More than 25,000 people in Brighton and Hove will be living in decaying and sub-standard council houses within six years, say analysts.

Only 650 of the city's 13,000 council homes will be considered decent enough to live in by 2010 unless radical changes are made to the housing system.

Families which can afford to buy, despite the average price of a house in Brighton reaching £180,000, will continue to prosper as house prices keep rising.

But financial analysts PricewaterhouseCoopers' report paints a bleak picture for council tenants whose homes have suffered neglect through lack of investment.

Many will have to live with decrepit kitchens and bathrooms or poor heating because Brighton and Hove City Council does not have the money to repair ageing properties.

Anthony Mason, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, told a tenants' conference at Hove Town Hall on Saturday that the majority of council homes would fall into disrepair because of a £100 million shortfall in the city council's housing budget for the next five years.

Unless the council gains more investment through overhauling its housing system, just five per cent of council properties would meet minimum Government standards, he said.

Mr Mason told the conference more than half the housing stock was already sub-standard, while the majority of the remainder would be considered non-decent by 2010.

He said: "At the moment 52 per cent of homes are non-decent and in some way do not meet the standards.

"By far the most common way is disrepair. A fair number have kitchen problems or heating problems.

"A further 43 per cent do meet a decent standard but between now and 2010 will have a kitchen or bathroom or electrics that will fall out of the suitable age range.

"This is not an uncommon picture in urban councils."

Mr Mason said £440 million was required for essential work on the city's council homes, plus a further £45 million for adaptations for the elderly or disabled.

This figure is below the £650 million figure estimated a year ago but still out of reach of the council.

Mr Mason said: "We think Brighton and Hove City Council will have £332 million to spend over the period, so we have a gap. We cannot be absolutely precise because we are looking at investment programmes in five years' time.

"But we estimate there is a gap of £100 million, which is the difference in what the council will get in rents, grants and borrowing and the repair bill."

More than 100 tenants attended the conference and were told of three possible ways of helping to raise the extra money.

These were setting up an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO), a council-owned, independent body able to borrow extra funding, transferring all stock to a housing association, or using private finance to bring in extra investment.

John Jolliffe, 62, who chaired the conference, said: "We are not asking for luxury. We are looking for the most financially-viable option that provides the most in improvements."

Jack Hazelgrove, chairman of the council's housing committee, said: "We have set aside £15.5 million for this year's maintenance and judgements have to be made about where it is spent."