Housing Management Solicitor

First Choice Homes Oldham; Oldham; Hybrid; GBP 48,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

30 days annual leave

Pension scheme

Private health insurance

Employee assistance programme

Job summary

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) is seeking a Housing Management Solicitor to join our Legal team, providing high-quality, timely legal advice across housing management matters and managing cases from initial advice through to court advocacy.

You will work closely with Housing Management, Anti-Social Behaviour, Safeguarding and Neighbourhood teams to embed early intervention, balance legal risk with customer needs, and support policy development.

Qualifications

• Qualified solicitor with post-qualification experience in housing law.
• Strong knowledge of possession proceedings, injunctions, ASB and succession/assignment.
• Court or tribunal advocacy experience, including preparing pleadings and applications.
• Excellent legal research, drafting, negotiation and risk-assessment skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert legal advice on tenancy enforcement and related matters.
• Manage a varied caseload from initial advice through to court and tribunal advocacy.
• Draft and review pleadings, notices, applications, agreements and policies.
• Represent FCHO in County Court and tribunal hearings, with external partners as needed.
• Advise senior management on legal risk, compliance and strategy.

Skills

Legal advice

Housing law

Court advocacy

Risk assessment

Policy awareness

Education

SRA solicitor (England & Wales)

Job description

Travel to office or court required twice a week

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 37 hours per week

About the role

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) has an exciting opportunity for a Housing Management Solicitor to join our Legal team and provide high-quality, timely and proportionate legal advice and representation across a broad range of housing management matters.

This is a varied and influential role where you will support colleagues to make legally sound, practical and resident-focused decisions. You will manage cases from early legal advice through to advocacy in court and tribunals, helping FCHO deliver safe, sustainable homes and thriving communities.

Working closely with our Housing Management, Anti-Social Behaviour, Safeguarding and Neighbourhood teams, you will help embed early intervention, manage legal risk and ensure our approach balances legal compliance, customer needs and organisational values.

Please see the full Job Description attached at the bottom of this page.

The impact you’ll make

• Provide expert legal advice on tenancy enforcement, possession proceedings, anti-social behaviour, injunctions, access issues, safeguarding and equality law.
• Manage a varied caseload from initial advice through to court and tribunal advocacy.
• Draft and review pleadings, notices, applications, agreements and policies.
• Represent FCHO in County Court and tribunal hearings, working with counsel and external legal partners.
• Advise senior management and operational colleagues on legal risk, compliance and strategy.
• Promote proportionate, trauma-informed and person-centred approaches to enforcement.
• Support policy, procedure and training development, sharing legal updates across the organisation.
• You will be a qualified solicitor with relevant post-qualification experience in housing law and the confidence to manage complex casework, provide clear advice to non-legal audiences and undertake advocacy.
• Qualified Solicitor in England and Wales with a current SRA practising certificate.
• Post-qualification experience in housing law, with strong knowledge of possession proceedings, injunctions, ASB and succession/assignment.
• Working knowledge of relevant legislation, case law, Civil Procedure Rules and pre-action protocols.
• Court or tribunal advocacy experience, including preparing pleadings and applications.
• Strong legal research, drafting, negotiation and risk-assessment skills.
• The ability to explain complex legal issues clearly to non-legal colleagues, and build trusted relationships across the organisation
• A practical, collaborative and resident-focused approach, with a strong commitment to equality, inclusion and high professional standards.

It would also be great if you have:

In-house experience within a social housing provider, local authority or registered provider legal team.

Experience advising on policy and regulatory developments in the social housing sector and embedding changes into practice.

First Choice Homes Oldham is a housing association providing safe,affordableand high-quality homes across Oldham and the surrounding areas. We own and manage over 11,500 homes and have the highest regulatory (G1/V1) governance rating.

Every daywe'reproud to make a real difference in our communities.

Our work is focused on providing quality homes, excellentservicesand thriving communities. We care deeply about our customers, colleagues and neighbourhoods and are committed to improving lives across Oldham.

What’s in it for you?

A salary of £50,000 per annum.

A 37-hour working week with hybrid working options.

30 days’ annual leave plus 8 bank holidays.

Option to purchase additional annual leave.

Defined contribution pension scheme with up to 10% employer contribution and salary exchange option.

Healthcare cash plan covering dental, optical and physiotherapy treatments.

Private health insurance.

Employee Assistance Programme offering 24-hour confidential support.

Doctorline, giving you and your family 24/7 GP access.

Access to our colleague benefits platform, including retail discounts and wellbeing tools.

Discounted gym membership.

Professional subscriptions paid where essential for the role.

Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and sick pay.

Access to our on-site wellbeing room and café.

Long service awards.

Interested?

If you are an experienced housing solicitor who wants to use your expertise to support safe communities, fair outcomes and high-quality services for customers, we’d love to hear from you.

Inclusion and accessibility

We are committed to building an organisation that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills, and we are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. As an equal opportunities employer, FCHO is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective colleagues and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.

We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join us.

We care that you have a great experience with us at FCHO. If you need us to make any reasonable adjustments to make your experience smoother, please let us know and we’ll do all we can.

The Company

AtFirst Choice Homes Oldham, we’re all about being a community anchor organisation and making a positive difference where we work.

Our dedicated team delivers this every day through good quality, affordable homes, excellent services and thriving communities for customers living in our 11,500 homes across Oldham and surrounding boroughs.

We’re a significant employer in the local area and we’re ambitious to grow. We ensure colleagues enjoy working at FCHO, are developed and can build careers for successful futures.

Join us and become a part of a team passionate about providing homes we are proud of and improving lives.

The Benefits

30 days holiday

Family friendly policies

Our People

• Chris Goode
• Project Manager, Investment Delivery

"I've had great opportunities to learn and progress by working with internal and external partners to make a real difference to our homes and customers' lives."

“I enjoy helping our customers and working across teams to provide essential services for their homes.”

“There are so many opportunities to learn and develop new skills.”