The lives of thousands of people living in council tower blocks in Lambeth are potentially at risk because fire inspections have not been carried out, it has been alleged.

A Freedom of Information (FoI) request showed the overwhelming majority of Lambeth Council housing blocks do not have valid fire safety certificates, despite the dangers exposed by six people dying in a fatal fire in a 12-storey housing block in Southwark in July.

The FoI showed risk assessments had only been carried out on two of 112 tower blocks, by far the worst performance of any London council that answered the request.

Lib Dem housing spokesman, Councillor Jeremy Clyne, said the Labour-run council had been "exposed as the worst social landlord in London by its cavalier attitude to fire risk".

Councillor John Whelan, Lambeth Conservative group leader and until last year a member of the London Fire Authority, called the failure to inspect the council properties "appalling", in view of a promise by the administration in the wake of the Camberwell tragedy to immediately inspect all its tower blocks.

He called for all work to be completed within 28 days to reassure residents they can “sleep safely at night”.

The current programme of inspections will see all complex, high rise blocks over 10 storeys inspected by the end of the year, the council's 140 complex high rise blocks over six storeys completed by March 31, 2010, and 750 complex low rise blocks up to five storeys inspected by March 31, 2011.

Opposition councillors have demanded the programme of inspections be brought forward.

But Cathy Deplessis, chief executive of Lambeth Living, Lambeth's housing manager, said the timetable for inspections was because it needed to pay for "the right people with the right specialist skills" to carry out the inspections.

A Lambeth Living spokeswoman said the programme of assessments was in line with most other London boroughs.

She said Lambeth Living had worked in partnership with the London Fire Brigade to create "a robust programme of fire safety measures" including carrying out fire risk assessments in more than 16,000 homes over the past two years.

She said it had carried out fire risk assessments, installed smoke alarms, and given fire safety advice, as part of its three-year fire and gas safety commitment to visit every residential council owned property in the borough by March 2010.