Craven Council may transfer responsibility for its 1,700 properties to a housing association.

The authority warns it is becoming increasingly difficult to find funds to ensure homes have modern kitchens and bathrooms and that repairs are done.

The council says it would have to spend £10 million to bring its stock up to standard, but only half that amount is available.

Options outlined in a report by consultants Chapman Hendy Associates which was commissioned by Craven Council, include the transfer of properties to a housing association.

Tenants would be given guarantees limiting rent rises for at least five years and existing rights would be protected.

The report will be discussed at a meeting next month of the council's policy and resources committee. Recommendations will go forward to a special meeting of the full council later.

Craven Council leader Coun David Crawford said: "For many years the council has tried to get the right balance between affordable rent rises and the amount it can afford to spend on repairs and improvements.

"Government guidelines on rent increases mean the council is limited as to the amount it has available for major repairs and improvements. We already have a backlog and matters can only get worse over the next few years."

He added: "We could look at rent increases to raise the money needed for the repairs and improvements, but if Government rent guidelines were breached the council would only get 44p from every £1 of increase.

"This would mean that rents would have to rise on average by more than £25 per week which of course is unacceptable to a council which has always prided itself on keeping rents affordable."

John Sykes, Craven Council's head of housing and environmental health, said tenants would be consulted before a ballot was held, adding: "We must present all the alternatives to the tenants. There is a long way to go yet. The ballot is about 12 months away."

The council's policy and resources committee would debate the issue on July 10 and the full council would have its say on July 19, he added.

The average rent in Craven is £45 a week. Of the 1,700 council-run homes in Craven, the majority, about 600, are in Skipton.

A spokesman for the Skipton-based Horse Close and Greatwood Housing Association said its management committee had planned a special meeting on Monday to discuss the plans.

"We have not yet made a policy decision. The meeting on Monday will decide the way forward for us," she said.