.

In June we revealed that Monmouthshire council was facing a cash crisis in its housing stock. The authority doesn't have enough money to bring them all up to National Assembly standards by 2012.

We revealed that Monmouthshire chiefs would have to spend £60.5 million to bring the state of its housing stock up by the date set by the Assembly.

Now the council's cabinet has agreed to approve a consultation involving all the parties affected by the crisis.

On Wednesday, Cabinet members gave the go-ahead to a series of seminars, set to take place in October, to fully inform tenants and councillors of the financial problems and possible solutions faced by the housing department.

They will then be asked for opinions on what should be done and that information will be referred back to Cabinet for a final decision.

Mr Moses has promised tenants that any decision to sell the housing stock to an independent outsider would be made by the tenants by ballot.

The decision means tenants whose homes are in desperate need of repairs will be asked if they are willing for their homes to transferred out of council responsibility.

Housing chief Richard Moses said: "There is insufficient money to reach the Assembly's Welsh High Quality Standard by 2012 but the Assembly has refused us further funding."

Monmouthshire has 3,860 council properties - around 3,000 have kitchens over 25 years old.

The housing department admitted that with a £1.2 million budget for housing maintenance and repairs, only half last year's amount, a programme of kitchen and bathroom renewal has been scrapped.

Mr Moses said: "This is the beginning of the process of considering what to do with our council house stock in the future.

"We cannot move to sell it to an outside landlord without the agreement of a majority of tenants."

Maisie Daniels was the first tenant to move into the Old Hereford Road Estate in Abergavenny 33 years ago.

The 82-year-old has never had a new kitchen and hers is in need of repairs.

She told the Argus: "I would come to a seminar to have my say, I couldn't care less who owns it as long as the kitchen is replaced."