Lettings Specialist

Onward Homes; Accrington; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 33,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme (matched up to 10%)

Flexible working environment

32 days annual leave + bank holidays

Simply Health cash plan and family add

Job summary

Onward Homes seeks a Lettings Specialist to join the Neighbourhoods team in Lancashire on a permanent, 35 hours per week basis. You will manage lettings services with a focus on fairness and transparency, delivering high-quality customer service and working with partner agencies.

You will build strong relationships with local authorities, support vulnerable customers, and contribute to sustainable tenancies while embracing Onward values and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Experience with housing regulations and lettings processes.
• Experience delivering face-to-face customer service.
• Experience developing partnerships with local authorities and support agencies.
• Ability to manage complex caseloads and safeguarding responsibilities.
• Understanding of social and economic context of the neighbourhood.
• Competent IT skills including Microsoft Office.
• Knowledge of lettings policies and procedures.

Responsibilities

• Proactively administer and manage choice-based lettings systems and waiting lists.
• Collaborate with local authorities and partner agencies to ensure successful allocations.
• Respond to lettings enquiries and provide housing advice to prospective customers.
• Assist with affordability assessments and tenancy sign-ups.
• Process invoices and manage council tax and other administrative tasks.
• Deliver excellent customer service and advocate for customers.
• Coordinate with neighbourhood teams on community initiatives.
• Safeguard and support vulnerable customers and log contact details.

Skills

Housing regulations

Face-to-face service

Partnership working

Caseload management

Neighbourhood context

IT skills

Lettings policies

Education

GCSE standard or equivalent

CIH (Desirable)

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

About The Role

What you can expect from us

• We offer a competitive salary of£28,700 per annum
• 32 days annual leave plus bank holidays a total of 40 days paid holiday per annum which is equivalent to 8 weeks.
• Salary Finance - access both short and long terms loans, plus provides access to a savings facility.
• Opportunity to further increase annual leave with service or though the holiday purchase scheme.
• Immediate entry to our Pension scheme (matched contributions up to 10%)
• A great flexible working environment, with a range of family friendly policies
• Simply Health cash plan with financial benefits and the option to extend to your family.
  Cover includes dental, optical, physiotherapy, 24HR private GP access and much more.
• Paid leave for absence including sickness, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
• Access of up to £150 annually through the 'Learning for life' scheme
• Access to a wide range of discounts and cash back offers, ranging from retail and automotive to holidays and cycle to work scheme.
• Develop your career with support and access to training and qualifications.

About the Role

We are seeking a Lettings Specialist to join our Neighbourhoods team in the Lancashire area on a permanent, 35hours per week) basis. The purpose of the role is to play an essential role in the delivery of an effective lettings service across Onward's geography that is fair, transparent and meets individual needs. Ensure high-quality customer service, working with colleagues and partner agencies to ensure effective service delivery. Champion the Onward values to enable people and communities to be their best.

Key Responsibilities

Letting Our Homes

• Proactive administering and management of choice-based lettings systems and waiting lists for rehousing to enable offers to be made. Ensure nomination targets are achieved and build effective
  relationships with local authority partners and choice-based lettings providers.

Partnership working

• Contribute to excellent external partnership work to support an effective letting service. Be an
  ambassador for the organisation and an advocate for customers. Engage with external partners
  where needed.

Management of Housing Applications

• Respond to lettings and housing options enquiries and provide housing advice to prospective
  customers. Support vulnerable customers, playing an active role in initiatives aimed at reducing
  homelessness and creating sustainable tenancies. Adopt robust approach to affordability
  assessments, tenancy fraud checks, and relevant documentation. Develop adverts and marketing
  campaigns in partnership with colleagues. Ensure accurate tenancy agreements and sign-up packs
  are produced.

Administration

• Effective processing of invoices, management of council tax, and other neighbourhood
  administrative duties as required.

Customer Service and Customer Voice

• Ensure an excellent customer experience of our lettings process. Develop positive relationships
  with customers in line with the Onward + approach and listen, hear and act on the voice of
  customers.

Neighbourhood Plus

• Collaborate effectively with colleagues from other teams and departments to help deliver
  neighbourhood initiatives linked to the Onward Difference.

Professional Curiosity

• Be professionally curious, including taking a proactive approach to safeguarding and vulnerabilities,
  making reasonable adjustments and effectively logging customer contact and contact details

Skills and Experience

• Knowledge and awareness of related housing regulations/ law
• Experience of delivering face to face customer service
• Experience of developing partnership working with support agencies, local authorities and community groups
• Engage and successfully work with complex and challenging caseloads/individuals.
• An understanding of the social, economic and political context in the neighbourhoods in which we operate
• Competent IT skills, including intermediate proficiency in Microsoft Office.
• An understanding of lettings policies and procedures

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to GCSE standard or equivalent qualification / experience.

Desirable

• Relevant professional qualification e.g. CIH

About Us

About Onward

Onward Homes is one of the largest registered providers of social housing in the Northwest, with 35,000 properties across the region.

We believe that everyone deserves a place to call their own, which is why we're committed to building 500 new homes each year. We do more than just provide a roof over our customers' heads, we're here to make a real difference.

In addition to creating positive spaces for our customers we continuously strive to create a positive and progressive workspace to enable our colleagues to achieve their full potential.

We embrace diversity and strive for diverse teams to create an inclusive culture which enables Onward to thrive and be representative of the communities that we serve. We want to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to be part of our recruitment processes and will therefore make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you with our recruitment process via the email address below.

At Onward Homes, your application will be reviewed by a human who carefully considers your CV, skills, knowledge and experience as part of our recruitment process. We do not use AI to make hiring decisions.

If candidates have any concerns / questions in relation to the role at any stage of the recruitment and selection process they can contact the HR team on [e-mail] and a member of the HR Team will be in touch.