Norwich City Council breached homes safety requirements

Norwich City Council breached its requirements to keep social housing safe

A local authority has been found to have breached its requirements to keep council homes safe.

The Regulator of Social Housing said Norwich City Council had failed to meet health and safety requirements "in relation to fire, electrical, asbestos and water safety".

Its Labour leader Alan Waters said the authority had "fallen short" of what was expected of it.

Norwich Leaseholders' Association said it was not surprised by the news.

A notice served by the government regulator said no statutory action would be taken against the authority as "the breach of the standard is being remedied" by the council.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said a backlog of overdue safety inspections at hundreds of homes across the city had been discovered after the council's community services director ordered an internal review.

In all, more than 1,000 electrical inspections had been overdue including around 200 communal tests.

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Speaking before the notice was served but after news of the missed safety checks, John Neville-Jones, chairman of Norwich Leaseholders' Association, said: "I'd like to say that it's a shock and a surprise but I don't think it is really."

Mr Waters said: "We take full responsibility for not meeting the required standards as set out by the regulator.

"In plain terms, we have fallen short of what our tenants and leaseholders should be able to expect from us regarding safety checks across all our council homes."

He added the council's "commitment to resolving this matter is unwavering".

The council said it "wanted to be open with all our tenants and leaseholders about the issues we'd uncovered".

Letters have been sent to all 17,000 residents in council homes explaining the situation.

"We assured all tenants and leaseholders they don't need to do anything and we will be in contact with them if their home requires any checks," a spokesperson added.