Council house tenants and leaseholders across Norwich are waiting to discover whether they are among hundreds who missed safety inspections.

But there are mixed opinions over the revelation that hundreds of inspections of fire safety, electricity and water are overdue.

After a Norwich City Council audit uncovered inspections were overdue, letters were sent to 17,000 council tenants and leaseholders.

Those letters inform people that some homes and buildings will need to have fire safety assessments, electrical checks and water inspections done.

They say the council has put in place an "urgent" programme to make sure they happen within 12 months.

Not everybody who received a letter will need inspections to be done, with the council saying it will directly contact those who do.

That has left people waiting to hear if they need to be inspected - and there were mixed views among those who got letters.

Leaseholders are responsible for their own electrical and water checks, but the council is responsible for fire risk assessments of the building.

One leaseholder, in Cardigan Place, off Heigham Street, said: "It won't directly affect me, but there are council properties around me, so it is worrying that they might not have fire safety inspections in recent years.

"I'm not surprised though, because with both the city and county councils, I don't think they spend enough money on maintenance if there are savings they can make by not doing so."

Gillian Dickinson, who rents from a leaseholder in Ebeneezer Place, in the north of the city, said: "It doesn't worry me personally and, on the one hand, I am pleased the council has said it is at fault. That's commendable, as they often don't.

"I can't say I'm shocked this has happened, because I've seen too much in my life. But the important thing is that they do something about it."

A mum, who is a council tenant in Ebeneezer Place said: "I was a bit confused when I got the letter, as they always seem to carry out the inspections of my flat.

"And when something goes wrong, they are generally spot on at coming to get it fixed.

"So, I'm not really worried. The only thing I do wonder about is about whether they have inspected the water. I'm not sure that has been done since I've been here."

A council flat tenant in Bowers Avenue, Mile Cross, said: "I got the letter, but it didn't really bother me. I tend to do my own repairs anyway."

The council found 892 properties (6pc of council homes) where electrical checks, supposed to be carried out every five years, had not been done.

Some have since been done, but City Hall is working to get others completed.

Up to 500 homes may not have had a legionella risk assessment done, so the council has appointed a water hygiene specialist. Work will start later this month.

And fire safety checks on communal buildings were also not done when they should have been, although they have been completed at high rise tower blocks.

Alan Waters, leader of the Labour-run council said the authority which contracted Norse and Gasway to carry out checks, had to shoulder the overall blame.

The city council said it would not comment on which officers would have had responsibility for the contract arrangements or if there had been any disciplinary action or departures as a result.

A spokeswoman said: "As part of our review we identified the changes we need to make, which includes putting robust and transparent contract management and governance arrangements in place, and we are clearly identifying the roles and responsibilities regarding all future compliance work."

The council self-referred to the Regulator for Social Housing and is working with that watchdog over its action plan.

And the council confirmed it is "waiting for clarity" from its independent audit to confirm the compliance position relating to asbestos.

A spokeswoman said: "We will update the regulator with this information as soon as we have it and have reviewed it. If there is a need to update residents of specific properties in due course, we will do so.

"We will also be confirming the position in relation to asbestos compliance in the upcoming information to cabinet."

Norse and Gasway have not commented.