Tenancy Services Officer

About the Borough

Found in zone 6 with good transport links in and out of London, Kingston is a vibrant and diverse university town which creates the rich sense of community shared across the borough and its Residents. Kingston boasts an idyllic riverside location, good shopping and great restaurants, as well as a mix of modern and historic town centre. Kingston has lots of open parklands and cycle routes that help connect the district town centres into an enjoyable place to live and work.

We are passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

About the Service and Team

Join a Housing Service that is committed to transforming communities and making a positive, lasting difference to the lives of our residents.

We are passionate about delivering high-quality housing services and are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated individual who enjoys working collaboratively in a dynamic and agile environment.

You will be joining a friendly team of eight Housing Officers who share a strong can-do attitude and are committed to providing an excellent service to our residents. Together, we manage over 4,500 properties across Kingston, working closely with residents, colleagues and partners to ensure our communities are well managed and supported.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

As part of our recent pay award, the salary for this role is now £39,519–£43,449 per annum.

The Council is focused on delivering the best possible outcomes for its residents. To do this the Council needs employees who thrive in an agile and networked organisation and can provide a housing service that reflects the needs of its residents.

Responsible for managing a patch of 750 homes, you will work within a flexible and dedicated to achieving top outcomes for our residents.

• Demonstrates ownership, responsibility, flexibility and collaboration with others that raises the Council’s profile
• Demonstrates a “can-do” attitude to customer services based on empathy and excellent communication
• Helps build strong working relationships between the Housing Services team and other teams in all services in order to achieve a ‘One Council’ approach to service delivery
• Contributes to the development and implementation of the recording and reporting of a range of KPIs, targets, and electronic data to monitor, benchmark and measure service delivery.
• Have housing/tenancy management experience
• knowledge and understanding of the Housing Regulator’s Consumer Standards

About you

We're looking for a proactive, adaptable individual with strong communication and IT skills who is passionate about delivering excellent customer service. We are seeking an experienced Housing Officer with relevant experience in general needs housing management. Due to high demand, the successful candidate will be required to work on-site 4 days a week and 1 day working from home.

Working collaboratively with residents, colleagues and partner organisations, be confident engaging with a range of stakeholders, and be comfortable working both in the office and at housing surgeries across the borough. Bring a creative, innovative approach to problem-solving, an understanding of housing regulation and consumer standards, and a commitment to continuous learning and professional development.

Ideal candidate must have a level 2 or 3 in Chartered Institute of Housing.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 25-32 days, plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade.
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Hybrid working (dependent on the role)
• Flexible and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Kingston we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our STAR values.
Here at Kingston we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.