Environmental Health officer

You’ll be joining Coventry’s Safer Housing and Communities service, working across our closely linked HMO Enforcement and HMO Licensing teams to improve standards in Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).

The HMO Licensing team delivers the mandatory and additional licensing schemes, including inspections to set licence conditions and investigations into non‑compliance, alongside education and advice through the Coventry Landlord Accreditation Scheme.

The HMO Enforcement team focuses on identifying and tackling unlicensed HMOs, poor housing conditions and management practices, and also supports tenancy relations work to prevent illegal eviction and harassment—working with partners to address issues such as waste and associated anti‑social behaviour. We’re based at One Friargate and embrace flexible working practices.

In line with our One Coventry Values, we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our residents so that equity and respect remains at the heart of everything we do.

Our Values are:

• Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
• Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
• Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
• Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
• Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
• Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.

As an Environmental Health Officer, you will help ensure HMOs are safe, suitable and well‑managed by inspecting premises, investigating complaints, assessing risks and taking appropriate action where standards are not met.

You’ll provide professional advice and guidance to landlords, agents, tenants and other stakeholders, and you’ll contribute to a customer‑focused service by preparing reports and briefing notes, supporting colleagues and partners, and maintaining accurate records.

Where formal action is required, you’ll gather and present evidence, prepare case papers for Legal Services, attend court, and interview alleged offenders and witnesses under PACE.

All candidates must have the Right to Work in the UK. We are currently not offering sponsorship for this role.

We’re looking for a qualified and motivated Environmental Health Officer with a strong grasp of housing and environmental health legislation, investigative techniques, and the law of evidence (including PACE), and a commitment to fair, customer‑focused public services. You’ll be able to communicate clearly and sensitively, write concise reports (including prosecution reports), and use influencing, negotiation and organisational skills to manage a varied workload and meet deadlines. You should be confident using IT systems, flexible in your approach, and able to work both independently and as part of a supportive team.

You must hold a Degree or Masters in Environmental Health from a UK CIEH‑accredited centre; a Certificate of Registration from the Environmental Health Officers Registration Board would be beneficial. The role involves visiting HMOs across the city, so you’ll need to travel within the Council’s area and hold a full UK driving licence, or work towards obtaining one. We also encourage applications from new graduates with no local authority experience—full training and support will be provided to help you develop in the role.

If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the below criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

For full details on the application process please read the attached document labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'. If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification which the Council considers to be reasonable.

Interview dates: Thursday 5 and Friday 6 March 2026

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies