Rent & Service Charge Officer
This is a Permanent, Full Time vacancy that will close in {x} days at {xx:xx} BST.
The Vacancy
Fulltime: 37hrs per week
Proposed Interview Date: W/C 30th March (TBC)
We have an exciting opportunity for a Rent and Service Charge Officer to lead on managing agents and carry out the administration, and communication of service charges and rent application for 7000+ homes, homeowners, freeholders on estate and garages Saffron Housing Trust.
Key Responsibilities Include:
- Liaise with departments (e.g., Housing and Asset) to gather data and ensure that the budgeting process reflects the true costs of services provided to residents.
- Issue the annual rent and charges with regulatory requirements, and best practice. Ensuring all tenants that have a service charge or personal charge receive clear and concise breakdowns of the charges, with transparent explanations for any changes in costs.
- Ensure that service charge, estate-based charges and utility billing arrangements comply with the relevant laws, regulations, and guidelines, including the Leasehold Reform Act and other housing legislation.
- Ensure that all statutory obligations are met, including the provision of annual service charge certificates and accurate reporting in line with regulatory requirements.
- Provide clear and transparent communication to residents regarding service charge billing, including responding to queries and explaining charges in an understandable manner.
For a full list of responsibilities please see the attached Role Profile
Our Ideal Candidate Will Have:
Educations and Qualifications:
- Degree level or equivalent relevant professional qualification or qualified by experience.
- Evidence of continued professional development
- Have or are working towards a Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Level 2 or above, or similar.
Experience:
- Demonstrable work experience in service charge and rents or a similar role within housing associations, property management, or public sector housing.
- Experience of complex variable service charges, estate charges, sinking funds, and diverse rent regimes (Social, Affordable, Intermediate).
- Understanding of leasehold management, Section 20 consultation processes and managing external third-party managing agents.
- Understanding of welfare benefits.
- Experience in operational management in a customer facing team.
- A track record of customer excellence and performance against KPI’s
- Experience of change management and supporting changes in software and systems.
- Experience of working within a customer-focused environment and handling challenging customer interactions.
- Knowledge of housing management software and systems used to manage service charge billing and reporting.
- Experience of modifying and maintaining policy and procedures.
- Experience of identifying, interpreting, and implementing changes in response to new legislation or regulations.
- Experience of interpreting law and housing legislation as it related to rents, service charge, leasehold management and managing agents to ensure compliance and effective service delivery.
- Experience of stakeholder management of both internal and external stakeholders.
Skills, Knowledge and Abilities:
- Knowledge of government policy, legislation, regulations, in relation to service charges, rents and best practice
- Strong knowledge of leases, tenancies, legislation, and case law in relation to service charges, sinking funds and rents.
- Knowledge of developing IT systems for managing service charges & rents.
- Knowledge of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 & Housing Acts.
- Strong ability to translate complex financial concepts into "plain English" for diverse stakeholders, colleagues, and residents.
- Strong customer service skills, with a focus on resolving queries and complaints in a timely and professional manner.
- Strong skills in financial modelling, budgeting, and forecasting
- Proficiency in using data and insights to drive personalisation transparency, and service improvements.
Personal Attributes:
- A collaborative approach and excels in building and maintaining strong stakeholder relationships internally and externally.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to interpret financial data and identify trends or issues.
- Strong organisational and time-management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities effectively.
- Elevated level of attention to detail and accuracy in financial and service charge calculations.
- Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills, with the ability to build relationships with internal teams, contractors, and residents.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, and housing management software systems.
- A proactive approach to continuous improvement and process development.
- This role may require occasional travel to different properties and meetings across the Housing Association’s portfolio.
- A flexible approach to work may be required during peak times (e.g., annual rent and charge notifications, year-end service charge reconciliation).
Please note this role is subject to a Basic Disclosure and Barring Service check
The Company
We are a housing association based in Norfolk providing quality homes and services to people across the county and in Suffolk.
We manage over 6,000 homes including affordable homes for those in housing need who cannot afford to rent or buy in the open market.
We offer specialist homes for older and vulnerable adults and are committed to providing new homes to help solve the housing crisis.
At Saffron
We have a huge commitment to our employees. We want the team at Saffron to be happy, empowered, motivated and feel proud to be part of the Saffron community. We know by having great people we can do a great job for our tenants. We trust our colleagues to do the right thing and we are looking for people whose values are aligned with ours (PACE – Professional, Accountable, Collaborative and Evolving).
You will have the freedom to learn and grow. We are passionate about investing in our people, providing them with the skills they need now, and for their future aspirations. We do this by offering a blend of learning opportunities, including our innovative e-learning platform where learning is self-directed allowing people to learn what they want, when they want to.
We work with and support our people to work in an agile way to ensure that have the right work/life balance. They have the choice to work in the office, work from home, coffee shop, park or a combination of all. We have recently refurbished our offices to encourage collaborative, agile working.
As an inclusive employer, we are committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and have a zero tolerance policy relating to discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.
We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join the Saffron Community.
Our Strategy
Inspiring Organisation:
Outstanding colleague engagement
Inspiring Communities:
90% customer satisfaction
Inspiring Innovation:
Creating £3m of capacity to invest
Governance
We will operate in a culture where strong governance, compliance and risk assessment is business as usual.
Homes
We will actively manage our existing homes, and deliver new affordable housing to provide quality homes for current and future customers.
Our Benefits
Learning And Development
Time Off
Prioritising Mental Health
Aviva Pension Scheme
Health Schemes
Salary Sacrifice Schemes
Documents
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