Almost 200 homes in the Great Yarmouth area could face "serious detriment" after the discovery of possible failures to fire risk assessments.
The council for the area has confessed to a government watchdog about the failing.
Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC) had became aware of a potential failure to meet health and safety requirements on some of its properties and reported its issues to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).
The RSH has issued a notice around those failings, concluding that the council had breached the regulator's Homes Standard, potentially putting tenants at risk.
Carl Smith, leader of GYBC, said: ''We take the maintenance of our housing stock and the safety of our tenants and leaseholders extremely seriously.
"We also always aim to be upfront and transparent about any problems we discover.
"That's why we voluntarily reported these issues - and our action plan to fix them - to the RSH in August.''
Several problems were identified following a GYBC review of the work carried out by Great Yarmouth Norse (GYN) - which does most of the maintenance on behalf of the council.
The internal audit found the fire safety policy was not comprehensive enough and fire risk assessments were not always compliant with the most recent regulations.
Record keeping was also not robust enough to manage safety checks, with information held in too many different systems.
The RSH reported that the council has a statutory duty to complete a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk of fire and to take precautions to prevent these risks.
The RSH said: "A recent fire safety management review commissioned by the council found that fire risk assessments in place were neither suitable nor sufficient and could not be relied upon."
The council's internal review also found checks for water hygiene were not always fully completed or marked as completed in records.
Asbestos surveys for some properties were incomplete, and about 180 properties had not had electrical inspections within the target date of every five years.
The regulator's report added: "However, taking into account the seriousness of the issues and the number of tenants potentially affected, the regulator has concluded that Great Yarmouth BC has breached the Home Standard and that there was a risk of serious detriment to tenants during this period."
GYBC chief executive Sheila Oxtoby said: ''I am very disappointed our contractor failed to address these issues sooner.
"However, the most important thing is that as soon as the problems came to light, we alerted the regulator, and the failings are now being addressed as quickly as possible.''
An action plan has been put in place to tackle the issues and some work has already been done.
The council said all of the work should be completed by the summer of 2023.
Mr Smith added: ''Not every issue affects every property.
"We are putting in extra investment to get this right and we are working very closely with GYN to fix the gaps, with work prioritised on the most urgent tasks.''
The RSH said complying with statutory health and safety requirements is a fundamental responsibility for homes providers because of the potential for serious harm to tenants.
However, the regulator said that because the council has put in place a programme to correct its mistakes, the RSH will not be taking statutory action at this stage and will be working with the council as it addresses the issues raised.
Councillor Emma Flaxman-Taylor, chair of GYBC's housing and neighbourhoods committee said: ''It is very disappointing that we have had to report ourselves to the RSH, but I would like to reassure tenants who have any questions that they can contact the council via a dedicated telephone number or visit our website for more information. Tenants are our top priority, and we are taking this very seriously.
''We have written to all tenants to make them aware the council is acting swiftly to develop a robust plan to manage this situation now and moving forward.''
Also responding to the report, GYBC’s Labour opposition leader Trevor Wainwright said: "Our tenants and leaseholders deserve better than this, and quite clearly our tenants and leaseholders have been let down badly by both Great Yarmouth Norse and the Great Yarmouth Conservative administration who are in control of the council.”
Tenants who have concerns about their property can call a dedicated phoneline on 0808 196 2240.
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