Allocations Officer x2

Company: Barking and Dagenham Reside Regeneration Ltd
Location: Hybrid/Patch Based (Barking and Dagenham)/Home
Responsible to: Commercial Housing Portfolio Lead
Salary: £40,000 - £45,000 p.a

About the Role

Join us as an Allocations Officer and play a key role in delivering a proactive and high-quality allocations and lettings service to our tenants. You'll act as the first point of contact for prospective tenants, ensuring a seamless and supportive onboarding experience. From managing applications to signing up new tenants, you'll set clear expectations for tenancy management, promote engagement, and champion a customer-focused approach. Working closely with internal teams and external partners, you'll help ensure our homes are let efficiently, minimising void periods and rent loss, while maintaining compliance with policies and legislation.

About You

You'll bring experience in housing allocations, tenancy management, or lettings within a mixed-tenure environment. Your knowledge of housing-related legislation and compliance, coupled with your ability to work with vulnerable tenants, will support sustainable tenancies and cohesive communities. Strong communication, organisational, and IT skills are essential, along with a collaborative approach to working with internal and external partners. A full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle are required for this role.

Job Purpose

To provide a customer focussed, proactive, comprehensive and high-quality allocations and lettings service to Reside tenants across a mixed tenure portfolio including social rent and discounted market rented tenures.

You will act as a champion for work stream, acting as the first point of contact for all lettings related queries from prospective tenants. You will provide an effective and positive onboarding experience during the application and sign-up process.

You will ensure that from the outset, tenants are clear on how to manage a tenancy, setting expectations and developing effective engagement. Work closely with colleagues and partner organisations to ensure our homes are let appropriately and empty home periods and rent loss are kept to a minimum.

To develop and maintain partnerships with key agencies and stakeholders, including the council, lettings agents, support agencies, CAB and any other relevant agencies. The post holder will deliver high levels of satisfaction to Reside tenants for the services managed.

Key Accountable Areas

• To deliver a high quality, efficient and compliant allocations and lettings service, managing all aspects of the voids and allocations process from the point of notification of end of tenancy through to sign up of new tenants. This will require a 'can do' approach to service management to exceed expectations as the norm
• Deliver a positive onboarding experience via the most suitable platform for our tenants, to ensure they receive appropriate advice, support and information to move into the home, sustain their tenancy and understand their responsibilities as a tenant and our responsibilities as a landlord
• To advertise vacant properties effectively via CBL systems or partner letting agents, creating effective marketing material to positively advertise our homes
• Achieve a timely turnaround of empty properties within key KPI targets and to ensure that all properties are let / re-let promptly
• Proactively manage large scale handovers of new developments to ensure prompt allocation and letting of all new homes
• Deliver compliant allocations and letting processes, preventing tenancy fraud
• Ensure the effective management of the allocated caseload of work, raising concerns and blockages with line manager as appropriate
• Work in partnership with the Neighbourhood Officers and Income Team to ensure a collaborative approach in the allocation process aimed at improving tenancy sustainment
• Work with the Income Team, ensuring we adopt a 'Rent First' approach, ensuring tenants are making advance rent payment with a full understanding of their affordability with any risks identified
• Identify and work with line manager to develop and update policies and procedures as the service develops / is required
• Work collaboratively with partner agencies, colleagues, other teams and stakeholders to ensure a high-quality seamless service delivery to all customers moving into new homes
• Be alert to and escalate appropriately suspected tenancy fraud, including sub-letting and non-occupation and, working closely with other specialist teams, take appropriate action to enable recover of properties where necessary
• Ensure that the services provided are delivered in accordance with Reside's policies and procedures, legislation, regulation and reflect best practice and always deliver excellent customer service
• Take every reasonable measure to ensure personal health, safety and wellbeing including complying with our lone working policy
• Ensure appropriate and professional conduct at all times, and in accordance with the Reside's standards
• Drives an increase in contact with tenants as we seek to develop effective relationships of high trust that enables tailored and bespoke service to be developed that facilitates a highly customer centric service delivery model

Allocations Officer full job description (PDF, 148 KB)

Neighbourhoods structure chart (PDF, 111 KB)

Application Process

To apply, please upload your CV and a supporting statement to email by 5 January 2025.

It is crucial to include a supporting statement (no more than 2 sides of A4) addressing how your skills, knowledge, experience align with the post's requirements outlined in the job description and person specification.

Selection Process

CVs and supporting statements will be shortlisted based on the skills, knowledge, experience criteria specified in the person specification of the job description.

Shortlisted candidates will be informed of the outcome of their applications by 9 January 2025.

Successful candidates will be invited for an interview on 21 January 2025.

Additional interview details will be provided to shortlisted candidates in due course.