HOUSING tenants have dealt a massive blow to Waverley Council's administration, with a second refusal in five years to allow the 5,000-plus homes to be sold off to a housing association.

A majority of tenants have rejected the carrot of double glazing, new kitchens, bathrooms and in a few cases, central heating, to stick with Waverley as landlord.

Voting was close, as it was in 2000, when the homes transfer issue was put to the test by the Conservatives, who ruled the council at that time.

This time it was the Liberal Democrats, who had claimed throughout that transfer was being forced on them by the government, who have had their plans for transfer to Weyfold Community Homes dashed. Council-created Weyfold will now be dissolved.

The ballot ended at midday last Friday, with 52.75 per cent of tenants who voted opting to keep the council as their landlord. Of the 4,095 votes cast, 1,926 voted for and 2,150 voted against, with 19 spoiled ballots.

The political fallout has begun, with the Conservatives accusing the Lib Dem administration of not doing enough to persuade tenants and going so far as to suggest that transfer could still go ahead.

On Monday, the borough's housing and financial directors spelled out some of the unpalatable choices that may have to be taken in the new year to meet an anticipated revenue shortfall of £700,000 that must be addressed next year.

Reductions in repairs and maintenance, staff cuts and selling off properties that become vacant if they need money spending on them, were among some options mentioned.

"Can the council keep its locality offices for rent collection?" was among questions posed by housing director David January. "Can we afford to carry on with the current sheltered-housing service for elderly people?" was another. The council says it needs £44 million to meet the government's Decent Homes Standard, but only has £30 million available. Under Weyfold, tenants had been told, £80 million would have been available to be spent on their homes, allowing double glazing for the 3,000 homes that don't already have it and replacement kitchens and bathrooms wherever current facilities were outdated.

The director of finance, Paul Wenham, said that as well as the plans to see the Decent Homes Standard met by 2011, Waverley's plans for 350 extra new affordable homes for rent over the next 10 years would have to be called off.

"Throughout, Waverley has responded to the rules of the government. Now we are in the fallback situation – difficult and challenging. Waverley will do its best to respond," he commented.

Meanwhile, Farnham tenant Jeremy Hyman, of TenantsWATCH, declared himself "tickled pink" that the pressure group's campaign, costing "£500 plus petrol and a bit of spare time", was able to beat what he described as "a two-year propaganda blitz".

"We were always confident in the principle that 'the truth will win through'.  If they could have done it honestly, they would have; so it had to be stopped. It was the right decision," he said.

"Waverley will awkwardly deny everything, and claim the ballot result 'a vote of confidence in the council'. 

"In truth, it is a vote of no confidence in the council and the system; we can no longer believe a word they say."

Mr Hyman's efforts were applauded by fellow tenant Donald Simpson, who said: "All credit to him that he managed to get this vote through. This is a massive defeat for the council."

Ken Reed, Waverley's portfolio holder for housing and community welfare, said: "The council would not have chosen to seek to transfer its housing if there had been any other way that it could guarantee meeting the government's Decent Home Standard and providing the kind of services and homes our tenants deserve.

"Democracy means respecting outcomes to votes and this outcome suggests that tenants believe that the council has done a good job as landlord and, therefore, will strive to carry on doing its best for tenants within budgetary constraints."

The council's Conservative group, however, was less accepting of the result.

At a meeting of the full council on Tuesday, group leader Richard Gates suggested "the half-hearted manner" in which the Lib Dem administration took the matter forward was a contributory factor to the result.

"This is not a denial of democracy, it is related to the obligation we have to take decisions, even if we know that these are unpopular to a section of our electorate."