The lives of hundreds of residents in a Herne Hill tower block are at a "moderate" risk from fire, a report has revealed.

A string of problems in communal areas of 19-storey Herne Hill House included broken fire doors, insufficient security against arson attacks, inadequately designed escape routes and insufficient measures to prevent electrical fires, according to a fire risk assessment.

Specific problems in the 240-resident, 72-flat block, included missing glass in fire doors, vents in some communal areas being covered up and a mains electrical plug socket in the cleaner's room hanging off the wall.

A long term resident of the block in the Hurst Street estate, Railton Road, said they had not been provided with fire safety information for several years.

A Lambeth Living spokesman said comprehensive work plans had been put in place to correct the fire risks. The extent of the risk would determine how fast the work would be done.

The report - commissioned in light of the Larkanal House fire in Southwark that killed six people last year - was ordered by Lambeth’s housing manager Lambeth Living after it was exposed as carrying out fire assessments on just two of more than 100 of its tower blocks.

A Freedom of Information request showed the borough was one of the worst performing local authorities in London in terms of carrying out the assessments - a statutory requirement for councils since 2006.

As a result, Lambeth Living vowed to inspect all its communal blocks and publish the results online.

The Herne Hill House report was one of the first to be put online. No tower blocks were found to be "high" risk .

Liberal Democrat housing spokesman councillor Jeremy Clyne said Lambeth Living should urgently deal with the dangers residents faced as a result of "neglect and disrepair".

The bill for urgent work to protect council housing blocks from fire risks could rise above £1.65m.

Terry Gallagher, Lambeth Living’s director of resources, said: “Fire risk assessments are designed to identify potential risks, but we want residents to know that any risk identified will be minimised through the action plan.”