THE transfer of ownership of Blackburn and Darwen's council houses from the local authority to Twin Valley Homes has gone far more smoothly than such changes in some other parts of the country.

But it was perhaps inevitable that some people would seek to use the new arrangements to try to foster confusion for their own ends.

Today we hear that both Twin Valley and Trading Standards have been receiving daily complaints about salesmen who are touring estates knocking on doors and urging tenants to get repairs done quickly by taking out loans.

The salesmen, who some tenants have been left thinking were actually employees of the council or Twin Valley Homes, are said to have claimed that loan repayments would not be a problem because they would be won back through the courts in legal action against the landlord.

Twin Valley, who have received 60 claims since Christmas, say they are only liable to pay damages if they had previously failed to respond to requests for repairs.

Many of the claims they have received are for repairs that had not been asked for in the past says the landlord adding that money spent on dealing with the claims is cash that could have been spent on repairs.

Although Twin Valley say they are busy improving homes and take their responsibility for repairs very seriously it is no surprise that among their thousands of tenants there are some who feel their own problems have been overlooked or even ignored.

But they should realise that in this world it is highly unlikely that any stranger knocking on the door unannounced will provide a painless solution to such worries.

These door-to-door salesmen are not social workers - they are after money and the odds are that their visits will ultimately burn a hole in tenants' pockets.

Their activities should be monitored with vigilance by Trading Standards and Twin Valley Homes.