Job Introduction
Fixed Term Contract/Secondment for 12 months
This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of our Leasehold and Right to Buy Services team and really make a difference!
Your new role
You will be working within the Council’s Housing, Neighbourhood & Services, the largest social landlord in the area, responsible for approximately 18,000 properties. These properties are a mixture of flats and houses, including Freehold, located within Portsmouth, Havant, Gosport and Winchester.
The Right to Buy legislation has resulted in the private leasehold sale of circa 1850 flats and maisonettes managed by Leasehold and Right to Buy Services. This position sits within the Leasehold and Right to Buy Services team and reports directly to the Leasehold Services Manager. Complex legislation and pending legislative reforms make leasehold management a demanding and challenging area of the business (quite distinct from social housing). The Council has recently acquired a number of shared ownership properties and freehold houses that requires careful management to comply with legislation and regulations.
In this role, you will provide a high-quality service to the leaseholders, shared ownership and freehold customers, ensuring that they are managed in accordance with the terms of their leases and deeds, legislation, regulation and best practice. To ensure residents receive a quality, helpful, responsive and value for money service. To maximise income to the business ensuring leaseholders and other customers contribute fully to their lease or contract obligations. You will be responsible for all aspects of leasehold management, including Right to Buy and shared ownership sales and any subsequent re‑sale on the open market. You will be required to assist in the calculation, communicate and collect service charges and other associated costs as per the lease agreement. You will also be required to understand and enforce the terms of the lease to assist both the leaseholder and Portsmouth Homes as the landlord.
Who is the Person?
You will need to:
- Demonstrate a sound working knowledge of legislation governing local authority leasehold management and the Right to Buy, including relevant housing, landlord and tenant, and service charge legislation, with the ability to keep this knowledge up to date and apply it in a local authority context.
- Ensure compliance with Consumer Standards, regulatory requirements, and landlord obligations, including responding to challenge and scrutiny via the First Tier Tribunal and other regulatory bodies.
- Be an assertive and resilient person, who has the ability to deliver excellent customer service and to tailor delivery to the customers’ individual needs.
- Use initiative, applying PLAN, and make informed and appropriate decisions. This is especially relevant when dealing with high‑level complaints and Councillor enquiries.
- Manipulate complicated numerical data used to calculate service charges, collate and determine leaseholder income and expenditure, at times without their full co‑operation, to recoup arrears and sustain payments.
- Research, understand, interpret and relay complex legislation in regard to leasehold legislation and reforms.
- Work well under pressure, manage a diverse workload and meet crucial, legislative deadlines.
- Apply independent professional judgement when managing complex cases, determining appropriate enforcement action, and making decisions with financial and legal implications for the Council.
- Maintain an independent work ethic and be able to work when required.
- Have excellent IT skills (in particular Excel, Word, Outlook and mainframe applications such as Northgate).
- Possess a full driving licence (and ideally have access to own vehicle with business insurance). Some amount of time will be spent visiting leaseholders at their homes not necessarily in the Portsmouth area.
- Hold Right to Work in the United Kingdom.
Working Hours: 37
Location: Civic Offices, Portsmouth
Closing Date: 14/06/2026
Job Category: Housing
Region / Division: UK Region
Directorate: Housing, Neighbourhood & Building Services
#J-18808-Ljbffr…