Tenancy Engagement & Enforcement Officer

Job Introduction

Role Purpose

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To help to provide safe, secure and sustainable homes for council tenants thereby enabling opportunities for people to live well.  To take appropriate intervention or enforcement action to deal with serious breaches of tenancy conditions including securing access for property compliance work. You will also lead on investigating reports of housing fraud and unlawful occupation of council homes, taking legal action where appropriate. You will be required to liaise with appropriate agencies and other council services leading the response on serious, complex and/or time-consuming cases.

Main Responsibilities

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• Act as a lead in cases to allocate work and coach others in achieving successful outcomes in complex cases. 
• Respond to escalated reports of serious breaches of tenancy conditions and lead on resolving issues in line with tenancy enforcement procedures providing complex advice on a range of issues within set guidelines.
• Present information and recommendations in a focused and engaging way. 
• Maintain up to date records so that information is accessible, and evidence is gathered so that this can be used in further proceedings if required including the preparation of witness statements and attend court to give evidence in legal proceedings.  
• Support property compliance work to ensure that colleagues can gain access to homes to carry out annual safety or other checks that may impact the health and safety of occupants. 
• Support the work of the Neighbourhood team where serious misuse of communal areas has been identified and which is detrimental to the wellbeing of other residents. 
• Use own judgement to decide how to proceed with cases to reach a satisfactory outcome. This will include taking formal actions as appropriate, including issuing warnings and serving legal notices before initiating legal proceedings as well as signposting and making referrals for support. 
• Develop relationships with customers which could have a direct impact on the service advising them of their responsibilities and legislative requirements in order to improve their understanding and gain their cooperation, ensuring compliance, addressing issues at an early stage and specifying any remedial actions that need to be taken. 
• Identify and recommend improvements to the efficiency and continuity of own area of work. 
• Seek to resolve any barriers to collaborating with others by communicating openly and challenging unhelpful behaviour.
• Develop breadth or depth of knowledge of tenancy enforcement through exposure to different activities and by learning from or shadowing more experienced colleagues. 
• Make evidence based and outcome focused decisions using proactive risk management and within set procedures, making recommendations for managers about more complex decisions.  
• Within guidelines, deploy resources when necessary to respond to customer problems or emergency situations. 
• Plan and organise own workload in an environment of regularly changing demands and challenging deadlines.

The Ideal Candidate

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• Able to build and maintain positive working relationships with tenants, colleagues and external agencies.
• Ability to apply tact, diplomacy and awareness.
• Good verbal and written communication skills.
• Flexible approach to case work, understanding different customer needs. 
• Commitment to providing high levels of customer care.
• Keen to acquire new skills and knowledge.
• Ability to exercise judgment, sensitivity and discretion to manage cases.
• Ability to persuade and influence individuals to gain their co-operation and compliance, including using tact and professionalism to diffuse confrontational situations.
• Diploma/degree in a relevant subject or be able to demonstrate equivalent knowledge, skills and proven experience in housing management
• Good working knowledge of the processes, procedures and policies relating to tenancy enforcement.
• Good knowledge of IT including use of Word, Excel, Outlook and other programs relevant to the role. 
• Experience of managing a complex caseload and working on own initiative within defined parameters to achieve suitable outcomes.
• Good knowledge of the work practices, processes and procedures (including legal and regulatory requirements and the risks of non-compliance) relevant to own area of work. 
• Experience of working with colleagues, external partners, other public sector agencies and the voluntary sector to resolve cases.
• Use effective interpersonal skills to develop solutions to complex or contentious problems where there are a range of options, and the information is unclear or conflicting!

About BCP Council

BCP Council provides services to a diverse community of 400,000 residents and employs more than 5,000 people.  Our area includes over 15 miles of beautiful world-renowned coastline.  We can offer career defining roles to transform and improve services.  By working with us, you can help deliver a vision of a thriving, word-class, prosperous and inclusive place for generations to come.

Our Benefits

We offer an excellent benefits package for further details see here

As a result of the creation of BCP Council in 2019, we are working on simplifying our terms and conditions of service and will be creating a single pay structure which is to be applicable for all employees. It is important to us that we offer benefits that our colleagues value as part of their total employment package and we are reviewing these to make sure we have it right. We are in the process of establishing a timescale for implementation and colleagues joining us will be included in these changes. Expected to be in place 2024.

DBS

BCP Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the community and expects all staff and volunteers to share the same commitment. Applicants to this post will be required to complete the appropriate level of Disclosure & Barring Service Check. Please refer to the Job Description or Role Profile for more details.