Neighbourhood Allocations Officer

Are you passionate about helping those in Housing Need?

Would you like to help someone find a house to make their Home?

Since Lincolnshire Housing Partnership (LHP) was formed in 2018, our aim has always been to put customers at the heart of everything we stand for and to continually strive to improve everything we do for them.

We're an innovative forward-thinking organisation and we're looking for Multiple ambitious, customer focussed Neighbourhood Allocations Officers on 1 & 2 years Fixed Term Contracts to support our Boston and Grimsby communities.

We are offering an excellent salary of £32,293.92 plus some great benefits.

As our Neighbourhood Allocations Officer, you will be working within the Neighbourhood Services team to provide all our new customers with an efficient and proactive service that ensures customer satisfaction is a priority.

The role will focus on creating sustainable tenancies for our customers whilst ensuring that a portfolio of properties are let without delay, reducing void numbers and minimising relet times to maximise rental income.

The role is defined as being flexible under our agile working policy, therefore you will be able to work from wherever is suitable to complete the task at hand. This might be at home, or in one of our offices located in Boston or Grimsby, or somewhere else!

What is Lincolnshire Housing partnership like to work for?

We’re a local housing association with our roots firmly fixed in our Grimsby and Boston communities, many of our colleagues were born in the same areas that we serve. This gives our teams an additional sense of purpose to improve the lives of our customers.

There is a strong sense of togetherness across the organisation, our culture encourages accountability, cross-departmental collaboration and we welcome the opportunity to improve through feedback.

What benefits will I get from working for Lincolnshire Housing Partnership?

• An employee wellbeing package worth up to £1200 annually through our benefits partner Westfield Health
• Discounted Shopping Vouchers through Westfield Health
• A superb employer salary sacrifice pension scheme with up to 12% paid by LHP
• 24 holiday days a year (plus bank holidays) which will increase by 1 day per year for the first five years of service
• The ability to earn additional holiday days through full attendance
• Mental Health First Aiders across the business, let’s be there for each other!
• Career Development & Encouragement

What duties will I be asked to do as a Neighbourhood Allocations Officer?

• Be responsible for the effective relet of a property portfolio of up to 50 properties, with a focus on working in collaboration with the Neighbourhood Services team to ensure customer satisfaction and rental income are maximised.
• Follow the LHP Letting Procedure, using the choice-based lettings scheme or other marketing methods to minimise relet times and reduce void numbers.
• Working with other LHP departments to undertake the decanting of tenants for property refurbishments and major repair.
• To actively promote mutual exchange alongside colleagues within the Neighbourhood Services team as an alternative to transfers to minimise void relet costs.
• To obtain the relevant marketing and promotional information in order to ensure that properties are advertised in a timely and effective way.
• To utilise alternative marketing and promotional methods as appropriate to minimise relet times and reduce void numbers
• To record reasons why applicants, refuse or are rejected for LHP homes.
• To assess the suitability to become a customer through a robust assessment process identifying any areas of risk or concern.
• To seek references and additional documentation to support applications and evidence tenancy sustainability.
• To carry out affordability assessments to confirm an applicant has suitable arrangements in place to meet their rental liability, including appraisal of their claim for benefits including Universal Credit.
• To assess the net rental liability and ensure that the appropriate payment methods are facilitated and explained
• To sign-post applicants to other teams and local agencies to support them in managing any unmet needs.
• To support customers to engage with LHP digitally

For a full list of responsibilities please download the job description

What Skills, Abilities, Knowledge and Experience will I need as a Neighbourhood Allocations Officer?

• Experience of working in a customer services environment, ideally within a housing or property setting
• Ability to manage and deliver successful performance indicators. Strong organisational and time management skills, including the ability to work without close supervision and meet deadlines.
• Effective communication skills, with the ability to adapt communication style to suit the needs to the customer and the communicate verbally, or in writing, clearly and concisely.
• Excellent interpersonal team skills.
• Ability to develop and continuously improve services.

What opportunities will I have for progression?

At LHP we are committed to investing in the development of our employees to enable them to realise their potential. There are many opportunities that LHP will provide you with to enhance your skills and assist in your career progression.

We measure our success within this area by the number of internal promotions that we can achieve and that we are able to retain our best talent. The natural career progression route that would be applicable to your role is a Neighbourhood Officer or Neighbourhood/ Allocations Team Leader