EMERGENCY gas safety checks will need to be carried out at more than 900 Redditch Council properties after the council admitted it had breached its duty to tenants.

Council chiefs are calling for immediate action after it has been revealed that essential safety inspections are overdue at a shocking 927 of the council's properties.

Because of the failure bosses now have to try to contact more than 900 tenants to arrange immediate safety checks.

It comes after concerns were raised by officers regarding difficulties in accessing a number of homes where gas safety certificates had, or were due, to expire.

Further investigations by the council revealed that checks at 927 homes had not been carried out.

The council has said that no safety incidents have been reported and records show that annual checks have been carried out on more than 5,000 other homes which the council is responsible for, as part of its annual rolling programme, in the last year.

It also said that it reported the failure to the housing regulator, the Homes and Communities Agency, (HCA) as soon as the issue was confirmed by its independent audit service.

Council Leader Bill Hartnett said: “The fact these properties did not receive checks within a 12 month period is a breach of the council’s duties under the relevant regulations, and we are cooperating unreservedly with any requirements the HCA may have.

"Safety is always our highest priority and these checks have to be carried out by the council as part of its duties every year.

“I would urge all our tenants to work with us, now and going forward, to allow us access to properties so we can carry out these inspections in a timely manner.”

Redditch MP Karen Lumley, who has written to the Health and Safety Executive, and the council's chief executive Kevin Dicks, called the failure "totally unacceptable".

"It came a massive shock to me," she said.

"Redditch Council tenants rely on the council to look after them and make sure that they are safe. For the council to put this right they will need to get extra contractors in which the tax payers will have to pay for - it's not good enough."

Mrs Lumley added: "I want to see this put right as soon as possible, a time scale for when that will take place, and how exactly that will happen. This must never happen again."

Tenants whose properties need to be inspected as a matter of priority should have been already contacted by the council.

Those who have not been contacted should be contacted two months before their next inspection is due.