Income Officer

You will have experience of income collection with a housing provider and strong communication skills. We provide a supportive approach to our tenants, providing positive interactions regarding their accounts, lack of payments, and any account related queries. Our Team aims to sustain tenancies and signpost for support, however legal action will progress in cases so experience of issuing legal notices of seeking possession through to witness statements would be desirable for this role. Our customer database is Civica CX so please note experience of using this in your supporting statement.

About the job

Key responsibilities of the role are:

• Interacting with tenants regarding their accounts, payments, and related queries.

• Undertake the recovery of all rents and other charges due to the Haig Housing, in accordance with the law, best practice and the Trust s policies and procedures, to maximise the Trust s income.

• Provide timely and supportive advice to tenants having difficulty paying their rent with the aim of enabling such tenants to sustain their tenancy, this includes making reasonable and informed repayment agreements where arrears exist.

• Process and manage rent adjustments, debt repayments, refunds and decoration allowances.

• Manage all current and former tenants rent accounts in accordance with the Trust s procedures.

• Initiate legal action in relation to rent arrears in accordance with the Trusts procedures ensuring appropriate authorisation has been received in each case.

• Liaise with Local Housing Departments, Department for Work and Pensions and external agencies supporting our tenants.

• Complete monthly arrears reports highlighting cases of concern and discuss with Housing Managers.

• Work with the Housing Managers in preparing court documents and court attendance on occasions.

• Ensure compliance with the Trust s policies and procedures and legal obligations is adhered to.

Person Specification

E = essential and D = desirable

Effective at serving notice in conjunction with the Trust s procedures, and report writing for evictions and write offs. (E)

Effective numeracy and communication skills with the ability to manage sensitive conversations empathetically. (E)

Competent at placing applications on Possession Cases On Line (PCOL). (D)

Experience in sign posting tenants who may be struggling to pay rent by referring them to other support/charity organisations and discussing welfare benefits which they may be entitled to. (E)

Ability to produce rent statements, annual schedules, and accurate and timely reports for Managers and Trustees and other organisations as required. (E)

Experience in completing reference requests and dealing with managing agents and market lets. (D)

Skilled at engaging with Local Authority and Universal Credit in relation to tenants claims for Local Housing Allowance and managing accordingly. (D)

Qualifications/Education

GCSE Maths and English or equivalent (E)

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

A successful track record of income recovery. (E)

Comprehensive knowledge of recovering rents and other charges, and processing payments securely. (E)

Good working knowledge of Landlord and Tenant Law with an emphasis on Possession proceedings, using of PCOL, and knowledge of Housing Benefit Regulations and welfare benefit systems. (E)

Successful at working collaboratively with internal and external parties. (E)

Ability to use Microsoft Office to intermediate standard and income management software packages. (E)

Previous experience of working with Civica CX database with the rent module (D)

Personal Qualities

A team player and ability to work independently (E)

Flexible in approach and attitude. (E)

Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. (E)