Lawyer (Property)

West Northamptonshire Council; Northampton; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

West Northamptonshire Council is seeking a Senior Property Lawyer to join our growing Legal team. You will provide expert advice on commercial property matters, support regeneration and development activity, and help shape the future of our communities.

Working within the Legal team, you will manage a varied caseload, mentor colleagues, and contribute to the continuous improvement of the service while maintaining up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation and best practice.

Responsibilities

• Manage a varied caseload of commercial property matters and provide high-quality legal advice.
• Advise on acquisitions and disposals of freehold and leasehold property, landlord and tenant matters, leases, licences, easements and related transactions.
• Support development projects and contribute to the continuous improvement of the legal service.

Job description

At West Northamptonshire Council, we're investing in the future of our Property Team and are excited to be growing our legal capability with the addition of a Senior Property Lawyer. This is an excellent opportunity to join one of England's newest and largest unitary councils and play a key role in supporting significant property, regeneration and development activity across West Northamptonshire.

Working within the Legal team, you'll provide expert legal advice on a wide range of commercial property matters that help shape the future of our communities. With a substantial and diverse commercial property portfolio, together with the Council's own housing stock, you'll have exposure to varied and interesting work within a modern, ambitious and forward-thinking legal service.

This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced property lawyer who is motivated, ambitious and looking to further develop their expertise within a supportive environment that values learning, collaboration and career pro

What will you be doing?

You'll manage a varied caseload of commercial property matters, providing high-quality legal advice and support to Members, officers and services across the Council. Your work will include acquisitions and disposals of freehold and leasehold property, landlord and tenant matters, leases, licences, easements and other property-related transactions, ensuring the Council's property interests are effectively protected and managed.

You'll work closely with colleagues across the organisation, advising on legal issues affecting the Council's extensive commercial property portfolio and housing stock. Providing clear, practical and commercially focused advice, you'll help services navigate complex property matters while ensuring legal compliance and managing risk.

As a senior member of the team, you'll support the development of colleagues through mentoring, training and knowledge sharing, helping to build capability across the Property Team. You'll also contribute to the continuous improvement of legal services, maintain up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation and best practice, and play an active role in delivering a responsive, customer-focused legal service

You're a qualified legal professional with significant experience in commercial property law and a strong track record of managing complex property matters. You enjoy working on varied and challenging work and are confident providing practical, commercially focused legal advice to a wide range of stakeholders.

You'll have strong technical knowledge, excellent communication skills and the ability to build effective working relationships across services and external partners. Experience of acquisitions, disposals, landlord and tenant matters and development projects is essential, while experience within local government is welcomed but not required.

Most importantly, you'll be proactive, collaborative and committed to continuous learning and development. You'll share our THRIVE values and our ambition to deliver excellent legal services that support growth, investment and positive outcomes for the people and places of West Northamptonshire.

At West Northants Council, it's about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

Our vision is 'to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive'. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.

We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner

The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.