Home Ownership Officer

**Job Title**:Home Ownership Officer

**Contract Type**:Permanent

**Salary**:£24975.78 (£27500.14 is achieved after 12 months successful performance in the role)

**Working Hours**:35 hours per week.

**Working Pattern**:To be confirmed

**Location**:Liverpool

**Why Riverside?**

At Riverside, we’re a housing association with a difference - enhancing the everyday for all our customers. For 90 years, we’ve been revitalising neighbourhoods and supporting communities by providing the homes they need to live full, fulfilling and rewarding lives.

We have a portfolio of over 75,000 affordable residential and retirement homes across the UK. Our work ranges from homelessness services to social care, employment support to retirement living, and we need the best people on board to help us.

**Working with us, you’ll enjoy**:

- Competitive pay & generous pension
- 28 days holidays plus bank holidays
- Flexible working options available
- Investment in your learning, personal development and technology
- A wide range of benefits

**The difference you will make as a Home Ownership Officer**

You will provide a customer focussed account management service to shared ownership and leasehold customers (including commercial properties) within a specified geographical region, ensuring the contractual obligations as defined in individual leases and tenancy agreements are carried out in line with legislative requirements and compliance and Group standards.

**About you**

We are looking for someone with leasehold knowledge and who is fully / partially qualified COIH. The role will require someone who is results driven with a strong customer focus with excellent communication skills.

**Role profile**

Role requires you to:

- Undertake the role of Account Manager for shared ownership and leasehold customers (including commercial properties) within a specified geographical region, advocating for the customer and ensuring services provided by the Group are delivered efficiently and in line with cost, quality and compliance standards.
- Lead, motivate and engage with site based Caretaker’s, to ensure the delivery of a high quality service to support the Home Ownership strategy and objectives.
- Contribute to the regional and neighbourhood planning process, providing local knowledge and

insight to ensure delivery plans reflect assigned scheme priorities.
- Promote customer engagement, both formally and informally, to provide mechanisms for customers to provide feedback on services received.
- Drive the reduction of interaction demand through proactive customer engagement and promotion of self-service, providing ongoing customer support as required.
- Support the Group Compliance function to ensure our buildings are safe, ensuring that Fire Management Actions are progressed to completion. Proactively engaging with customers to inform them of their role and provide customers with relevant information.
- Responsible for engaging with customer to ensure access is provided to their home to undertake Asset Services inspections or repairs and undertake enforcement actions where there are breaches of the lease or tenancy.
- Undertake customer engagement and consultation activities to support the Section 20 process, resolving queries and issues as appropriate.
- Contribute to the setting of service charge budgets for assigned schemes including splitting of service charges as appropriate, providing first line support for customer queries including calculation breakdowns. Attend customer/resident budget meetings, as required.
- Ensure the service charge setting consultation process is carried out effectively and in line with Group standards and statutory requirements.

expenditure as required.
- Maintain knowledge of leasehold legislation and technical aspects of all varieties of lease agreements to ensure escalated and complex queries are resolved effectively.
- Take appropriate action to enforce the terms of the tenancy or lease, including resolution of low level anti-social behaviour and unauthorised sub-letting.
- Support the Home Ownership Business Management function with the co-ordination of court cases and First Tier Tribunals including providing the required information to support mediation and legal challenges.
- Represent the Group in Court for all cases brought against customers in your regional area, ensuring cases are progressed effectively and efficiently and relevant stakeholders are kept up to date with developments and outcomes.
- Accountable for maximising and increasing income collection, working in partnership with Shared Service colleagues to ensure good payment practices are established from start of tenure, supporting customers including signposting for advice and carrying out home visits during the arrears pursuance process.
- Manage escalated customer queries and issues including raising repair requests where necessary, ensuring repairs are carried effectively and to customer satisfaction.
- Manage cus