Housing Repairs Advisor

Rate: £17.00 per hour (umbrella)
Term: 3 months initially
Hours per week: 37
Location: In office full-time - Honiton
Job purpose: To be the first point of contact for housing customer’s ensuring a prompt and comprehensive response to enquiries by telephone, online, email, text or by letter.
Maintain the housing database ensuring all tenants personal details and all property records are up to date and accurate at all times.
Support and assist Housing Officers to provide a comprehensive housing service to all our customers.
Core accountabilities:1. Receive, resolve and respond in timely and courteous way to all enquiries by telephone, e-mail and in person from all sources and liaise with colleagues and other Directorates to resolve issues when required.
2. Take responsibility for owning all enquiries and resolve most issues without recourse to other Housing staff. Apply 80:20 principles.
3. Provide housing advice and assistance to tenants, staff and outside agencies when required.
4. Maintain property records and personal data on our housing system and ensure all correspondence, forms and documents are scanned, labelled and filed correctly through EDMS. Retrieve and provide files/documents/data when required.
5. Provide administrative support to housing colleagues; team meetings and service review groups, including word processing, data analysis, mail merge, spreadsheets and inputting and maintaining records on our housing database.
6. Provide housing staff with stationery requirements and maintain stocks of leaflets and ensure the reception area information is maintained at all times.
7. Manage Housing staff electronic diaries and where necessary make appointments for staff to visit tenants or attend site meetings.
8. Encourage self service and online transaction to all customers.
9. Deal with all Housing email and online enquiries and applications for housing service.
10. Advise and assist applicants to register for housing through Devon Home Choice online and help them maintain their housing application. Assist with resetting passwords, preparing and sending banding letters, and housing application renewals and reviews.
11. Advise and assist applicants to register with Homeswapper for a mutual exchange and undertake the administration of mutual exchanges.
12. Assist with letting of Council properties including receiving and giving out of keys, maintain void terminations and lists, advertising properties, administering property offers/letters/ refusals/acceptances, viewing arrangements, and maintaining welcome packs. Ensure the ‘CORE’ database is updated and maintained
13. Assist with sign ups of new tenants for Council housing and mutual exchanges, and preparations of all documentation including Support Service/Home safeguard supporting forms.
14. Assist with all aspects of tenancy management and managing the administration of successions and assignments including amending tenancy name(s) and moving from Introductory to Secure or Flexible tenancy.

15. Maintain good working relations with all agencies working with housing services.
16. Work with customers, in a range of ways, to ensure that they are empowered to voice opinions and priorities, and that expressed wishes are properly taken into account when making decisions. Keep customers informed of the results of their involvement.
17. Maintain a customer centred approach at all times by being responsive to customer needs and by helping the Team achieves continuous improvement and innovation in service delivery.
18. To undertake further duties commensurate with the post that is transferred from other existing services within Housing as and when required.
19. Attend meetings as required during working hours, or with a minimum of 24 hours notice for out of hour’s meetings.
20. Contribute positively to the performance of the team; actively participating in team meetings and toward annual objectives set by the line manager.
21. Undertake relevant training and ensure knowledge is up to date, particularly around policy changes for Devon Home Choice
22. Make sure that the housing teams offer a customer focused service using systems thinking principles.
23. Support the Council’s approach to equalities and diversity ensuring that our services and policies identify, address and promote the needs of our diverse community. This includes the need for safety of children and other vulnerable people.
24. Take personal responsibility for the relevant aspects of the Council’s Health and Safety Policy.
25. Ensure awareness and compliance with the Council’s policies, Code of Conduct and Constitution.
26. Evaluate and assist in managing risk within the service.

Education/training

• Good all round education to GCSE level including Maths and English (or equivalent or proven relevant training/experience)

Knowledge

• Knowledge of Housing Services

• An understanding of current issues in Local Government

• Excellent Customer Service skill

Skills and abilities

• A good level of literacy, including computer skills. Must be able to use Microsoft products

• Ability to work on own initiative as well as part of a team

• Accuracy and attention to detail, particularly when working in a busy office with constant interruptions.

• Well developed interpersonal skills, including oral, and listening

• Excellent communication skills

• Ability to interpret information via the telephone and enter information direct into the computer

• Ability to handle difficult situations involving angry or aggressive callers

• Ability to be proactive in delivering team support

• Ability to prioritise own workload

Job Types: Full-time, Temporary contract
Contract length: 3 months

Salary: £17.00 per hour

Expected hours: 37 per week

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Application question(s):

• Do you have good all round education to GCSE level including Maths and English (or equivalent or proven relevant training/experience)?
• Do you have a good level of literacy, including computer skills? are you able to use Microsoft products?
• Do you have the ability to work on own initiative as well as part of a team?

Experience:

• Local Government: 3 years (required)

Work Location: In person