Housing Regulations Officer - Portsmouth, United Kingdom - Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council

Verified Company

Portsmouth, United Kingdom

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Salary:
Band 8 - £33,945 - £36,647 p.a.

Fixed Term Contract for 5 years or until the end of the Additional Licensing project

We would also consider secondments for 2 years
Portsmouth City Council are looking for enthusiastic, motivated, and dedicated individuals with a commitment to top quality regulatory services.

Portsmouth City Council has several exciting opportunities to join our Private Sector Housing service in delivering the city wide Additional Licensing scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) across Portsmouth.

You will be part of the Housing Regulation licensing team within the Private Sector Housing service for Portsmouth City Council, delivering responsive and effective services to anyone who approaches the city council needing help regarding their home.

This includes the delivery of statutory functions relating to housing standards and licencing of HMOs.

The aim of our service is to:

Provide help and advice to make homes liveable, safe and healthy.

What is the role?

The Housing Regulations Officer is there to support landlords and tenants in ensuring their homes are liveable, safe and healthy, as well as carrying out enforcement activities when landlords do not comply.

Officers must consider all options when determining the most suitable course of action.

Regard must be given to legislative duties, statutory duties, and the council's private rented sector strategy.

The duties of the role will include:

Receive, assess and where necessary action, customer demand relating to the provision and management of HMOs in the private rental sector.
Carry out reactive, routine or proactive visits to HMOs and, undertake Housing Health & Safety Rating System (HHSRS) assessments.
Where problems are discovered with the provision of housing, working with landlords and tenants to find the best solution, always aiming to keep the tenant in their home wherever possible.

- investigate complaints in respect to statutory duties or regulations.
- carry out inspections and monitoring as required to ensure that actions are undertaken and outcomes are achieved.

Ensure that health and welfare of tenants is maintained in accordance with legislation and, where applicable, the needs of any licence.
Ensure that legislation and local policy regarding HMOs is adhered to, providing information on licence conditions where appropriate, and monitoring compliance with these conditions.
Provide advice, guidance and assistance to customers contacting the service ensuring regulatory compliance through education and advice.
Take enforcement action, where required and preparing for cases which may go to tribunal or court. On occasions this may including attending court to give evidence.
Preparing and serving formal enforcement notices.
Using professional judgement to make decisions on the best course of action, while dealing with potentially confrontational situations with landlords and tenants assertively.
Commit to the continual development of the service and personal professional development.

Who is the person?

It is essential that the post holder is educated up to (or working towards) at least level 3 in a relevant Housing, construction, enforcement, or environmental health qualification
or will have demonstrable experience (minimum of 2 years) in working with stakeholders within the Housing to achieve the right outcomes with regard to Housing Standards.
It is desirable that the post holder will hold (or be working towards holding) a level 6 qualification in housing, environmental health, environmental science, housing engineering or construction.
It is desirable that the post holder holds (or is working towards holding) associate level CIEH membership, member level of the CIH or membership of another relevant body. This will include evidence of continual professional development (CPD).
The post holder can successfully balance a varied workload comprising of proactive inspections with responding to complaints with varying levels of severity and prioritise effectively.
The post holder will ideally have knowledge and experience of housing legislation and processes around enforcement, particularly in regard to private rental sector and houses of multiple occupancy.
The post holder will have a demonstrable knowledge of surveying residential property and be able to undertake a full property inspection.
The post holder will have demonstrable knowledge and experience of the Housing Health and Safety Rating system (HHSRS) however full training will be provided if required.
The post holder will have knowledge of relevant legislation such as the Housing Act 2004, Public Health Acts, and Building Regulations, and Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE).
The post holder will have knowledge of enforcement action and carrying out investigations and be able to prepare and serve formal enforcement notices and understand the importance of keeping clear