Redbridge Council "did not have an effective system in place" to check its 4,400 council properties meet safety standards, a regulator has found.

The Regulator of Social Housing issued a warning to the authority after it carried out an investigation.

The probe, which began in June, found there was “potential for serious detriment” to council tenants as it had failed to ensure safety checks had been carried out.

The failures included not keeping track of “more than 3,000” overdue fire door replacements and being “unable to report” how unsafe the doors were or provide a timeline for their repair.

No electrical condition reports could be found for 2,000 homes or 200 communal areas and water safety risk assessments were absent for “more than 160” residential blocks.

The regulator also found the council had not checked whether more than 450 communal areas were in need of full asbestos surveys.

Council leader Jas Athwal declined to comment on the regulator’s notice yesterday (September 29), saying he first needed to speak with a council officer who is on sick leave.

However, the council’s chief executive Claire Symonds issued a statement claiming the council carries out “frequent health and safety checks” on its properties.

Ms Symonds said that during an “internal auditing process” in June, officers realised they “could not verify some of those checks” and referred the council to the Regulator of Social Housing.

She added: “Redbridge Council has designed and implemented a programme of works to rectify those issues identified, and has rapidly made progress since June.

“We apologise for any concern this situation might cause to our residents and want to provide reassurance that we have acted swiftly to put things right.”

Following the investigation, the regulator found that the “seriousness”, “duration” and the number of people affected were enough for it to issue a public regulatory notice to meet its “obligation to be transparent”.

But the regulator decided against taking enforcement action “at this stage” as the council has “started to put in place a programme to rectify these failures”.

The notice added: “The regulator will work with LB Redbridge as it continues to address the issues which have led to this situation, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its programme.”

Conservative leader Paul Canal said he was shocked and appalled at the "damning indictment" of the council from the regulator.