Service Charge Officer (Service Charge & Rent Officer)

Full Time: 37hrs per week
Proposed Interview Date: TBC

Thisposition is hybrid working with office attendance only when required giving you the flexibility to balance your workload in a way that suits you.

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 KPIs
• 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 Associations 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

INDAD

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 6000 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 Organisation sets out the path to outstanding colleague engagement which we believe necessary to achieve 90% tenant satisfaction and the actions we will take over the next year.

Inspiring Communities:
90% customer satisfaction

Inspiring Community sets out the path to increasing tenant satisfaction from 74% to 90% and the actions we will take over the next year.

Inspiring Innovation:
Creating 3m of capacity to invest

Inspiring Innovation sets out the path to freeing up a further 3m per year that we believe necessary to invest in providing the best possible home service and workplace and the actions we will take over the next year.

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

Covers the membership fee of one professional body relevant to your job role and excellent opportunities for training & courses

Time Off

Generous holiday entitlement Holiday Trading Volunteer and study days and Enhanced Family Leave

Prioritising Mental Health

Access to our Employee Assistance Program trained Mental Health First Aiders and wellbeing check-ins

Aviva Pension Scheme

Choose your contribution and Saffron match up to 10% and we offer Life Assurance cover

Health Schemes

Bupa Private Medical Insurance Medicash Cashback Plan eligible after probation completion

Salary Sacrifice Schemes

Cycle to work and Tusker Car Scheme

Support for your qualifications

Pension

Access to our mental health first aiders

Documents

Required Experience:

Unclear Seniority

Employment Type : Full-Time
Experience: years
Vacancy: 1