Role: Rent Officer REF 1684494
Contract Length: 12 weeks
Location: Hybrid/Woodrow - Wednesday and Friday in office and 3 days working from home
IR35: Inside
Pay Rate to Intermediary: £25.50 per hour
Spinwell is recruiting for a Rent Officer for an excellent opportunity within the public sector.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE RENT OFFICER
- Maximise revenue collection in line with targets to recover rent arrears and to enforce related tenancy conditions with emphasis placed on early intervention.
- Monitor tenants rent accounts and take prompt action in accordance with the pre-action protocol and Councils rent collection policy and procedures to prevent the accumulation of debt and homelessness.
- Management of sub accounts for court costs and introductory tenancies. Ensuring effective transfer of payments and regular monitoring of cases.
- Provide advice on housing and other welfare benefits to tenants and assist them in maximising income and benefit entitlement.
- Keep up to date with changes to legislation and in particular the impact of Welfare Reform on both tenants and the organisation.
- Assist vulnerable tenants through referring to internal and external support agencies, where appropriate, to ensure that tenancies can be sustained, and tenant’s needs are met.
- Be responsible for preparing timely and accurate reports on arrears cases and attend Court, prepare all relevant Court papers, and represent the Council in court on possession cases for nonpayment of rent.
- Conduct interviews and undertake home visits to tenants in connection with matters relating to rent payment and the recovery of arrears. Ensuring a presence is maintained in the community.
- Create and deliver rent surgeries for schemes with the Borough to assist the tenants with payment issues, creating a positive payment culture and signpost when necessary.
- Effectively liaise with Neighbourhood & Tenancy Officers to ensure the delivery of coordinated and efficient services to each resident. Including updating household records on IT systems.
- Be available to attend the sign up of new tenancies and other tenancy sustainment visits. Provide advice to the tenant on their responsibilities regarding rent payments. Identify if benefit or debt advice is required and make referrals to the Tenancy Sustainment service where appropriate.
- Administration of payment methods including online, phone, payment cards and Direct Debits including creation and relevant amendments based on payment arrangements.
- Take responsibility for the day-to-day coaching training and development of the advisors and apprentices as appropriate and directed by the Team Leader.
- Maintain appropriate and accurate records to comply with statutory and service wide reporting requirements. Proactively monitoring and reporting to the Housing Income Team Leader in respect of service delivery, performance indicators and targets.
- Share knowledge, learning and best practice with the team and maintain an up-to-date knowledge of procedures to assist in the briefing and training of new staff.
- Work with other agencies and internal departments such as Housing Benefits, DWP, CAB, Solicitors and the Courts in delivering an efficient and effective service.
- Adapt customer care to working practices through a customer- first approach, ensuring that customers are treated with respect and courtesy and experience an accountable service. To adhere to corporate standards of customer care in respect of answering correspondence, telephones, and complaints.
- Support investigations and provide relevant documentation and statements for appeals, complaints, and enquiries. In a legal challenge, Judicial Review or Ombudsman Enquiry, cooperate with managers and other relevant officers to prepare more detailed documentation.
- Be confident to speak openly on perceived risks or threats to the service or any emerging opportunities to improve how we work.
- Be responsible and accountable for effective and accurate operation of relevant IT systems that you use.
- Be an active member of a team that strives for a culture of continuous improvement and dynamic service delivery.
- Manage customer information whilst maintaining the highest level of confidentiality and in accordance with GDPR legislation.
- Ensuring all emerging safeguarding risks in adults and children are recognized and actioned following the current safeguarding policies.
- Think critically and challenge cultures, ideas, and ways of working to achieve a culture of continuous improvement and efficient and dynamic service delivery.
SKILLS/EXPERIENCE OF THE RENT OFFICER
- Minimum Level 2 qualifications in subjects relevant to the role
- Have, be working towards, or willing to work towards Level 3 qualification related to housing management and social housing practices
- At least 2 years demonstrable experience working in the social housing sector, or other relevant customer facing service, demonstrating transferable skills or lived experience
- Sound knowledge in the provision of Housing Revenue or Income collection /recovery services
- Extensive understanding and experience of operating Income collection and debt recovery processes for rent recovery across relevant tenure types
- Be methodical in your approach to case management and thorough, accurate, factual, and meticulous in your record keeping
- Have an extensive, in depth and up to date knowledge and understanding of the entire welfare benefit system, including reforms and how they impact upon tenants both economically and socially
- Have an in depth understanding of the costs of tenancy failure on both the tenants, their households, and the Council and demonstrable experience of taking proactive actions to support tenants in sustaining their tenancies
- Extensive knowledge and experience of the legal process for recovery of arrears and debts relative to the tenure type, including compliance with legislation and protocols, service of notices, preparation of reports and witness statements, making applications to court through PCOL and in pursuit of the most suitable order for the circumstances
- Have extensive experience of representing landlords in civil courts for possession claims, variations of orders, warrants for eviction and stay hearings and standing as a witness and preparing for and attending evictions
- Experience of being involved in process and service improvement projects
- Demonstrate that you can be positive about and champion change
- Demonstrable experience of managing a wide variety of enquiries and complaints to satisfactory outcomes
- In depth knowledge of experience in the application of legislation, regulation, and policy in relation to the provision of relevant services
- You put internal and external customers and stakeholders at the centre of everything, providing seamless and tailored services by understanding specific needs
- You are pragmatic, positive, and resilient to setbacks, helping others keep perspective in challenging situations
- You are highly adaptable and flexible in a wholehearted way when new approaches need to be adopted, always looking for, and reasonably accepting new ways working when necessary.
- You can work with others in good humour, building and maintaining effective relationships through empathy and understanding, encouraging, and acknowledging ideas and collaboration
If you are a Rent Officer, apply now or send your CV to Spinwell!
We welcome all applications regardless of background, in line with our commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion.
Applying to this or any other vacancy advertised by Spinwell Ltd constitutes an agreement for Spinwell Ltd to hold your details for 24 months for the purpose of assessing suitability for the advertised position and to make you aware of any other positions deemed suitable of which You will make you aware by means of either email, text or phone. In line with GDPR regulations you are able to request your details be removed from the company data at any time by emailing us